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This past week has seen a multitude of rumours spreading from both online forums, and industry insiders, over price drops for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. But are any of them true, and at the end of the day, does it really matter when the Wii is kicking so much hardware sales ass?

The talks f a price cut for the PS3 have emerged solely from Internet forums, and seem to be insistent that the console is due for a reduction in price to £299. And this will reportedly be announced by Sony on or around January 28th, which is next Monday by my reckoning.

A couple of things point to a possible reduction in price for Sony’s behemoth of a games console. For starters, there is the white PS3 coming to the States, which despite Sony denying is going to happen, I would put good money on. What better way to introduce the new colour of console than by coupling its launch with a well publicised price cut?

There is also the fact that Sony have managed to reduce the cost of manufacturing a PS3 from $800 at launch to just $400 now. Okay, they’d still be losing money for every console they sell, but it’s less of a loss, which is a start.

The Xbox 360 has been rumoured to be due a price cut too, this time by an unnamed source. He/she/they claim that Microsoft plans to drop the price by $49 to coincide with the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

This does make sense, because a lot of PS2 and original Xbox owners would jump generations to play the new GTA, when it finally comes out. Microsoft have denied the claims, but I wouldn’t bet against it.

Both consoles are now selling better than they were this time last year, but they’re both still being kicked repeatedly in the gonads by the Nintendo Wii. A good bit of price cutting never hurt hardware sales figures, so expect them sooner rather than later, regardless of whether the rumours are just bullshit or not.

[Source: Gamer.Blorge]

PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Price Cuts, Rumors, Games, Grand Theft Auto 4, GTA IV