Possibly stay the same, we dont know what effects removing the Pro model will create yet and we dont have any idea how well Sony will market the PS3 this Holiday.

£100 would be possible, just highly unlikely... id say its the futhest they could go right now. As you say, the ~£240 price will be way more likely and it seems to fit in with a lot of speculation about a $300 PS3 in America.

I'll be buying the Elite day one.

Hmm this is interesting, now that its pretty much confirmed I wonder what it means for the hardware SKUs themselves?

My suspicions are that they want to create a dual pricing tier for the core gamers, for those 'in the know' and those 'not in the know'. I haven't given this much thought but thats my initial impression!

Both the Elite and Arcade are actually on different production lines, The arcade is FDOU and the Elite/Premium were CSON. This means that the features and specifications of them can differ if they so wish. I also heard rumours of an increase in HDD size for the Elite SKU from Fudzilla.

They couldn't add wireless to the design unless they both change the hardware slightly and do a motherboard revision. The current Xbox 360 design acts as a faraday cage for wireless signals and anything that escapes gets eaten by the interference from the 2.4ghz wireless module for the controllers.

Maybe, this could happen but only if they release Valhalla this year.

1. Shortened PCB (due to combining the two dies) leaves space for the PSU to go internal.

2. With a slightly modified hardware shell they could make room for an external wireless antenna. (spelling!)

So they could add wireless to the Xbox 360 Elite.

Now im not sure if this is whats going to happen but my best guess if the above Valhalla shrink happens this year.

Elite 240GB+ with wireless $300

Arcade 256mb basic unit $150

Shadow premium SKU $220-$250 (upgraded Arcade)

This way it solves the issue of having a premium SKU dictating the price of the Arcade upgraded HDDs (they want to encourage people to have HDDs for downloading) and it lowers the price over all two (three) SKUs. It also means that someone can't take an Arcade and add a HDD and make it an Elite, so it gives them more freedom in relative pricing.

Errm...Yes it does...it tells you what the difference is beteween free XBL Silver..And Not free XBL Gold....

I'm just saying, if the main 360 is still at the price of $300, nothing really changes other than you just have less options for SKUs. Yes, people will think, "The Elite is only $300 now, what a value!" but it's still the price they're paying for a normal 360. A true price drop, not a phasing out will reap better rewards.

Remember when Sony phased out the 60GB by selling it for $500 (even though there were $500 20GBs). Yea, sales went up a bit, but people realized...."wait, I'm still paying a standard price for a PS3" and then sales leveled out again. Then Sony introduced the 40GB at a price of $400, a true price change, and sales went through the metaphorically roof (relatively speaking).

The 360 costs $300 for most true gamers, as of now. The Elite dropping to $300 just makes it a Pro with a phat HDD. Better reqards would come to fruition if they kept the Pro, dropped the Arcade maybe $50, drop the Pro, and then drop the Elite, not just replace the Pro with a unit at the same price. If Sony releases the Slim and just replaces the 80GB...it'll be the same effect, or rather lack thereof