I think there won't be a pricecut this year. However I don't think Microsoft will wait fora PS3 drop. They should be dropping in May 2008. Sony should drop it's PS3 price asap. June and July ain't the best months for a pricedrop. In this way Sony is forced to drop PS3 in september. 360 drops 199/299/379 PS3 drops 350/450. (remember if you don't need Wifi, cardreader, and planning to buy a huge Harddisk it's a massive pricedrop 250 ow well for Europe) These estimates are for US.

I hate forum-spammers like Gballzack. I usually just come here to read the threads, but I feel like Gballzack is spamming every fucking thread i read. It's incredibly annoying, and I see that I'm not the only one who thinks that. There's a lot of biased people here, and you are always complaining about it, but you are by no doubt the most biased of them all. This is coming from a person which doesn't own any of the next-gen consoles yet. I just had to get that of my chest. Cheers.

Here's the dealy-o;

 First, in order to drop the price on something you're already losing money on, you have to have the money to do it. Keep in mind that EVEN THOUGH YOU SELL MORE CONSOLES, YOU LOSE MORE MONEY! THIS MEANS THAT UNLESS YOU CAN SELL GAMES ALONG WITH IT, IT DOES NO GOOD TO DROP THE PRICE. YOU ALSO NEED TO SELL MORE GAMES PER CONSOLE TO MAKE UP FOR THAT EXTRA MONEY LOST.

And Sony just doesn't have the game selection to do that right now.

Which doesn't mean they won't in the future, but they aren't in any position to do it now; you people who love to bash Sony nay-sayers. 

I think we might get one just before GTA IV's release. I suspect this'll be when a good number of PS2 owners will decide to make the switch to next-gen, and Sony needs to be there with a respectable deal so they don't lose too many of them to the 360. If money lost from a price cut is that big a problem, Sony could probably just not cut the price in Japan, as GTA obviously isn't as big there and there is no threat from the 360. The Wii isn't much of a threat there because it isn't competing directly for the hardcore audience and if hardcore gamers do decide to pick up a Wii, they will probably still buy a PS3 when the right game comes out (FF XIII, MGS etc). This means Sony doesn't need to "protect" the hardcore fans in Japan, and can simply wait for Final Fantasy XIII to come and add in a price cut as a little thank you present to Square Enix. If Sony doesn't have enough money to drop the price in the US and PAL countries when GTA IV is released, I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to release the PS4 or simply get rid of their gaming division. The thing is, they have announced a lot of new games for the PS3 (and I think we'll see some more at E3), which shows they're still supporting the platform. It looks like Sony has realised they need to start building a lot of momentum in 2007 and they simply can't rely on their big names in 2008. They also know that building momentum will be virtually impossible without a price drop. And so they'll obviously drop the price.

I really wish more would be done about the anti-PS3 trolls... Anyway, Sony's best bet at the moment is to make a $150 price cut in August. First, there is the matter of the competition. While they can do their best to ignore the Wii, and they will, they do have to fight off the 360. By putting their price cut into effect before the launch of Halo3 they will deffinitely derail a lot of MS's momentum. By dropping it $150 they undercut the elite while still offering more than the elite does. That makes MS look pretty bad, but they can't really do much about it because of how new the system is. While they can lower their Premium unit's cost, which will affect sales much more than the elite, it sitll won't make them look good comparison when there are still a lot of people waiting to buy the PS3 when it's cheaper. Second is the matter of how. As we all know, the PS3 is being sold at a sizeable loss. What most people seem to miss is that Sony has always launched their consoles at $200 less than manufacturing costs. Atarti at one point threatened to sue Sony if they launched the PS1 at less than $500 because they would be subsidizing their console to push competitors out of business. Of course, Atari pretty much pushed themselves out of business so the matter was moot. The difference between the PS3 and its two predecessors, howeverm is the fact that neither of them were even remotely close to having their manufacturing costs reduced by the amount PS3 costs are dropping. Between the 65nm chips, diving costs of blu-ray diodes, and the fact that the system isn't going to need the EE much longer (if it ever needed it at all) it really is dropping cost faster than a PlayStation ever has. God knows whatever other changes may be made to it, but it's certain that the PS3 will cost $100 less per unit to make before its first anniversary even comes up. Third, The blu-ray business needs the PS3. BR is, in essence, Sony's golden ticket. If they can establish the format they will make money off of every movie sold for at least a number of years. Movies sell a lot more than video games. Really, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Sony has more at stake than the video game industry here, and that's the way it has alway sbeen with Sony machines. they want to win the big picture, and considering that they are completely owning the HDDVD market off of the back of PS3 (because we know they are being outsold on systems 4 to 1 without it) it's a good bet they aren't going to give up that edge. By reducing the cost of the PS3 they can only solidify their dominance of the HDDVD market, and that means a lot of money for them. It makes sense, and while some people at Sony say it won't happen that doesn't mean it won't. there has obviously been a lack of communication between divisions in the past, and it wouldn't be a shock for someone outside of the PS group came along and said "price cut" in the last few months in regards to the obvious decrease in production costs.

20GB is no more, because 500 or 600 dollar does not matter it's both expensive. On the other hand the difference between 350 and 450 is much bigger.  It could be a comeback of 20GB, although it might be too early. I don't think that they will pull it of with the first pricedrop. It will be between the second and third pricedrop. (Introduction of the Slimeline PS3) Those will be 2 consoles.

First pricedrop $150 Q3 2008, second Q4 2009 $100, Q4 2010(slimeline) $350 - $250 Q2 2011  $50 pricedrop.

Hey now, I know I'm not popular but Spamming is not what happened here, I've stayed on topic unless prompted by someone else. I just contributed to the thread, don't make it anything more than what it is. You obviously only skimmed over the discussions, please don't act like you know what you're talking about when you taken little more than three minutes to skim over everything.

So gballzack is blue3's anti-Sony twin.

What sony needs are SYSTEM MOVERS. Games that are SO amazing, you can ONLY play them on the PS3. Can you guys name some awesome PS2 exclusives? Me too. Can you name some amazing PS3 exclusives? ..... Can a casual gamer name some amazing PS3 exclusives?