Comments on: Sony must drop PS3 pricing for Christmas

Don Reisinger thinks Sony's decision to freeze PS3 pricing is misguided. Does he have a point or is Sony doing the right thing?

[jwilson61904]

Ah, someone else perpetuating the myth that the PS3 can?t compete with the Xbox 360 because it?s just too expensive. I have to admit that I also believed this until recently when I began shopping for a 360. This is how the price broke down compared to a comparable PS3.

PS3
Model: 80gb unit $399
*Wireless adapter: included
**Rechargeable Controller: included
Total: $399


Xbox 360
Model 60gb unit $299
*Wireless adapter: $99
**Charger kit for controller: $19
Total: $398 w/o charger kit

As you can see, when comparing apples to apples, price is not an issue. And whereas the lack of a true budget model probably hurts the PS3, the real reason why it can?t compete with the 360 is games. Simply put, the 360 has more good games available. It?s the reason I bought one despite already owning a PS3.

* I included the network adapter because unless you live in a small apartment or have extra network equipment lying around, I see it as a necessity. Everybody that I know who owns a 360 has also purchased the wireless adapter.

** Buying batteries for every 40 hrs of use doesn?t bother me, but it?s a real issue for some people.

[LeCoqSportif]

Here's the situation in Europe :
PS3
Model: 80gb unit ? 409
Internet connection through Broadband connection (Ethernet Connection)
**Rechargeable Controller: included
No backward compatibility
Total: ? 409 = $ 553

Xbox360 Premium
Model 60 gb Unit : ? 239
Special Promo / Discount until Christmas : - ? 40
Internet connection through Broadband connection (Ethernet Connection)
**Rechargeable Controller: included
No backward compatibility
Total with Discount : ? 199 = $ 269,25

I'm not interrested in the Blue-Ray thing. Currently have a Wii (+old Xbox hence backward compatibility) and maybe thinking of buying another console PS3 / Xbox360 for racegames + wheel. Formula1 game is only available for the PS3 but it's outdated : 2007 game with the 2006 season.
The PS3 being more than double the price of the Xbox360 here in mainland Europe doesn't make the PS3 an attractive proposition

[fighter4jc]

Don't forget the extra $30 to $40 for the HDMI or component cables that the PS3 does not come with. No, the wireless adapter is NOT a necessity for the 360. You might as well throw in an extra blu ray player for the 360 while you're at it. The 360 is not trying to match the PS3, it's the other way around. Except for the blu ray player, everything about the PS3 is second rate. 90% of multiplatform games look and play better on the 360, and even after two years, the PS3 still hasn't come out with a true killer app. You can argue about MGS4, but all it did was bring in lifelong sony fanatics.

Of course the "real" reason the PS3 can't compete with the 360 is games! IT'S A GAME CONSOLE, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT THE GAMES! It's like saying the reason a race car keeps on losing is because it's not fast enough, but hey it's got a great stereo and built-in GPS! .

[cabrillo24]

Lets talk about the average consumer looking at buying a next gen system, and is deciding between a 360 and PS3, especially in today's market

PS3
Model: 80gb unit $399
*Wireless adapter: included
**Rechargeable Controller: included
Total: $399

Xbox 360
Core $199
(Optional) Wireless adapter: $65 (ebay)
(Optional, recommended) Charger kit for controller: $12 (ebay)
Hard Drive 20 GB: $25-$45 (ebay)
Final Price w/ options if the consumer wanted all optiont: $321, $256 without the wireless option (a lot of people prefer playing hard wired)

Now keep in mind, for some people that's a big chunk of money at one given time for a gaming system. A parent would be more willing to buy a $199 system at one point, and buy add-ons later on, instead of paying $399 + tax at one given time. Also not everyone plays wireless. I prefer using a hard wired connection with my 360 and PS3 while playing online. I'm not a 360 fan boy, I have all the next gen systems, and the 360 is more economically friendly and will probably outsell the PS3 this holiday season. The PS3 does have the wow factor, and I love the Blu Ray, but it's an expensive model. I don't believe Blu Ray will ever catch on as DVDs did. Steaming video and digital downloads and media centers are probably more likely to catch on IMO.

[jwilson61904]

fighter4jc, I didn't realize that the PS3 doesn't come with an hdmi cable. I've had mine for a couple of years and just didn't remember one way or the other. So, in fairness the cost of an hdmi cable should've been added to the price of the PS3. These cable can be purchased for as little as $5 on amazon, but to be fair I'll say an hdmi cable costs $20. If this is the case the prices are still very close.

As for you're opinion that the wireless network adaptor is not a necessity, that's fine. We just disagree. However, as I explained in my initial post based on the fact that every 360 owner I know has purchased it, I decided to include it.

Finally, my post was not meant to be for or against either platform. I just wanted to point out that if you compare comparbly equiped systems, the price is nearly the same. Therefore, the price isn't the reason that the PS3 is being out sold, but in my opinion it's the number of good exclusive games for the 360 along with possibly the lack of a budget PS3 model that's costing Sony sales.

[NissanSkylineR34]

PS3 $400
Build In Blu-ray
Build In WiFi
Free On Online Play
HDMI Cable cost less then $5 (ebay)
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=so&sbrftog=1&from=R40&satitle=ps3+hdmi&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=95823&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&price=1&saprclo=&saprchi=5&fsop=34%26fsoo%3D1&fgtp=
PS3 have better design

Xbox 360 ($200 Arcade), ($300 Pro), ($400 Elite)
Wireless Adapter $99.99
Xbox Live 12-Month Gold Renewal Card + One Bonus Month for $49.99 (49.99 x 3 years =$149.97)
Xbox 360 Arcade & Xbox 360 Pro does not come with HDMI Cable. You have to buy it separately $$$
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/compare101.htm?WT.svl=nav
Xbox 360 look like a Ugly Desktop Computer
Xbox 360 have a high rate of breaking down with:
-Hardware Failure
-Overheating
-Scratched Discs
-Video failure
-Unplayable Disc Error
-Red Ring of Death (RRoD)
Read the report and watch the video
http://blog.squaretrade.com/2008/02/xbox-fail-rates.html
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175137
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rrod&search_type=&aq=f
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=xbox+360+fail&search_type=
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=360+BREAK+Down&search_type=&aq=-1&oq=

[fmv_hero]

People who work in commission-based stores like future shop and the source for a while most likely have come to realize that it is perfecty (but annoyingly) natural to consider price over benefits..

you probably don't mind skimping for a no-name brand box of spaghettini over the gourmet stuff?
to the consumer, a game console is no different.

[kylebuttermore]

i totally agree, plus the $50 for a gold membership

[Rawnchie14]

Sony doesn't give you a choice on what to buy and what not to buy. You're required to buy all or nothing.

This is where Sony loses miserably. People can buy each XBox360 part one at a time, as they want them. Sure it'll cost more in the long run, but a lot of us end up never buying such useless components (wireless adapter, Blu-ray drive, media card reader, touch buttons). Microsoft is genius for this, because they make more money, make the console easier to manufacture, and give the freedom to users to get the system they want with the features they want with the ability to upgrade if they chose to later. That's why only Sony fan boys cry about the price of a 360, which is funny coming from you guys who bought quite possibly the biggest force-feeding (Blu-ray) abomination in video gaming.

I didn't get the 360 for it's ability to play HD movies, view pictures, or have a flaky wireless connection while gaming. I got it for the games, which I play, most of the time with a wired controller. Don't throw together a price/value comparison. Not everyone values what you do.

[pfletcher]

I think for the casual want to play a game person the hard drive is a moot point, like jwilson says the lack of the entry model will be the killing field. My son has a Wii and after a while it is damn tedious the 'user friendly' interface is sort of hit and miss and $250 for a 360 with Halo 3 is a winner to me....

[Alphaman63]

You also get user-upgradable hard disks in the PS3, something MS won't allow you to do. You can get up to 120GB drives on the 360, but any 2.5" SATA HD on the PS3, which means a max of 500GB today, and more as soon as Maxtor or Seagate or WD or Hitachi come out with them.

It makes for a decent media center for the home, too (in my case, it plays my ripped DVD library, music, photos, and also TV shows recorded on my SageTV PVR all over gigabit ethernet from my server in the computer room.)

And it plays Blu-rays.

And it plays games.

It's really not a bad deal at $399. Could it be better? Maybe. Should it be better, especially with us in the throws of a depression? Sure. But "must" they drop the price? Not necessarily. It can stand on its own, and has sold competitively compared to XBoxes, especially when you look at the whole world, and not just the US. And the world is the marketplace to consider, not just the US.

[Alphaman63]

Oh, and don't forget that you have to pay the $50 annual Microsoft Tax just to get your 360 on the network so you can play games. That's $$$ in your pocket every year you own the PS3. This is a big one consumers should remember when they're buying a console.

PSN: free. XBox Live: ka-ching.

[wcrea6758]

While the hard drive option may be important to some users, the 120Gig hard drive works just fine for most people. And there IS a way to also upgrade its hard drive just as there is with the PS3. It uses a standard laptop HD. The PS3 does not have enough games to give it as strong a foothold as the Xbox 360 commands now. Also, Xbox Live is unargueably the best online interface of all the consoles hands down. I think Sony needs to realize that they cannot continue to enjoy successful sales without lowering its price point just like every other manufacturer has to do when a model has been on the market for while. And stand-alone Blue-ray players are becoming cheaper each month now so this will cut into PS3 sales as well.

[BarnabeeJones]

JWilson hit the nail on the head. Nice Job.

The PS3 is the best console for value vs price. I have to admit though; most people will not look past the price tag at the store. It?s after they open the box, they will come to this realization. Sony is on track to meet there number for the year, they have the best holiday line up of exclusive titles, and the most promising titles in the pipeline. That coupled with value, and I see no reason at all for them lowing there price. I think the fact that so many news outlets picked up on this is a bit of propaganda to try to sway consumers minds.

[Kwasiowusu]

" they have the best holiday line up of exclusive titles"

No they don't.
I'd take Fable II and Gears 2 over LittleBigPlanet and Resistence 2 any time any day.

[much_rockness]

Dan Reisinger, you will always hate Blu-ray. You only talk about their sales when they're down from the week before- you fail to mention that just last week they shattered their previous best weekly sales record by two-fold.

You want further proof that the demand for Blu-ray exists? Google "360 Blu-ray player." Or "iMac Blu-ray player." These rumors exist because people want them to be true.

You criticize PS3 for having Blu-ray and not being a portable format, but there are tons of new releases that give you a portable copy for free that you can transfer to your PMP/PSP etc.

Also, you say people are Sony zealots if they think the static price is the best choice for this holiday, but do you know how bad the economy is affecting businesses? It's not so much affecting just blue collar workers, it's affecting the major corporations. Their bottom line is to not lose money so they can make their shareholders happy, so a pricedrop would really be a stupid move.

You need to watch the Howard Stringer interview on the Charlie Rose show.

And lack of exclusives? What on earth are you smoking? What besides Alan Wake and a Halo expansion pack does MS have for 2009? In comparison, we know Sony has MOUNDS of exclusives coming: God of War 3, Killzone 2, Infamous, Heavy Rain, a game from Team Ico, White Knight Chronicles, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, SOCOM, GT5, MLB The Show (yearly), Uncharted 2, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank sequel, MAG, all of SOE's MMOs, a Rockstar North exclusive, FFXII Versus, Buzz! games, Singstar games, Valkyria Chronicles, Twisted Metal, the list goes on and I just can't name them all, whereas all of the 360's upcoming exclusives after 2008 look frail, both in quantity and quality.

By the end of next year you'll see just how right I was. Sure the 360 might outsell the PS3 for the last couple months of this year, but that's only because they dropped 30% off the price of their cheapest console. Oh, and by the way, their New Xbox Experience, which will be a required update, will require 128MB of storage, so anyone with the Arcade console is going to need more storage right away. And here I thought MS was claiming to be all about choice. Those consumers will have no choice but to upgrade. Why'd they buy the console in the first place? Because it was only $199? But then they're paying $50-100 for a solution, $50 a year just to play Uno online, and suddenly they're realizing they could have gotten a $399 PS3 that has every solution they're looking for, with no online fees and also a Blu-ray player as a bonus- or use PSN to rent HD, or use a media server to stream Netflix, and also use it as a great upscaling player for your DVDs. HD is the future and you might as well not get a 360 because it can't keep up. Even the game storage is showing its age, with so many RPGs coming on multiple discs- it's a hassle having to put disc one in every time. And it's a burden on the game publishers because MS charges large fees for every extra disc your game comes on, which has caused at least one major developer to throw a fit about needing more storage and not being able to afford to design their game the way they originally went into it. (id) I'm wondering if this is also why Remedy has had to delay Alan Wake. Blu-ray's only going to multiply into a bigger and more successful format from here on out. It already is proving to be a big revenue generator for the studios, and the physical stores are backing Blu-ray to succeed over digital downloads for obvious reasons, as are the studios. What is the download revenue for movies- .6% last time I checked, whereas Blu-ray is at about 6-9%. Considering it's only been the official winner of the Blu-ray vs HD DVD format war for 8 months, and also considering that the download revenue percentage is for standard def and HD combined, Blu-ray's kicking someone's butt.

[Kwasiowusu]

Ummm...LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2 are coming out this year, not next year, and those 2 games will be blown out of the water by Fable II and the awesome Gears of War 2.

[ktawlks]

You're also forgetting that because the Call of Duty: World at War beta is exclusive to Xbox 360 they've automatically sealed up 360 as the main console.

[colmanali]

What the F are you guys talking about. I hate when all of the XBOX 360 fan boys come up with there wild card 'game library" to use over and over again. Ok we get it. You guys have more game then us but who cares are you really going to play every single one them. Not to mention just because there is quantity doesn't mean they are quality titles.

Besides I've had the PS3 ever since day one. It was rough at first but I've never complained about not having tons of games to play. I still haven't played all of them and I've been content with the amount of games I've owned and played. Many of I play over and over again.

Hours wise I'm playing about 10-20 hours a week, some weeks better then other. Even at that I can't keep up.

I'll throw in that I've got a WII too, it was cool like the first couple of months. They have tons of games like the 360) but the game play is almost the same on majority of there games. It's almost like they just change the skin of the game and call if something else.

I will add, with tonz of people over the wii is a hit. Play it by your self and you're looking like on of these special needs cases.

I'm done. You can catch me on the PS3 network under: CARALI

[jrunicl]

I totally agree mate and I have the xbox 360 and ps3
Just because the 360 has lots of games doesn't mean that at least half of them aren't rubbish, for example when Microsoft say they have 500 games, they are including all the crappy little mini-games you can download

[ktawlks]

Hold your tongue, there is nothing rubbish about Castle Crashers :)

[K3ADAWG]

wut is ps3 network? NEVER HEARD OF IT :)

K3A DAWG on xbox live.. get at me

[jrunicl]

Just to point out does anybody take into account that these companies compete off of each others prices and this therefore causes problems for gaming companies.
Look it up by the way and you will see that the PS3 is more expensive to produce than the retail cost of one is, therefore sony are not making profit, so why in hells name would they lower the price!

[colmanali]

What the F are you guys talking about. I hate when all of the XBOX 360 fan boys come up with there wild card 'game library" to use over and over again. Ok we get it. You guys have more game then us but who cares are you really going to play every single one them. Not to mention just because there is quantity doesn't mean they are quality titles.

Besides I've had the PS3 ever since day one. It was rough at first but I've never complained about not having tons of games to play. I still haven't played all of them and I've been content with the amount of games I've owned and played. Many of I play over and over again.

Hours wise I'm playing about 10-20 hours a week, some weeks better then other. Even at that I can't keep up.

I'll throw in that I've got a WII too, it was cool like the first couple of months. They have tons of games like the 360) but the game play is almost the same on majority of there games. It's almost like they just change the skin of the game and call if something else.

I will add, with tonz of people over the wii is a hit. Play it by your self and you're looking like on of these special needs cases.

I'm done. You can catch me on the PS3 network under: CARALI

[colmanali]

I didn't mean to post this twice. Sorry guys.

[Kwasiowusu]

"Not to mention just because there is quantity doesn't mean they are quality titles.

The 360 has a lot more games ranked higher at Metacritic, than the PS3

[acslater017]

yes, once you include the the Wi-Fi adapter and wireless controller accessories, the 360 becomes even more expensive than the PS3. Add to that the Xbox Live fees, and it becomes more expensive down the line.

Maybe the PS3 needs to advertise these facts more on the box, or in its ads. It would probably be more effective than its eccentric, enigmatic movie-commercials.

[Kwasiowusu]

Last 4 Weeks Sales, Japan (after 360 price cut) - Media Create
360 61,527
PS3 31,716

The 360 has outsold the PS3 in Japan for 4 straight weeks, since the 360 had a price cut.
If the 360 is outselling the PS3 even in the Playstation stronghold of Japan, where the original XBOX never outsold the PS2 for even one week, then the PS3 is in trouble.

[much_rockness]

Kwasiowusu, 360 was coming off a big pricedrop and a pretty big RPG release. It was way out of the norm, especially when you look at the rest of the year:

March
PS3 - 65k
360 - 9k

April
PS3 - 37k
360 - 6k

May
PS3 - 44k
360 - 8k

June
PS3 - 130k (and it didn't need a pricedrop to do it)
360 - 11k

July
PS3 - 62k
360 - 22k

August
PS3 - 41k
360 - 38k

September
PS3 - 33k
360 - 54k

October (1 week)
PS3 - 7k
360 - 7k

Say byebye to the 360's Japanese sales spike. It lasted 2 months thanks to a rapid set of new releases- a valiant effort- but Japan just hates everything else about it.

[Kwasiowusu]

@ much_rockness : "360 was coming off a big pricedrop and a pretty big RPG release....Say byebye to the 360's Japanese sales spike"

# 1, Infinite Undiscovery was not a big RPG release. It's middling at best. And its a new franchise to boot.

#2. Even in August, before the price cut, the PS3 barely outsold the 360. The difference was just 3k.

# 3. In October's first week, the 360 still outsold the PS3 by 8,271 to 7,232.

# 4. A full 4 weeks after Infinite Undiscovery, the 360 is still outselling the PS3, even tho Infinite Undiscovery has been out of the Japanese top 30 software charts for 2 weeks.

# 5. When the Last Remant is released in November, the 360 has every chance of outselling the PS3 again, and that is one of the high selling holiday months of the year.

# 6. If the 360 sold 38k and 54k in a low selling months like August and September, with Tales of Vesperia and IU, its going to sell a heck of a lot more in the high selling month of November with LR. Plus Fable II is going to do very well in RPG mad Japan, in December.

# 7, The PS3 hit its lowest weekly Media Crate sales figures ever last week, with a new low of 7,232 . So while the 360 is hitting new monthly highs for August and September, the PS3 keeps hitting new weekly lows. At that rate tthe probability of the 360 smoking the PS3 with the release of LR in November, is pretty high.

[Kwasiowusu]

@ much_rockness : "360 was coming off a big pricedrop and a pretty big RPG release....Say byebye to the 360's Japanese sales spike"

# 1, Infinite Undiscovery was not a big RPG release. It's middling at best. And its a new franchise to boot.

#2. Even in August, before the price cut, the PS3 barely outsold the 360. The difference was just 3k.

# 3. In October's first week, the 360 still outsold the PS3 by 8,271 to 7,232.

# 4. A full 4 weeks after Infinite Undiscovery, the 360 is still outselling the PS3, even tho Infinite Undiscovery has been out of the Japanese top 30 software charts for 2 weeks.

# 5. When the Last Remant is released in November, the 360 has every chance of outselling the PS3 again, and that is one of the high selling holiday months of the year.

# 6. If the 360 sold 38k and 54k in a low selling months like August and September, with Tales of Vesperia and IU, its going to sell a heck of a lot more in the high selling month of November with LR. Plus Fable II is going to do very well in RPG mad Japan, in December.

# 7, The PS3 hit its lowest weekly Media Crate sales figures ever last week, with a new low of 7,232 . So while the 360 is hitting new monthly highs for August and September, the PS3 keeps hitting new weekly lows. At that rate tthe probability of the 360 smoking the PS3 with the release of LR in November, is pretty high.

I think you are in denial, and living in dreamlnd.

[Mashimato]

You do know that White Knight Chronicles will out sell both in Japan right, when was the last time you were in Akihabara?

Just like the Wii doesn't need to bring down the price to sell their units, the pressure for Sony to bring down the price of PS3 is not necessary to reach their sales target for the year. As an investor to both Sony and Microsoft shares, I'm still kind of nerved that the Xbox 360 division is still making nothing but losses on the whole, while the Playstation division is one of seven divisions tied together that is making a profit money as a whole. Sony is still subsidizing the console a great deal just to bring it to market, this is a company working to maintain a brand, not bring it down by making it look cheap.

[Kwasiowusu]

@ Mashimato : "the pressure for Sony to bring down the price of PS3 is not necessary to reach their sales target for the year"

The PS3 just had its lowest weekly sales in Jaoan last wee,k even as the 360 hit its highest August and November sales figures ever.
No question the PS3 is feeling the pressure.

"I'm still kind of nerved that the Xbox 360 division is still making nothing but losses on the whole, while the Playstation division is one of seven divisions tied together that is making a profit money as a whole"

The 360 business made a solid profit last fiscal year that ended in June.
On the other hand, the PS3 made a massive loss of $3 Billion in Sony's last fiscal year.
Stop spewing out Sony disinformation, lies and propaganda, dude.

[RAL45]

If you put the PS3 and 360 politics aside and look at the numbers you could see why Don feels that Sony needs a price drop. We are in a negative economy and that is certainly going to make regular person evaluate price more than they have since the three consoles have come out. In my opinion the core systems of 360 and PS3 both still need to come down a little further.

[lixxil]

I believe Sony will drop the price before Christmas but of course they will deny it. The reason why they will keep saying the WON"T drop the price is because if they DO it NOW, people will wait til the day instead of the price reduction instead of buying it perhaps on an impulse or finally realizing that they won't drop the price for you so you might as well get it now.

With LBP and R2 coming out very shortly they really don't need to drop the price, those games should carry enough weight, but only for the first 2 weeks then the 360 should pick up steam again.

I think Sony shot themselves in the foot and they are dancing around, we only see the dancing, we never saw the reason why they came to dance. Yea whateva.

[lixxil]

I didn't make much sense. Start again. If SONY say YES we will drop the price before Christmas, then no one will buy it until that price drop occurs, if people are unaware of a future price drop then they should continue to shop without questioning.

[Mark_stone]

Lix, I'm in agreement with you 90%. Right premise, wrong reason.. I do believe Sony will drop the price, but right now, why should they? They've got THREE games (anda possible 4th) that they're hoping are system sellers. LBP, Socom, R2, and Dead Space.

Why not wait to see if they need to drop the price tag after the numbers come in on those games. If these games move systems, no need to cut the price yet.

The "upcoming' Price cuts that were announced by MS in the x-box's were a major problem with why they didn't sell better... "We're cutting our prices later... but buy now!" doesn't work in the market, as MS found out first time around.

[Atlantean]

Don Reisinger, I have to be honest with you, I think you should either brush up your blog or simply stop writting altogether. Allow me to explain such a blunt statement.
I know a blog is supposed to state opinions, but if you want to be taken seriously, you need to make it more balanced.
Posts like the new SEGA console made people laugh. Hard. Then the "Will it work? I can guarantee that it will." on the Apple laptops pricedrop? It gets even harder to take you seriously, as these are quite arrogant statements. And reviews like the one for the Godfather on Blu-ray?
Sure, they're opinions, but they're either quite shallow, or one-sided. The best blogs I read are either impartial or, if they do intent to reflect an opinion, they're quite more balanced at first, pointing out ALL pros and cons, and then state their opinion withOUT comments like "Uh huh. Keep dreaming, Sony.". Nobody likes arrogance, and that's why sometimes people aren't so friendly towards you in their comments.
And if you don't give a crap about the opinions of those who read you, that doesn't make you cool. It makes you lonely in the cyber world.

Seriously, rethink how you explain your opinions to the public. You're on Cnet, and you sound like the least professional blogger here to me. Seriously, no offense.

[strongbad71]

I don't know, the $399 price for the 80GB model sold me. I finally bought one, and yes, it has the wireless chargeable controller and WiFi built in. My friend bought the 360 and ended up spending more after buying all that extra crap that it doesn't come with.

And I have a great Blu-Ray player that is software upgradeable. Basically for free.

I think the the average PS3 buyer is not a parent buying it for their 7 year old like an Atari 2600 years ago. The Wii is the new 'Atari'. Wii has more kid games and more kid friendly interfaces. The PS3 is a serious machine and the serious consumer will be able to see the value in $399. The 360 is nice, but I couldn't see paying the same overall $399 price WITHOUT a Blu-Ray player.

[socrateos]

No matter how low XBox's price may become, you still cannot play LBP.
The only way to play LBP is to own a PS3.

[Kwasiowusu]

Yeah?
The only way you can play the superb Fable II and Gears 2 is on the 360.
You can't play either game on the PS3.
And you can pay a very low $200 for a 360 and still play those games.
It's a no brainer.

[Carlox1]

Don should be more professional, and less unpartial, and more objetive, he is always making polemic with things that he made on is mind, and according his personal preferences(360)

[mmntech]

The PS3 even at $399 is still a better value than the Xbox 360 Elite at the same price. However, the value gap has narrowed with the elimination of a lot of features when they shifted to the 40gb SKU. I'm quite happy I bought the 60gb last year at $449, which I still consider to be the top of the line model.

Sony should probably cut the 40gb by $50 to bring it more in line with the 360 Premium. The one console that really needs a price drop though is the Wii. Sure it's selling like hotcakes, but from a value perspective, it's expensive. It should be no more than $199. Same goes for the DS, which should only be $99.

[bacinbiz]

Hey I agree with the editior on Sony not dropping their price for the holidays, it would definantly help with their sales, what I don't agreed with is he is saying that blu-ray won't be enough to sell the PS3 if that is true then why is Microsoft talking about a blu-ray player for the Xbox 360. Another thing I want to mention everyone is talking about the 200 dollar Xbox 360 what they fail to mention is that it DOESN'T include a harddrive for you to save all that next gen gaming you'll be doing that is if you don't get the red rings of death like I did 3 TIMES. I'm sorry PS3 does have to lowere their price, but Xbox is no gaming console hero in book