I'm confused lol. If Bronze would be free online, why would you pay for Gold?

Ahh I get it.

Bronze - free online but only casual/Arcade games.

Gold - pay to play ALL games online.

Platinum - pay even more to get VIP

So how about it Slimebeast? It makes good biz sense and many have suggested it online.

Maybe a bit confusing to have three tiers but I really like the options.

Through in a Netflix subscription w/ the Platinum. That would be great.

If Microsoft drops the price by another $50 then it will double its sales.

With a price tag of $150 it will take all of the PS2 sales and will even steal share from the Wii. It will become an impulse buy.

While the PS3 will remain double the price of the 360, it will approach the Wii pricing and will start taking share from Nintendo.

But all of this is only academic. Sony must start making money. Not just break even on hardware but to actually make money to cover the Electronics division loses. The business model of "sell at a loss today to make it up on games and accessories later" does not work well for a company that is bleeding billions. Many billions.

Only $25? It's gotta be at least $50, otherwise there's no point in doing so. No one's gonna say that 199 is too much but 175 is just right for a system.

I am really surprised the PS3 is selling so well in Europe. I like Sony but not enough to justify the difference in price. Wow.

only reason i haven't bought a 360 yet, is because the pro needs to be at least 50 dollars cheaper before doing so. And i think that if PS3 would cut to 299 we could see quite the sales jump. That would be perfect for tax time in march/april. People are becoming more aware of blu-ray and wanting it.

The 360 Arcade will not get cheaper. The Pro might.

They may choose to add "value" to the Arcade, but they will definately not make it cheaper. For one thing, they're most likely losing money with each arcade sold. If you think they can make a processor like the Xenon, a GPU like the Xenos, and 512MB GDDR3 RAM, with DVD drive, built in networking, AND a nice controller like the 360s for less than $200 (heck the retailers probably want a cut too, and you have to package it, ship it, etc.), you should go start up a "laptop for every child" program, and do some great things for the world. Microsoft's Games Division net profits dropped in the hundreds of millions of dollars this Holiday season, and they were wildly successful this year, compared to the last. I think the reason is obvious.

Also, if the 360 got as cheap as a PSP, or too close to the venerable PS2, people would start to wonder "Why? Why is it so cheap compared to the Wii and PS3?"   "Microsoft is generous" wouldn't be the first thing to come to the buyer's mind, I guarantee.

No drop for the 360 anytime soon (which they have stated on several occasions). They will add "value", or drop the price on the models that actually make money (Pro/Elite).  Sony and Nintendo still have the pricedrop card in their respective hands... MS played it last year, and now they've got to fall back on less powerful plays.