Sony's first move: Cut current PS3 to $299?

Old PS3, new, lower price?

(Credit: Sony)

With rumors flying that Sony will make some sort of PS3-related announcement tomorrow at the Gamescom Expo in Cologne, Germany, we've been going over possible scenarios here at CNET in New York.

If you've been following the situation, you're probably aware that a lot of people are hoping that Sony will bring out a brand-new slimmed-down version of the PS3 and price it at $299. However, given that Sony--or more precisely, retailers--are probably sitting on a stockpile of current-generation PS3s, a new PS3 Slim hitting store shelves at $299 doesn't seem all that likely.

The reality is that Sony needs to cut the price on current systems to make room for anything new that might be coming out. So while it could announce a new PS3 in Cologne, it might actually cost the same as current systems but feature, say, a higher-capacity hard drive (160GB). Just as importantly, the current 80GB system would get the price chop to $299.

This scenario would be similar to what we saw when Sony announced the PSP Go, which will actually cost more ($250) when it comes out in October than the current PSP ($170).

Of course, I could be completely wrong, but I'm going to stick my neck out and say that if anything goes down on Tuesday, it's going to start with a price cut on the current console.

Anybody else want to make a different call?

Additional reading: PS3 Slim fervor hard to fathom