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One of the worst kept secrets (and absolutely lamest denials) is officially
out now, with word that Sony is officially announcing a $100 price cut on their
Playstation 3 console. For details, see: Sony
Cuts PlayStation 3 Price, Aims to Double Sales (from Bloomberg, among
others)
Now the question is will Microsoft follow suit in this battle of the titans
and cut the pricing on their Xbox 360 consoles? In addition, will
they cut the prices on their HD-DVD add-on attachment to also help match Sony's
prices for a next generation console and next generation video disc
experience?
Microsoft opted to keep the HD-DVD as an add-on device when they developed
the Elite version of their Xbox 360 systems, though they did opt to include an
HDMI port in the system. Supposedly Microsoft's reasoning was that even at
$479 for the console, adding on the approximately $199 HD-DVD add-on still meant
a very competitive price to Sony's Blu-ray included Playstation 3 console.
As things stand now, Microsoft is sitting at a price point at least $100 over
Sony for an equivalent system (more like $180 over Sony at this point), and in
the very hotly contested console gaming market pricing is just about
everything.
Microsoft seems to nearly be throwing in the towel on the HD-DVD front, but I
don't see them not dropping their pricing for the Xbox 360 very quickly in
response to Sony's move here. They have a lead at this point, and I doubt
they really want to relinquish that lead at this time. While they can
argue that they have more 'must have' games, and more killer ap content, that
won't last long given Sony's efforts to pump up the volume in their content
availability.
As I noted earlier in the article here: Thank the higher
power(s) for competition in console gaming everyone should be glad that
there's competition in this market, as it means great things for consumers.
