It's hard to describe what it's like to wake up with a knife between your teeth. You try to spit, because the taste of steel makes you think you've bitten down on your tongue and you're tasting the bitter copper of your blood, but the blade keeps your lips peeled apart. You can't scream, because if you pull your facial muscles taut you'll only get cut worse. I took a deep breath, and saw a once-familiar face, now hideous. 

"Do you want to know how I got these scars?" the mole asked me. I was too scared to nod. "Well, my employer is a drinker, and a fiend. One day he found out that I was giving information to a certain gaming writer, and he didn't like that. NOT. ONE. BIT."

I started shaking.

"So he went into the other room and got a knife, and said one thing to me: WHY SO SERIOUS? Then he got to work," the mole told me, and suddenly he was cutting into my forehead. I screamed.

Soon, he was gone, and all I had, carved into my skin, was the pricing schedule of the Xbox 360. It's information I will now share with you:

Early Sept price reduction on X360 hardware:

• Arcade (no hard drive) to $199
• Pro (60GB) to $299 
• Elite (120GB) to $399

We should also expect hardware and game bundles for all hardware versions coming in the fourth quarter, just in time for the holidays.

In addition, the mole revealed that the upcoming release of Forza 2 Platinum Hits will include all the DLC tracks that were made for the title, which is a good way to add value to the game.

The last time the mole talked to me, before he became a super-villain, he told me the 60GB model of the hardware was coming, and he was right on the money with that one. Those prices should be considered rumors, but I'd be very surprised if this wasn't accurate information. Very sexy pricing.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/08/01/mole-attack-360-price-cuts-on-all-hardware-in-september

I hope this news is not true. PS3 sales could be affected in America if we see a price cut over the three X360 models in America.

$199 price point will be very tempting for the moms and dads this Christmas. Looks like some bundles before Christmas as well.

As Ars Technica says, very sexy pricing indeed.

Note to Ars Techina: just deliver news, This sad, over done attempt to be witty completely fails. I know you loved the movie...and I know you wish you could have been a fiction writer....but you're a gaming blog. Just do what you do and leave the purple prose to real writers.

Serious pricing there, $80 cut!! Forgive me for being a little doubtful, at this time its only someones best guess as far as I am willing to believe.

Very good news if true. It would be awesome to see the Arcade at sub-$200 pricing for Christmas.

RockOn - Why are you worried about this effecting the PS3? If the PS3 is such a good system, it will not sell less units due to the X360 selling at a price level it should of been at last Christmas.

Maybe because the 360/PS3 are appealing to exactly the same crowd? Sure, there are some differences, and some gamers who buy both, but people who don't buy a Wii will mostly buy either a 360 or a PS3, not both.

The track record of this mole seems to be fairly good, not perfect, but near.

How much is the 60GB starter hard drive pack going to be? I think I heard before something like 99 bucks for hard drive + headset + 3 months of live?

If so, that would match up pretty well for an xbox core unit at 199, without making consumers feel ripped off.

If these price cuts happen, this fall/winter is going to be huge for 360

Price cut in America would have a greater impact than what it did in Europe. PS3 and X360 price gap in America price gap would widen again between PS3 and X360. Americans tend to be the most driven by their wallets. Economy in America is not going well at all with the recession taking an affect in America.