A relatively cheap PS3 Slim is inbound. Let's talk Microsoft's response.

[Dodece]

I find the lack of imagination in this thread to be disconcerting. Everyone has a pricing fetish right now, and is overlooking other real possibilities. Microsoft used pricing to their advantage last year. That doesn't mean that is the only place to find a real advantage. Perhaps the pricing advantages are already spent now that all consoles are at or below the $300 threshold.

I think what Microsoft needs is a response in the software. They could expand the Prime Time idea. Get more game shows, and interactive community experiences lined up for this fall. Tie those in with popular programs. That could be a massive casual attraction.

They could also do a software saturation campaign in one of the coming months. Just suddenly announce a few high end exclusive games out of nowhere and release them with massive advertising campaigns. Instant killer apps could do a hell of a lot of damage especially if they had massive budgets.

Perhaps they could release a exclusive massive title. That would be a real attention grabber for sure. Especially if it is a very good one. Microsoft has tried to fund an exclusive one in the past. I am not entirely sure they have even given up on the notion.

Anyway there is a lot of possibilities if you actually think outside of the wallet. In fact a lot of the other possibilities might even be more effective at a certain point price stops being the major issue. What Microsoft really needs to be doing is moving far ahead in software right now.

Here is hoping that tomorrow Microsoft shows something more along these lines. I think money spent on title development would go a lot further for them now.