I posted this in another forum....but explains my opinion on the $199 price point.

Holiday Buyers (80% Mom's & Dad's): The console that is cheapest, guaranteed, see scenario below.

Scenario: Kid opens package on Christmas Day..... "But Dad, I wanted a PS3, with COD4 & Bioshock not an X360".

Dad replies...."Well son, money was a bit tight this year for you and your brother...but I got you the X360 Arcade, Bioshock & COD4 (and) I got your brother an X360 Arcade too, so you don't have to share. All for the same price as (1) PS3!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hmmmmm, gee......I wonder what the parents will do this holiday LOL

I'm assuming you don't have kids. Every parent I know will either A) go above and beyond to get the kid exactly as he/she wanted or B) not get it at all and just do completely different items.

I could see a parent trying sublty persued the child into a different item prior to xmas, but I don't know any who would just by a similar but different item as is PS3 vs 360, etc.

@ superchunk....I have 2 kids....and if presented with the same situation, I would do the exact same as stated above. Its easy, believe me. Especially when dealing with multiple children and financial requests as difficult as PS360. (2) X360's for the kiddies, or 1 PS3 to share. Its not rocket science.

^^^^ If the specs were as different as the Wii/PS3...then yes. But the 360 and PS3 are almost identicle on specs, and the game libraries almost mirror each other (-) certain exclusives of course.

@spdk1

You'd be suprised at how many cheap casual gamers there are. When presented with a $200 console with the ability to get 'free' games - they'll come aboard. About 80% of the ppl I knew with PSXes got them modded, and about 50% of Xboxes.

so if you are spending the same amount of $$ overall, why would you deprive your kids of what they actually wanted? That just seems mean to me.

Put it in the front room and gain a bluray player to boot.

I don't know, if my kids deserve it and I could afford it, I would buy it, regardless of my percieved value.

 ==> the bundle GT54 pro + 2 DS3 is coming the 6 september in Europe

it should push PS3 sales ...

with serious 360 shortage in Japan and recent PS3 80go release Europe/us,  it is not so easy to predict who will win next week ...

I still go for Xbox360 > PS3 but close numbers.

This is the conclusion I came to after reading the article.  This chart means nothing without a detailed report on how long each price was in effect.  I am far too lazy to do it.