Sorry what?! Microsoft have loads of big games hitting this year, Halo ODST which is going to be HUGE, Forza 3 which will sell loads, Splinter Cell which will sell loads, those three on their own will do massive sales for the 360 this holiday season then there all the other games coming out too and all the multi platforms some of which have exclusive content and timed exclusive deals etc, add to that the facebook, twitter, lastfm updates and I do really think the 360 will do very well for the rest of the year and into 2010,obviously another price cut would ensure this too though!

And your right, ODST is no Killzone 2, ODST is in an entirely different league and sales will show this!

@Midnightrider: I must point out that Wii Sports Resort was the 4th biggest launch of a Wii title in America and if you hadn't noticed, games like Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii are still selling, All at least a year past release.

I have no idea where you got the idea that Wii Sports Resort isn't selling well..

Now that Nintendo have most likely found out the ps3 slim they can think of something in their Fall conference, new colours, new games ect, don't forget about wii fit plus and new super mario bros wii will be released shortly afterwards.

      Don't expect big things from ODST that series is on its way out.  And GT5 will sell a million more copies in Japan than Forza 3 and it will also sell quite a few more in Europe.  Splinter Cell has been delayed until 2010 probably to make time for the PS3 versions development.

      Wii Sports Resort and Monster Hunter 3 combined were only able to put Wii over 300,000 for one week, but since that time there has been almost a 100,000 drop in the number of Wii consoles sold from that week to the last.  Wii Sports might be selling fairly well to current Wii owners (though I have had many arguments with Wii owners on message boards that contend that Wii Sports regardless of reviews is the best thing since buttered toast, however, if that was true, then I would expect 50 million copies of WSR to have sold by now and for the Wii's ownership t have doubled, however, those things haven't happened).  At best one can say Wii Sports Resort has shown that it can get the Wii an additional 70,000 sales each week however that number is dropping from week to week. 

MS already countered with a $299 elite. I think this is funny. It's like trying to counter a $299 Porsche 911 with a $299 Ford Mustang. That Ford is gonna break down every chance it gets and it's not nearly as powerful/functional. LOL...flamebait aside; I think MS really needs to get the word out on the value that the 360 adds (XBLA, Live, Netflix, Facebook, Last.fm, etc) at $299 or their counter stradegy will fail badly becasue specs wise the PS3 is the better value.

As for Nintendo I remain confident in my prediction that they will add value to the $250 price point before even considering a price drop. They have everything to gain from such a stradegy.

Am I the only one that thinks Microsoft's strategy shouldn't revolve around price cutting. The truth is that both Microsoft and Sony have probably hit their low end threshold as far as sales prices go. You shouldn't expect to see the consoles going any lower until both competitors enter the year where they plan to release their next consoles. The only exception being if sales plummet, and to be honest the chances of a dramatic plummet aren't really present anymore. Both competitors have a firm foundation under them.

This pricing fetish has really gotten way out of hand. Microsoft used the strategy last year, and hell no it wasn't desperate it was overdue. Microsoft held its price point for a very long time. That had to take a lot of restraint. Anyway at this point we have moved beyond the pricing which was a major hurdle early in the generation. Now we are moving towards winning consumers through software, marketing, and novelties.

You simply don't do the same gag twice. You do the next gag. Sony just performed the same gag that Microsoft pulled off last year. This year Microsoft needs to be implementing or working on a new gag. They can expand Prime Time to be more ubiquitous in mainstream culture. They could offer up a saturation marketing campaign. The could devote the money they are not using to make their slim into buying up third party exclusives, or creating vast new operating system modifications.

Whatever they do it most likely wouldn't nor should it be about dropping the Arcade down into the penny arcade. They need to be doing something that will take Sony a year to respond to. I am getting more and more disappointed every day didn't we use to discuss more then exactly one strategy on these forums. Get the hell out of the box, and start using the human capacity for some abstract thought.

Okay Midnightrider.. Prepared to be schooled..

Number one: How can you say the Halo series is on the way out when these figures tell a different story?

Halo: 6.43M

Halo 2: 8.43M

Halo 3: 10.00M

Seriously? It's on it's way out? Care to explain how?

Now onto Nintendo and in particular, Wii Sports Resort. Did you not hear what Satoru Iwata said about evergreen titles? If not then I'll get you up to speed..

Basically through Nintendo's market research, they have discovered that it takes software between 6 and 8 weeks to begin driving hardware adoption. He said it's happened with Nintendogs, Brain Age, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii/DS, New Super Mario Bros etc and it's looking likely to be happening again with Wii Sports Resort.

How can I tell? Well he said that it only works if the title maintains it's sales momentum for at least this 6 - 8 week period. Lets take a look at the Japanese data for Wii Sports Resort shall we?

1 349,411
2 153,276
3 99,102
4 70,769
5 69,940
6 63,610
7 70,385
8 (preliminary data says 130,000)

Now it seems like Wii Sports Resort will begin moving hardware in Japan beginning with 130k for Obon week. It's not alone though, Wii Fit Plus launches in Japan on October 1st both as a replacement for Wii Fit with the Balance Board and also as a stand alone title priced at $US22. So it should also begin boosting hardware sales in mid November which will see the launch of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. This title will likely be the biggest software launch of any game on Wii and sell to a massive audience just like it's predecessor.

Put it this way, Mario Kart Wii has outsold it's DS counter part and it's likely that New Super Mario Bros. Wii will also outsell it's DS counter part. New Super Mario Bros on DS stands at 19.17 Million copies sold.

In conclusion, Wii will slowly ramp up sales heading into the holidays and with third party titles like The Beatles: Rock Band, GH5, Band Hero, DJ Hero, Rabbids Go Home, Shaun White Snowboarding 2, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, EA Sports Active Expansion, Your Shape, FFCC: The Crystal Bearers, Need for Speed: Nitro, Spyborgs, Toy Story Mania, TMNT: Smash Up, Dirt 2, F1 2009, Dead Space Extraction, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Cursed Mountain, Tony Hawk RIDE and many more obscure titles like Muramasa coming this year.. I think Wii will do fantastically well these holidays.

Well, if the other rumor holds true, the Elite will drop to match the PS3 slim price soon. That will be the MS counter.

Nintendo has something interesting going on in November, or I should say Ubisoft. They have a motion sensing camera coming out, bundled with My Shape, an exercise game. What this means is that Nintendo will have a motion camera half a year before either HD system.

With all the talk of motion cameras, the buzz is strong, and Nintendo will be the first current system to offer it (Not talking about PS2/Eyetoy days). What this effectively can do is trump both Natal and Sony motion controls. A combination of Wii Motion Plus and the Wii Motion Cam BEFORE the holiday season is Nintendo's 1-2 punch, jumping on the motion controls+ motion camera idea while the buzz is still new, AND making Natal and Sony motion controls look like "me-too" devices.

Microsoft definitely, Nintendo .... if they start losing share