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The Xbox 360 Pro (aka Premium) will now cost $50 less.

(Credit: Microsoft)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about rumors that Microsoft was planning to chop the Xbox 360's price in July. Well, that price cut was all but confirmed today by Kotaku.

After posting leaked photos of upcoming Best Buy, Kmart, and other circulars, the gaming blog now has a GameStop employee's cell-phone snapshots of shelf art and an internal memo announcing that the Xbox 360 Pro (aka the Premium) would drop to $299.99 on Sunday, July 13. Not coincidentally, E3 kicks off the next day with--you guessed it--Microsoft's press conference.

As Sony's PlayStation 3 has come on strong in recent months, sales of the Xbox 360 have been flat, so a price drop seemed likely. The success of Metal Gear Solid 4 continues to give the PS3 a boost, but chances are Sony, too, will have to trim the price of its console before the holiday buying season.

All that said, the big question remains whether Microsoft will announce any new configurations of the Xbox 360. Rumor has it, the company is just using the price drop to clear out inventory of the 20GB Premium before it brings out a new 60GB version. (Of course, if you're willing to take a chance on a refurbished Premium, you can do significantly better than $300). There's no word on whether the Xbox 360 Elite or the Arcade (no hard drive) will also get $50 snips or whether a flagship model with a built-in Blu-ray drive is really in the works.

Personally, I'd like to see Microsoft get rid of the useless Arcade and reduce the number of Xbox 360 choices down to two to avoid confusing consumers. Anybody else want to guess what Microsoft has up its sleeve next week and what Sony's next move will be?

The chatter for a July price chop gets louder.

(Credit: Microsoft)

With Metal Gear Solid 4 finally available for the PlayStation 3, it doesn't take a genius to predict that the PS3 is going to get a boost from having a hit console-exclusive title under its belt. Nevertheless, analysts are boldly proclaiming change is asunder. Sony's got the Big Mo--as in momentum--while Microsoft's got the big Slo--as in demand for its Xbox 360 is slowing down. Which inevitably means the price-cut rumors are getting the Big Sto--as in stoke those flames, baby.

Joystiq is reporting that EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich, "Believes the PS3 is going to keep increasing its sales and Microsoft will announce a price cut for the Xbox 360 at E3" next month. And in another shocker, Divnich, "Foresees the PS3 gaining momentum and claims Metal Gear Solid 4 will actually have a greater impact on the console's hardware sales than Grand Theft Auto IV did." God, these guys are good.

The post goes on to note that the "Xbox 360 could also get a new hardware SKU with added features" (Blu-ray anyone?) and that Divnich claims that "if Microsoft does cut the price, Sony will respond with a drop of its own within two months." Unfortunately, Divnich doesn't predict exactly what the price cut will be, but I'm saying $50 across the board, with the XBox 360 Elite dropping to $399.99, the Premium (20GB) to $299.99 and the Arcade (no hard drive) hitting $249.99 or even less. It's about time someone matches the Wii's pricing, right?

Anyway, feel free to predict your own pricing scenarios and new models in the comments section.

(Credit: Crave Asia)

Microsoft is ratcheting up the battle against rivals Sony and Nintendo in the hotly contested Asian market, cutting the price of its Xbox 360 between 5 percent and nearly 20 percent in four areas throughout the region.

The price of the 20GB model was cut 17 percent in Taiwan, 10.7 percent in Hong Kong, and 5 percent in South Korea. The steepest reduction was made in Singapore, where that version of the gaming console dropped 19.5 percent and the company cut the price of two other models: The 120GB Elite was reduced 12.5 percent and the Arcade, which has no hard drive, was cut by 13 percent.

At the same time, Sony went in the opposite direction in Singapore and raised prices for its 40GB PlayStation 3 to $394. Nintendo, for its part, said late last week that it had no plans to cut prices on either the Wii console or its DS handheld in any regions.

"This price drop is part of Microsoft's ongoing strategy to bring Xbox's high-definition gaming and entertainment experience to an even wider user base," Microsoft said in a statement. The move follows price reductions up to 28 percent in some European markets last month.

Advanced Micro Devices officially announced on Wednesday an updated Phenom chip line amid severe price pressure from Intel.

As expected, AMD has updated its triple-core Phenom X3 processors with the "50" series. The 8450, 8650, and 8750 models will replace and supplement the current 8400 and 8600. The newer models contain a fix for an extremely rare "TLB" bug.

The Phenom X3 8750 (2.4GHz) processor is priced at $195, the 8650 (2.3GHz) at $165, and the 8450 (2.1GHz) at $145.

AMD also announced a low-power quad-core Phenom X4 9100e processor that has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) or thermal envelope of 65 watts, compared with the 95 watts of standard X4 processors.

AMD Phenom processors with the new X3 models in bold.

(Credit: AMD)

AMD is looking to bundle the Phenom X3 chips with its 780 graphics silicon in low-cost gaming PCs. Hewlett-Packard and Gateway are currently using Nvidia graphics in their consumer boxes that use Phenom X3 chips.

According to AMD, the X3 platform offers the best balance of processor and graphics: "On one side, we have Nvidia saying that the only thing that matters is graphics. On the other side, Intel is saying that the only thing that matters is the processor. (AMD offers) a balanced platform that doesn't overemphasize one really expensive component over another really expensive component," said Brent Berry, product marketing manager for AMD.

But things may have just gotten a lot tougher for the No. 2 processor maker in the higher-end quad-core segment. Intel on Sunday cut prices on quad-core processors by up to 50 percent, undermining--or in some cases eliminating--AMD's price advantage.

"This product cycle is already discounted," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at CRT Capital Group. "This puts additional pressure on AMD."

Intel's price cuts brought its quad-core Q6700 (2.66GHz) down from $530 to $266 and its Q6600 (2.4GHz) from $266 to $224. The latter is now priced below AMD's top-line quad-core Phenom 9850 (2.5GHz), which is listed at $235.

"With a 16 percent price cut, the Q6600 is now undoubtedly the processor of preference for a budget quad-core system," review site Hexus said.

Intel posted price cuts on Sunday that included reductions of 50 percent on select quad-core processors. The chipmaker also introduced new Celeron and Core 2 Duo processor models.

Intel Core 2 Quad processor

(Credit: Intel)

The price of the Core 2 Quad Q6700 (2.66GHz) fell 50 percent from $530 to $266, while the quad-core Xeon X3230 (2.66GHz) saw an identical cut: from $530 to $266.

Celeron price-cut highlights include the Celeron 430 (1.8GHz), reduced 23 percent from $44 to $34 and the dual-core Celeron E1200 (1.6GHz), falling 19 percent from $53 to $43.

The dual-core Xeon 3085 (3GHz) was reduced 29 percent from $266 to $188, and the Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3GHz), from $266 to $183, or 31 percent.

Pentium dual-core chips saw price drops too: The E2200 (2.2GHz) and E2180 (2GHz) were cut 12 percent and 14 percent to $74 and $64, respectively.

The chipmaker introduced the dual-core Celeron E1400 (2GHz) at a price of $53 and Celeron 570 (2.66GHz) at $134.

New Core 2 Duo chips were also introduced. The E8300 (6MB cache, 2.83GHz) and the E7200 (3MB cache, 2.53GHz) at $163 and and $133, respectively.

The new 40GB PS3: Are the compromises worth the reduced price tag?

(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)

The rumors were true, almost to the letter. Sony Europe has confirmed the existence of a new entry-level PlayStation 3. Scheduled to hit stores on the Continent on October 10, the new PS3 has been stripped down to hit a lower price point: it's got a smaller 40GB hard drive, no built-in flash media reader, and two (rather than four) USB ports. But the biggest change appears to be the loss of backward compatibility with PS2 games. Sony's release specifies that "[t]he new model is no longer backwards compatible with PlayStation 2 titles, reflecting both the reduced emphasis placed on this feature amongst later purchasers of PS3, as well as the availability of a more extensive lineup of PS3 specific titles (a total of 65 titles across all genres by Christmas)." That seems to counter conventional wisdom, since the newer PS3s were already said to be using software emulation (rather than an actual PS2 Emotion Engine chip) to play older games. In brighter news, the new PS3s retain Blu-ray playback, HDMI output, and onboard Wi-Fi.

The 40GB PS3 will retail for £300 in the U.K. and €400 across continental Europe. The existing 60GB PS3--which retains backwards compatibility--remains on the market with a price cut and a new bundle as well. There's no official word for those of us outside Europe, but it's a safe bet that PS3 sales in North America will crawl to a standstill as consumers wait for the other price-cut shoe to drop on this side of the Pond. The expected price tag will be $400--a huge bargain, considering the current weakness of the American dollar.

Of course, the PS3 had already seen a de facto price cut to $500 just a few months ago, but the PS3 has yet to generate a Halo-like hit for hardcore gamers or connect with mainstream audiences like the red-hot (and much cheaper) Nintendo Wii. Despite a couple of recent hits (Warhawk, Heavenly Sword), With keystone exclusives such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and now Unreal Tournament III pushed back to 2008, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune seems to be the only hotly anticipated PS3 exclusive slated to hit this fall. In short, Sony needs to generate some excitement in the meantime, and the prospect of a $400 PS3 just in time for the holidays sounds like a perfect recipe. Whether or not the backward compatibility issue will sour the deal remains to be seen.

What do you think: is the (presumably imminent) PS3 worth $400, or is the dearth of backward compatibility a deal breaker?

On Monday, Sony announced a $100 price cut for the 60GB PlayStation 3, taking the console's retail price down to $499. Since many gamers saw the PlayStation 3 as too expensive at its previous retail price of $599, Sony's decision was widely praised. Unfortunately, the $499 60GB PS3 isn't going to last, because Sony has just confirmed that the company is no longer producing 60GB PS3s.

On the same day the price cut was announced, Sony announced a new 80GB PS3, a console that will be bundled with Motorstorm and will retail for $599, the same as the first. The price cut for the 60GB PS3 was never intended to be a permanent cut for the product; it was only intended to clear out stock for the new version to be sold at the old price. GameSpot has reported that Kaz Hirai, Sony Computer Entertainment's CEO and President, has confirmed in a video interview that the 60GB PS3s are no longer in production, and that all new PS3s will be 80GB models to be sold at $599.

When E3 kicked off, everyone was pretty excited about Sony and the new $499 PS3. Sony had a $499 PS3 before, but it was a slightly scaled-down, 20GB version that was discontinued back in April. Now it seems like Sony's doing the exact same thing with the 60GB PS3 (originally the high-end model) that they did with the 20GB: kick it out the door and make sure the only available PS3 will sell for $599 a pop. Considering the biggest complaint leveled against the PlayStation 3 has been its price, this was simply a terrible decision.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America's director of corporate communications David Karraker told GameSpot, "This is absolutely not a bait and switch," he said. "We are offering a full-featured PS3 for $100 lower than the original price and will do so for months to come, allowing consumers the opportunity to acquire this model at this adjusted price."

For many gamers, even $499 is too much for a console. The Elite version of the Xbox 360 retails for $479, and it includes a 120GB hard drive (though it lacks the PS3's Wi-Fi support, Blu-ray drive, or media reader). The Premium version of the Xbox 360 only costs $399, and the Nintendo Wii only $250. The supposed $499 price was seen as a concession by Sony that, yes, the PS3 cost too much. Suddenly saying that they're just clearing out stock and that the only PlayStation 3 they're currently producing will still retail for $599 is utter madness.

The decision alone is made even worse by the timing. Today is the last day of E3 2007, and the entire expo is being capped off by confirmation that the PS3 price cut won't last. Nearly every media outlet is going to mention the price uncut in their expo wrap-up. Everyone is walking away from Santa Monica with the $599 PS3 back in their heads.

It's also Friday the 13th, but that might just be coincidence.

In its ongoing battle with rival Intel, AMD announced the latest round of desktop CPU price cuts today. According to the list the company shared with us this morning, the price cuts mean that all of the company's dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processors will be priced at less than $200, with the top-end Athlon 64 X2 6000+ now selling for $178. The two low-end models in AMD's dual-core line, the Athlon X2 3600+ and 3800+, have been dropped, making the Athlon X2 4000+ the new entry-level dual-core model at $73.

In the high-end Athlon 64 FX line, strangely both the FX-72 and FX-74 now sell for the same price of $599 a pair. AMD's single-core Athlon 64 chips now range in price from $48 (Athlon 64 3200+) to $78 (Athlon 64 4000+). The budget Sempron line now starts at $31 for the Sempron 3200+ chip and goes up to $53 for the Sempron 3800+. It's hard to see how there's room for single-core processors when prices for nearly half of AMD's dual-core Athlon 64 X2 chips have crept well below the $100 mark.

Prices for AMD's mobile chips remain unchanged.

For its part, Intel is expected to cut prices on July 22 for its quad-core desktop and server chips prior to AMD's Barcelona introduction in August. 'Round and 'round we go.

Well that was quick.

Back in February, Sony said the Blu-ray player to be released this summer would sell for $599. On Monday, Sony said the BDP-S300, which is now shipping, will actually sell for $499 instead. The latest version is slimmer than the original, but with many of the same features.

Considering that the original Sony Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1, was released just six months ago for $1,000, that's a pretty swift price drop. Though Sony attributed the price cut to lower production costs and higher demand for the Blu-ray technology, it's also an indication that the HD DVD-versus-Blu-ray battle is just getting started.

Toshiba's HD DVD player is already retailing for less than $300, after its debut at $500.