Not acting like it's irrelevant, just that it's incomplete.

What I am trying to say is that if is mainly gamers who will care about Bluray playback in a PS3 it is also gamers who will care about Netflix capabilities in a 360.

Mirosoft could drop the Arcade model to $100. If that happens then that would be insane.

^ MS would also be losing serious cash that way.

Persona (a) was named exactly because he's not only interested in Blu-ray, he's the one who can be moved into adding $100 to get also get media-hub/console capabilites. Both (a) and (b) were born as more common people than (a') - the misanthropic, cheap movie buff - and (b') - the h4rdc0r3 gamer.

I can't find many data about the number of Blu-ray players sold WW, but for US I've got 10.7M at Jan 2009, of which 7.5M were PS3, leaving 3.2M devices. That amounts to what, about 5% of households? I'd say that your best bet is that (b) doesn't have access to a Blu-ray player yet.

As to Netflix, let's for the sake of reasoning imagine that MS is offering similar services in all territories. Wouldn't that incur in the same overlapping as BR players, when evaluating the value of the console offer? I'm sure that there's more households with Sky boxes in Italy than with Blu-ray players. And I'm sure the same could be said of the various boxes in US or wherever. Plus, can't you basically use any Pc as a Netflix client - and incidentally stream it to your PS3? Not saying that it's a common solution used by non-technical users, only that the Netflix (or equivalent) offer of the 360 has not the same exclusive value as Blu-ray playing.

Edit: damn, Euphoria beat me to it while I was maiming my thoughts into english! May your kid keep you awake one thousand nights :)

I think you have to look at the bigger picture:

1) the ps3 was down played on release and the heavy price tag turned a lot of people against it. The USA maybe in favour of the 360, but last gen it was the ps2! With a slim and a price cut, how will the Market change in the USA?

2) how will stores react? I've been to many stores in the UK where sales clerks have pointed at the 360 and Wii but left out the ps3. Now at a far more competitive cost packed with more features, will retailers change their selling habits?

3) I'm sure we can agree that the highest userbase is on the ps2 and more ps2 owners have been waiting for this price drop to pick up a ps3 than pick up a 360. How will this affect sales?

4) netfix, sky, twitted etc bares no meaning. With a browser built in you can stream movies for free, access anime sites, aswell as other rental sites!

5) how will the media welcome the price drop and ps3 slim? Media create sales and so far the slim has been welcomed as it were the return of Christ!

6) how will eyepet with a cheaper ps3 change sales in regards to casual gamers? How will it affect the momentum of sales when the motion wand is released? If the trend is set, then Natal maybe D.o.A!

7) possibilty of already released games getting sales boosts- games such as heavenly sword, r&c tod, uncharted, r2, kz2 may get a boost in sales with the influx of new ps3 gamers. If the tide turns, will another halo or gears be able to make an impact as these Sony brands become stronger!

8) new digital distribution service- for books and comics will give the edge for the geeks and comic lovers. I know a bunch of comic enthusiasts that creamed their pants on hearing this info. To them, Sony is now God and the ps3 their messiah.

9) the Market is changing, people are picking up HDTVs. We are talking about now not 3 years ago where BR and HD meant nothing! BR Market is growing and the price is coming down on BR films nicely! Soon BR will be taken into consideration if it hasn't already!

10) people won't look at a games library from 3years ago, they will look at what is there to purchase now. Who wants to buy gears1 when they can buy gears2? Who wants to fnr3 when they have fnr4? Who wants to buy fifa09 when they have fifa10?

There are a lot of things in Sonys favor, but after the crap they pulled earlier, I won't be surprised if they still screw it up LOL

What can MS do? Do what they have always done this gen. Advertise better, lower the cost of HDD, controllers, live and maybe drop their price on the Elite.

What would I do if I was MS? I would drop the price of Elite slightly and bundle in Halo ODST this holiday and or Forza3. I would give vouchers to anyone purchasing a Zune HD or windows7 for a 360. Then I would pray to God the BR declines because at this rate, BR may become a needed addition and I wouldn't want to sell a BR add on or lose sales for the lack of one!

I personally think that the complete console now may have a change of luck and if Sony don't screw it up, outsell the 360 for the rest of this gen.

IF I was MS Id go for the throat this Christmas, kill the arcade and offer Elite @ $199.

wow, its amazing at all the ppl who are completely blind after hearing officially the ps3 is $299 now. like suddenly sales will sky rocket for the rest of the year worldwide, not gonna happen ppl use some common sense for once. yes the ps3 will sell alot better than its been for a while and will move a ton of systems, but ppl thinking that it will rule for a year over the 360 in sales or a 6 month period are completely insane in their thinking and with no facts to back up their reasoning either. i love my ps3 , but i am not blindly loyal to any system. i want them all to do well , so we will see a nice long gen and future gens as well.

I find the lack of imagination in this thread to be disconcerting. Everyone has a pricing fetish right now, and is overlooking other real possibilities. Microsoft used pricing to their advantage last year. That doesn't mean that is the only place to find a real advantage. Perhaps the pricing advantages are already spent now that all consoles are at or below the $300 threshold.

I think what Microsoft needs is a response in the software. They could expand the Prime Time idea. Get more game shows, and interactive community experiences lined up for this fall. Tie those in with popular programs. That could be a massive casual attraction.

They could also do a software saturation campaign in one of the coming months. Just suddenly announce a few high end exclusive games out of nowhere and release them with massive advertising campaigns. Instant killer apps could do a hell of a lot of damage especially if they had massive budgets.

Perhaps they could release a exclusive massive title. That would be a real attention grabber for sure. Especially if it is a very good one. Microsoft has tried to fund an exclusive one in the past. I am not entirely sure they have even given up on the notion.

Anyway there is a lot of possibilities if you actually think outside of the wallet. In fact a lot of the other possibilities might even be more effective at a certain point price stops being the major issue. What Microsoft really needs to be doing is moving far ahead in software right now.

Here is hoping that tomorrow Microsoft shows something more along these lines. I think money spent on title development would go a lot further for them now.

What is so appealing about a PS3 Slim?....it has not sold a single unit yet...a bit too soon to start these threads...