Maybe for PS3, but I don't think a 360 pricecut will do that much. It already has a model as much as the Wii, and that doesn't seem to make a difference, plus the console is a year older than the others so I think it is just reaching natural decline.

Kinect itself is like a new console. Which is $299 atm, that's what'll be pushing 360's this xmas, so lots of room for price cuts. If MS thinks it can put them at #1 WW then I'm pretty sure the price cut is going to do something good.

So are Wii with Balance Board and WiiMote Plus and PS3 with Move like new consoles too?

What both (MS and Sony) really need is to earn as money as possible to pay for the research of their next consoles. So to keep they price as it is right now is a good idea at least until September.

Totally agree, I think if one of the two make a price cut the other will follow close behind. I think they are both waiting till right before holiday shopping begins. Probably a $50 cut for both.

I wonder if this will be the first time that they have price cuts in tandem versus alternate years? This could be giving both companies reason to pause, as they could be forfeiting revenue with both price cuts cancelling each other out.

Not really, no. At least, not yet.

They're down slightly YoY, but the Wii is down more. And we haven't had an enormous number of high-quality games releasing early in the year.

The holiday season is packed with both exclusives and multiplats, and sales for both platforms will explode in Q4. So, it would be a good idea to cut prices just before then - in August or September. The Wii could well outsell them through the summer, but that will change with the onset of the holiday season, even without a price cut (and the lack of a price cut, especially for PS3, is pretty much impossible at this stage).

Nope. Move isn't catering to a new audience and balance board was catering to the existing one.

Quite a narrow criterium to define a new console, but I guess that providing them isn't the main goal of marketing buzz. But be it. What gen does it belong to?

I didn't say it was a new console, I said it's like one. Given that it's appealing to a brand new demographic, and as MS said, given the 360 a shot in the arm, that's pretty much true.