I wanna know when $50 became such a big that the opening post could say that the 360 is "much cheaper" 3 times and throw in a 'PS3 is much more expensive' to boot in such a short post. $50 doesn't even fully pay for one HD game. MS needs the price drop just to let people know that their product is cheaper at all, because most people don't see a significant difference between $350 and $400, and most people wouldn't touch the Arcade because it's an inferior piece of hardware.
That said, anyone expecting a miracle from this price drop should tone it down a bit. The Arcade at $200 simply isn't going to do it, as most consumers simply don't want that product. If the consumer as a whole sees the $400 PS3 as a better deal than the $350 X360 pro, just imagine how little value they assign to the arcade. They might be in under the sweet spot (which has really been $250 since the iPod took off), but they are only offering a gimped product at that price. A lot of consumers aren't even going to think twice about buying the Arcade. Really, the only audience that might get lured in by it en mass is the audience that wants a Wii instead.
360 sales will not be taking off much from here, though they will probably win a few more weeks in NA through the holiday season. It won't ever "take off," as it has really done about as well as expected. This year is the system's peak/plateau, and while they may do virtually the same business next year after that it's going to be a fairly rapid decent.
You do not have the right to never be offended.
