I think next year MS will drop the price at least on the elite models, the arcade maybe, but if only they know they won't be selling too much of the arcade, and most sales stay the elite model(as to not lose a ton of money doing so) I don't think it would push them over sony world wide if sony is still within $50 of the elite, it didn't before.
Sony won't stand idly by, I can see them doing something like bundling big planet and dropping the price to 279.99.
One would assume MS has more room to cut the price, but no one here really knows how much they're losing on each console. I sense that Sony is much closer to matching cost with ms elite models than they ever have been in terms of production costs (although ps3slim does have that hq fan in it). But no one really knows. Microsoft needs a slim model more than a price cut, changing the color of the case won't do all that much for natal. Things been on the market for almost 5 years, it needs a refresh it's starting to look 'old.'
I will be pissed if Microsoft starts introducing a 'contract' model to console gaming, say you pay for 2 years of live then get a console for $99. I wouldn't put it past them to do it though.
