Apparently, $199 is considered the "magical" price by many people (but is it, really?)...and expectations are rising (at least for Squilliam ) the 360 will see a big boost and maintain consistent higher sales than the PS3, even if it is by small margins, in the U.S.

Now, I wonder if the new price in NA will really make the 360 offset any losing grounds it has in Japan and Europe, making for worldwide victory over the PS3, just because of NA.

Yup, it won't beat the Wii, but it sure enough will thrash the PS3 considerably because its at the mainstream price point.

Generally thats when consoles sell better at the $200 mainstream price point.

I must agree that $199 is an attractive price point! But I really don't think it will br that big of an impact simply because the arcade has been $249 for a long time now and the premium xbox 360 was only $299. And still the ps3 was outselling the 360 on a weekly basis.

I think a lot of people may be put off by the rrod, and maybe worried about it happening to them. I thinks its value for money and how the 360 is perceived especially in Europe, is that people there are not very tolerate to getting the rrod. a lot of people i know have not purchased a system for that reason.

I love the 360 is absolute amazing system, with the best games no doubt. Microsoft need to advertise if they have fixed the rrod, then sales will explode!

we'll see...in the end...best content sells..if the 360 doesn't give the experiences people want..it'll stay about the same.. ^_^''

one word answer

nope.

Cement? nope.

Hold on glass stilts in a kiln.... yes.

but when that kiln gets hot enough, the glass will melt.

I dont think price generates demand for a console all on its own. It does make it more of a impulse buy for some, but the consumers that buy the type of games that the Xbox360 offers would have bought the Pro at $299. That didn't happen, so I think many people either own/are getting a Wii, or are still loyal to the Sony brand.

Also, the PS3 is going to be pulling massive numbers this holiday season regardless of what the Xbox360 does. Since the PS3, and Wii are still going to be pulling huge numbers, any advantage the 360 has will be offset by its disadvantage in others and Japan.

The 360 may or may not be a hit at $199 in NA, but I don't think it stands a chance of winning WW this holiday season IMO. We will see however, but supply is also a big issue for Microsoft. They won't have an infinite supply of Arcades, and they will have to ship and maintain the Pro and Elite. If its a hit, demand may very well outstrip the supply for a good while.

Also, if the 360 does begin pulling away, the PS3 can (and probably would) drop its price.

It may not win WW this holiday, but basically what I'm curious about is whether or not the 360 will manage to keep selling just enough, especially with this new price, to be able to stay ahead of the PS3 after 2010 WW.

This holiday season is do or die for Microsoft. If the 360 can't stay within range of PS3 sales in the upcoming months, then it will almost definitely end up in third place by the time next-generation consoles roll out.

There are three things that will drive PS3 sales for the rest of this year.
1. System selling games.
SOCOM will probably sell tens of thousands of consoles while LittleBigPlanet may very well sell a hundred thousand. Resistance 2 will also likely sell more consoles than Gears 2 due to the fact that Gears of War has already saturated the shooter market. Eternal Sonata and Cross Edge will likely sell consoles in Japan comparable to Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery as well.
2. New SKUs
New SKUs always spike console sales and PS3 has two coming out this year. The new 80GB will likely see a nice amount of sales (particularly in Europe) and should level out PS3 sales to what they were back in Q1 of this year. The upcoming 160GB model will have a similar effect as the MGS4 and MotorStorm bundles and will likely sell out immediately. Its release right between LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2 will ensure that 360 doesn't beat PS3 sales in early November at the least.
3. Blu-ray
This Christmas will be the biggest blu-ray/HD television season ever. PS3 is one of the cheapest blu-ray players on the market and it's probably THE most future-proof of them all. You can expect that with the mad rush to finally adopt an High Def format by a large portion of the general population, the PS3 will be on quite a few Christmas lists.

I really don't think that 360 can compete with Sony on these three points with its price-cuts. I personally think that the majority of the demographic of people in past generations that hold off on spending over 200 dollars on a system largely overlap the Wii's demographic and I feel that this will cause problems for Microsoft.