i have to agree Squilliam. So true everything you said...

Im an Arcade owner... It was my third system when I bought it. Its only since I started getting involved with the Xbox 360 community here thats made me want to upgrade to a premium. Im a pretty big gamer - 20+ hours a week and it hasn't been a high priority to get a HDD.

Squilliam, off topic, but I´m just curious...do you own a PS3?...if not, do you ever plan on getting one eventually?

 ==> you just have to hope about a "Wii short supply AGAIN"

I own one, its broken and im not in a hurry to fix it, because what do I have to look forward to apart from LBP (Waiting on reviews/impressions) That doesn't have 2009 next to its name? Im getting all the multiplats PC/360 anyway.

I think the $299 core console will sell excellent, especially at my local futureshop because they bundle in Gears and another game at no extra cost.Also, worldwide sales I think Resistance will hold it's own against Gears 2 and Fable 2 I think will pull in some suprising numbers. LBP is the wildcard that could either sell insanely or flop so it will be interesting to see where that goes.

When I first heard about this price drop, I figured it would only affect sales for a little while and then die off. Most console buyers, or maybe I should say "potential" console buyers, don't troll tech news websites like this one, and probably know nothing about this price drop, right?

Well, then I saw it on CNN and on the local Chicago news. Then yesterday on my way out of work, I heard something really mind blowing. The customer service department at my office, which consists of 5 people, 4 of which are over the age of 50, was talking about how the Xbox 360 was now going to be $199. Are these people all gamers? Nope. Not one of them is. But they all have kids and grandkids who want consoles this Christmas. And the Arcade will be the cheapest one out there this year.

That convinced me that more people know about this price drop than I thought. And that is explanation enough for me as to why 360 sales have dropped off. I truly think there are TONS of people out there waiting until the official drop (which I guess is official at this point) and there are a lot of kids now expecting 360s under the tree this year. I honestly think this price drop is going to have a big impact on the console market this holiday season.

For those of you saying people will gladly pay $200 extra dollars for the extra features on PS3, I'm sorry to say, but I don't think that's necessarily true. Joe Schmoe console buyer probably doesn't even know what the extra features even ARE on a PS3. In fact, I've met very few people who can even give me a good explanation as to what BluRay is. Usually they say, "Is that like HD DVD?" No, Joe Schmoe gamer is going to go for price and games.

PS3 fanbots used to argue that the PS3 is the best value because it has more features for not much more money. This price cut now makes that officially untrue, and it's starting to look to me like that Arcade sku was one of the best moves Microsoft could have made. Because at $199, that's the model everyone is talking about now.

The only problem with Arcade version is many retailers are pretty ignorant about Xbox360. I have been in Best Buy and listen to their sale associated (either from ignorant or try to up the sell) told customers that "big" games like Halo 3, GTA IV will not work with Xbox 360 Arcade. I even heard one of them said to play RPG you would also need HD to save games.

normal PS2 is like 10% of what the 360 arcade is capable of. 360 Arcade at 199$ is >>>>> value than PS2 at 199$. Game wise, 360 is the more varied and larger library (minus junks and crappy games that Wii has inhereted) as PS2 was.

They sold a LOT of 360s saturday at the futureshop where I work. (at least 20, but the elite was practically untouched)