I think the real question is who would benefit the most from a price cut...

I'm not sure a Xbox360 price cut would change things as much as most people hope, it's not like it's the most expensive console on the market right now and the console has been out for over 2 years with most of the previous gen big franchises already out or about to be. ( Ninja Gaiden 2 and Fable 2 coming soon) so you would expect most of the fan boys or adopters of the previous gen to have bought one already...

And honestly would 300$ instead of 350$ changes things that much ? It would have to be a deep cut to attract drove of new customers...( 150$ would do it, can they ?).

At PS3 price point you can still make a case that the price is probably preventing a lot more individuals to buy one so a price cut ( would have to be 100$ again) could indeed increase the current momemtum of the console especially with Blue Ray victory ( price cut would price the console the same price as most Blue Ray players) and the incoming exclusives...

PS : There's people that study this but price has a psychological effect at certain points based on customers, they should be able to say this better than I.

All I know is personnaly spending 350$ or 300$ doesn't seem much different, but spending 250$ instead of 300$ seems a lot cheaper while if you do the maths it ain't !.

Dropping the PS3 from 500 Euros to 400 Euros( only 1 SKU in europe right now) definitly had a psychological effect because suddenly you were under the 500 euro barrier by a lot.

350 Euro doesn't seem a lot different from 400 honestly. 300 would howere mark a huge difference...( if I'm willing to spend 250 Euros, I can see in a stretch spending 300, 350 no way however...)

Anyway at this point seeing the momentum they have, Sony doesn't have any incentive in cuting their price before the Holyday season ( October sounds good to fuel another higher Holyday season), if they cut their price before it most likely will be to react to a Microsoft cut...( the more Sony waits the bigger the cut they can do and a 100$ cut would have a much bigger effect than 2 50$ cuts..).

I think in the meantime a strong US bundle would do the job as well. They are trying new bundles in UK so I woudn't be surprised if we get something new in the next months in the US...

The bundles I would kill for right now is the following  :

Lord of the Ring Blue Ray extended edition with a PS3.

It ain't gonna happen though as Lord of the Ring wasn't distributed and produced by Sony and a Lord of the Ring Blue Ray woudn't need a bundle to sell well.

I doubt we will see any GTA4 bundle either as that franchise doesn't need a bundle to sell well ( bundle would sell more consoles but not more GTA4).

It's more efficient to bundle software whose sales you want to push, especially when pushing a new franchise like was the case with Motorstorm ( or pushing sales of old titles first party/second party titles) like they are doing in UK right now..

A MGS4 bundle is a possibility, it's a huge franchise but not GTA huge so a bundle would help software sales a little and it's a case where Sony might want to give some kickback to Konami........ 

The ball is in Microsoft's court. The longer they wait to drop the price, the better it is for the PS3 and Sony. The longer they have at this price point, the easier it will be to slash 100 bucks. So stay stingy, MS! :)

Just to add my thoughts to the pile of kindling:

Wii: The Wii will most likely not see a price cut this year. The most likely scenario is that new colors would be introduced to stir interest in Japan and Eu if/when it begins to fall. But they won't cut price until the console stops selling so quickly as there is simply no reason to.

If we do see a price cut this year it almost certainly will not be in the US or probably even NA in general. Demand seems strongest there so it will take the most change in demand to warrant a price drop.

PS3: Sony understands that price is definitely a barrier for a lot of people...perhaps not the floodgates that Sony fans imagine them to be but there are definitely people (like me) waiting for a price drop.

Sony's obstacle to a price drop is significantly different from that of the Wii. While it may have recently been in short supply in a handful of retail locations but this is a result of the holiday shipping schedule finally reverting back to normal. So as most people know the real obstacle for price drops over at Sony HQ is first and foremost reducing the cost of the box but also picking the right time to lower the price so that you not only maximize the effect but avoid pissing off stockholders...a lovely balancing act that nobody is envious of.

360: At this point I have to think that MS is holding back its price cuts as a responce to any PS3 price cut..because quite frankly they haven't done much with price in the time they've been on the market and like sony the only sellouts they've had were launch+holidays as well as a bit after the holidays as the shipping problems work themselves out.

While GDC is definitely a place that the could make this announcement it does seem kind of odd to do it there since its a developer's conference. But if the announcement isn't made at GDC then I'm pretty sure they are in fact waiting on Sony...thats not to say they might not get restless and drop price on their own in a few months, but that doesn't seem likely as it basically gives Sony the next move.


360 VS PS3: Between the two I think you'd have to touched in the head to think the PS3 has the advantage in terms of price right now. The 360 has almost certainly been ready for a rather large price drop for a few months and it doesn't really hurt MS to make that reduction in cost in any way. Conversely the PS3 has either just recently gotten to the point where it could make a drop or will be there in a month or two...either way as a business they would prefer to use the reduced cost to recoup some cash before dropping price right away but faced with their best surge in quite a while the offer of ammunition to give it an extra boost might make it rather tempting and force their hand.

Really the biggest difference is that Sony has very limited options due to its situation and is essentially shooting from the hip. MS on the other hand has a lot more play not only in the number and types of choices they can make but in the time they have to implement them. Thats not to say that Sony is frantic or screwed, not at all. It just means that their pricing situation is fairly volatile right now and the choices they make can have vast repercussions for the console, both good and bad.

And all of that ignores the fact that the 360 is already cheaper to begin with...which means its essentially a price cut or two ahead already in the eyes of consumers. Luckily price is not the only factor for Sony.

With the recent market swing in favor of Sony ( nothing big in NA, but things are moving fast in Others), I would think the ball is in Microsoft's camp.

They are the one loosing ground and the one that need to play the next move....

I could agree for Japan though. The PS3 is still far from being successfull over there and Sony need to do something before the Holydays over there ( but in Japan they are not playing against Microsoft). 

In your last sentence you touch upon my main point. The Xbox360 is already 1 or 2 price cut bellow the PS3 and still it is loosing ground rapidly. What makes you think that being one more cut bellow would change things drastically ?

I'd honestly say they both can cut their prices by $50, Sony did make cheaper Blu-ray lasers, Toshiba shrunk the CELL, and Blu-ray won the war.

For Microsoft, Jasper and Opus are about to be released. Just those alone should cut costs enough.