Those who dont believe the credit crunch will affect Sony's sales over the christmas are EXTREMELY dillusional. It doesnt matter how many kids cry for the console, at it's current price it will do seriously less numbers than the other 2.

To give you an idea of just how bad the cruch is on a global scale, the Formula 1 recently is looking worrying. With reports of Electronic engine management firms on the verge of pulling out (amongst others.) Heres an article from ITV website in UK.

http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?Type=General&id=44027

The problem Sony will face is that money is getting increasingly more difficult to juggle (even before the crunch) and the crunch has not reached it's lowest ebb yet. The price needs to drop by more than $50 in america to have an impact this holiday or we may see the PS3 sales lack the increase that the other 2 will have over the same period.

I'm just hoping things don't go so far downhill that $199 starts to seem expensive to Christmas shoppers.

it managed to sell over 4.9 million last christmas on the same price.
this game with games it will manage to make the same.

the problem this year is that it is just getting too high for people even for christmas

I hope you're right.  Consumer confidence is very low right now, and the consoles really don't need a slump in sales just before Christmas.

1/ what is the link between Sony and F1 ?? (plz)

2/ if sony drop the price = more lose for us them (lol) = very BAD

3/ no need of price cut

Sony is trying to make "understand" that next gen begin in 2009 with the 300$ PS3.

That is why they are so calm ... they are in the defensive/resistant phase.

Expect Sony/Xbox360 to be very close this Xmas (like last year)

While the software will certainly give it a boost this year, It's not completely out of the question to assume most people that are willing to pay $400 for a PS3 already have one.

You are completely missing the point. As a parent myself and not on that bad of an income (we actually have 2) I can tell you parents just will not pay that this christmas. Some will, but you should REALLY take this monetary crisis seriuosly. Banking has been changed forever by whats happened (and is still happening). LAst years christmas can in no way even remotely be looked at for predictions of this year. It's now a completely different ball game. I'm not talking about what games one console has or doesnt have.

I'm talking as is the entire financial industry WW that this christmas all companies are expecting the worst sales for over 25 years. The higher priced items will be severely affected more. This years holiday sales are more about price than it is about games.

 @ your point number 1. That is the most nieve comment Ive ever seen. The F1 financially has always been untouchable. F1 is WW. If the crunch is seriuosly about to affect that sport, it shows how the crunch is far worse than people realise. Price will be a huge factor over the next 2 years. Most analysts predict the worst (or lowest point of the crunch) to be midway through next year. The problems could be around for 2 years yet.

Selnor... not to under-sell how bad things are, but this isn't the worst financial crisis in the past 30 years.  95% of mortgages are solvent... it's the darned leveraging of the 5% that's killing the financial institutions.  My worry is over retirement funds and lack of consumer/investor confidence.  Sometimes it seems like we're a bunch of sheep running to and fro at the smallest scare.  Yeah, this is a big, bad problem, but we'll pull through in a few months.  I'm just worried that people will panic and start to take the retail sector down as well. :-/

Sorry... had to get that off my chest.

OT: This year may be a struggle for all the consoles to even match last years sales, but you do have a point regarding the more expensive a console is, the harder the sale this year.