Definately no excuses left for Sony, and I feel they should have only dropped price this year and waited until next year for slim.

Sony is now the first console to change the outer box substantially this generation. If it was performing well this would not have been necessary.

and it will always be the most expensive IF that's a BIG IF you do not count the added OPTIONAL functions that you would need to add to the XBOX360 IF that is Once again IF you wanted to. the point is its pretty much a moot point it will depend on the buyer as it always has. the big point to look at is at $299.00 vs the cheaper systems such as the Wii,XBOX360 is people can still buy them cheaper than even a $299.00 PS3 but yet does not offer as much functionality as the PS3 offer's at $299.00 but once again that depends on the person and what they want out of the system in the first place.

at this point :

all 3 systems offer something unique the other's do not. its upto you if those function's are worth the money

in your OPINION.

everyone I hope csn think for themselves and what's best for them..

PSone & PS2 slim say hi. 

Performance has nothing to do with it.  It has to do with production costs.  This would've happened no matter how well the PS3 was selling.

not true at all..have you seen the heat sink and fan for the 2006/2007 ps3's because if you did you would know that cost's sony a bunch of money. the outer plastic case cost's more than the xbox360 or the Wii. due mainly because of the fan and heatsink needed for the ps3. the reduction of those components is vital as also the cost in the reduction of power needed for the system because that's also needed to reduce those passive heat requirement's. reduction of the components is needed sales is pretty much a non issue if it cost's the consumer more than 2 times the cost compared to the other systems out there. it's like saying the lincon town car is to outsell the smaller cheaper car. its just not going to happen.

exactly..you could not expect them to keep the cost of component's this high when they are selling the system when it was released at a Loss, which we do not know by how much, yes there was guess's but Sony was not saying but you invest to reduce cost's that's for sure. I don't know about you but $7.00 per blue laser diode in 2008 would not be a good thing if the price was still $7.00 per diode today.

whoa boy.

has to work for sony..in what ammount of time?

see that's the big problem I see many view that it has to happen in such a short ammount of time. if you notice this generation has pretty much none of the companies running away with market share. people say that the Wii is running away but is it?

this generation has one big part that the past generations did not have that will extend this generation due to the number of profit streams that these companies have access to.

that is due to ONLINE.

the big foot print of sold MEDIA from online will extend this generation because everone of these systems are made to take advantage of those extra sales streams that the previous systems did not have anywhere near this level of online footprint.

to say that anyone part vs the whole picture has to work right off the bat is jumping to early In my Opinion this generation is just getting started not anywhere near starting a new generation. 

not of gt5 isn't released this year

I am sure many people may buy the system for just one game.., but I am also sure you do not build a system for just one game. if that was the case you would only have one game.

If any thing Sony has more brand new IP's that I see that Sony is trying to extend to more franchises. and In my Opinion they are off to a great start.

resistance

little big planet

Infamous

uncharted

eyepet 

fat princess

etc.

these just came to mind as brand new IP's that have been reviewed to be fun to me that's a pretty good start. though Sony is of course not the only one 

microsoft:

mass effect

gears of war

crackdown

left for dead

etc.

nintendo:

any thing that you could imagine with physical fitness for the Wii....talk about endless and they have some awsome winner's in my opinion.

one thing this generation could be summed up in is:

"its all good"

That's a very big if my friend.  Let's wait at least until after MS's press conference before we begin predicting how this generation will play out.