All signs are pointing to a new, smaller 360 sometime this year...then there are rumors about a price drop...then there´s Natal.

No one knows how successful Natal will be, but you can be sure the MS marketing machine will put full force behind it, trying to make sure it has a much bigger impact than the PS Move.

Well, if all of the above turns out to be true, MS has got a serious TRIO here....new, smaller 360 + price cut + Natal.

How can Sony really counter that trio?...GT5 will be huge no doubt, but is it really enough?....what about a PS3 price drop?....it seems Sony will FINALLY see profitability with the PS3 this year, so I don´t think they´re too eager for another price drop, but you never know.

I'm sure Sony has something up it's sleeve. We'll just have to wait and see what E3 brings.

1. To combat Halo: Reach, GT5 should suffice. GT5 may not be as front-loaded as Halo, but it has the benefit of being the first main title to hit the PS3.

2. To combat Natal, Sony needs to have killer software for Move and advertise it very well. It also must be priced reasonably.

3. And finally, to counter the 360 slim, Sony can do another revision and drop the price. But they need to be quick.

IF  (< big if) That happends Sony still has Move, rumours of 3D and a lot of games that have been kept under wraps for a while (Twisted Metal, The last guardian etc...) i think they will be ok :)

I actually think that this

"2. To combat Natal, Sony needs to have killer software for Move and advertise it very well. It also must be priced reasonably."

will be the other way around. I have yet to see a single good demo of a Natal game other than hitting the ball game. So as of now, I think it's Natal that needs a good line up for E3

I really have no idea why Natal is such a big deal. I mean Sony has something very similar to Natal (complete with a lot of the ball minigames and other such things that were in the natal tech demo) called the eyetoy. It was gimicky and very few people really used it.

Controllers with buttons (though less buttons) that track movement are a vastly superior solution that is applicable to way more game types. I loved playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii but couldn't imagine games like that on Natal. What am I going to do, use my finger as a gun?

The preview stuff for Move looks awesome to boot. Especially that fighting game they keep showing. I think the onus really falls more on MS this year to prove theres any compelling reason to own a 360 besides more rehash of the same space marine series. With Heavy Rain, God of War III, Move and soon Gran Turismo all the buzz is on the Sony side of things lately, and I don't really see that changing this year.

I find it highly unlikely that the 360 will be anything better then 4th in Worldwide sales and has a chance of dropping to 5th behind the PSP.

Yeah Move must be advertised aggressively in order to compete with natal.
Eyetoy's failed because Sony did not spend alot of money advertising it
so i hope Move will not follow Eyetoy's footsteps. Pls Sony dun fail this time xD

Im guessin Colours, personally.

Either that, or a $50 cut.

249 ps3.

the xbox already is cheap in the 100 range and has less sales.

gt5.

1.  When Move is able to track more than 2 small points in space, let me know.  Natal can track 48 points on a person in 3D space.

2.  Crackdown 2, Halo: Reach, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell, and I'm sure many more games will be plenty to counter any Sony game lineup.  So far this year the buzz has seemed pretty neutral or mostly leaning towards MS side with Mass Effect 2, slim rumors, etc.

3.  360 will have a slim + natal + price cut waiting for it this year.  PS3 will have no price cut at all.  Especially if they want to bundle Move with a console (which may even see the entry prices go higher).

Unlike you, I find it highly unlikely that the 360 will be lower than 3rd worldwide (above PS3 and below the Wii).  That you mentioned it had a chance of slipping below the PSP I hope was surely just a joke, because otherwise it would just make the rest of what you put seem a bit biased and illogical.