Price is fine now. That should keep things up well with good advertising. Then we have the games. GT sells over time Q1 itself is looking huge. All of those games dropping in price over time [due to low opening sales] should help quite a bit.

Simply put "GAMES"....

This isn't just another basic price drop that will fizz out after a few weeks, this is THE price drop PS3 needed. $299 is the mass market price PS3 needed to succeed and it finally hit that. The price drop from $499 to $399 helped a lot but faded after a few weeks, this price drop effect will last!

Oh and as for what will keep the momentum going? The games, duh!

Final Fantasy 13, Gran Turismo 5, Resistance 3 (pretty much announced), Killzone 3 (likely), Heavy Rain (ya never know), MAG, God of War 3, ModNation Racers, Twisted Metal (maybe?), The Last Guardian (sales flop, but will get good reviews), The Agency, DC Universe Online. And more to come.

I think all three of the companies are all going to do well going forward from now on just because there is going to be so much overlap the only prob. is it will be exclusive's that will give each of the system's a unique feel to the system. that being Online component's of each system's which already we are seeing. 

I have found each system to be Unique in it's own dynamic in the same market going forward, but on the same token most of the hardware being setup for growth for software application's of not just game's but for other Entertainment area's.

If anything this generation is going to be the direct building block for all future game system's do to the fact there is more stream's of revenue for each company than ever before in their game system's market.

these system's are Entertainment system's not just game system's

nintendo

microsoft

sony

all three have made a good strive toward their system's forward of "not just a game's machine"

the convergence of other aspect's of entertainment have made the IDEA of "just a game's machine" be obsolete

thus the strength of each system does not lie just in game's but on what other function's can the system do.

and as we go forward you will see more of that because the companies will need to do it.

look at cell phone's as a big example:

every cellphone being released anymore is being set to be a smart phone even when a device is not portable people are wanting devices to do more than a few thing's and the game market device is no exception.

but by doing so the companies extend the life of the device's viability on the market.

and that lead's to other problem's in of itself but that's the dynamic that these companies play in they know that so it's all good.

for the consumer that is, well most of the time it is

it should be high all the way till fall 2010 i believe gt5 will release in EU and NA in fall of 2010 and not march like in Japan

they will need to either bundle gt5 heavy in NA and EU for 299$ or drop the price of the 120gb Slim to 249$ b/c MS will be coming hard next fall with either 50$ or 100$ cut on both of there skus a price cut on the 360 next year is guaranteed we i cant say the same for the PSTree atm

also make sure u keep PSN free atleast the potion of it that requires to DL demos and play online

SW really doesnt matter both HDs have good SW line ups so far and for 2010 and beyond most games are now multi although bringing L4D to the PSTree wouldnt hurt either it needs some zombie action i mean PS was the berth place for zombies with RE1 back in 96

Another price cut.

Sony did a great job to get back in the hunt...it's going to be interesting to see how they adapt and update their strategy to stay competitive.

My predictions-

Next year, MS will drop the price by $50. If they drop it by $100, the arcade would be the same price as the PS2. They will probably regain some thunder. Natal could do something, but in history - non included accessories have usually not done so well. But, this generation has shown that historical trends can be broken.

In 2011, I think is when Sony will release the true PS3 Slimline that will be close to the size of the PS2 Slimline. You have to notice that Sony never actually called the PS3 120 GB / 250 GB the "PS3 Slim." Everyone else did. I think there is a reason for this. So yeah, it will probably be $200/300.

2012 will probably be the launch of the PS4 / Xbox 720 - and probably within a week of each other around Thanksgiving.

I think that sony has some room to do a ps3 go kinda like a "all digital" system without any disc drive. That would probbably lower the system cost enugh (stating 50$) probably from 249$ (actual ps3 hardware cost according to sources fudzilla like) to 199$ and that price point' d be a definet system seller because as you all know in 2010 PSN will have additional paid content. Im guessing that it's gonna be full game downloads which'd seem perfectly reasenable if they go with full digital ps3. I know that ps3 primerly was a blu-ray player but with sony's videos and future discless netflix I guess that hd videos won't exacly need to be disc-based. And possibly sony could use a microsoft strategy to that ps3 go with need of a subscription to have access to that full game download option probbably with music, videos, comics and standard (free) psn content alike. That could be an very interesting option to gamers who have good internet connection and who don't mind occasionally (like sms paid for a day of acces) paying for some varied subsciption options (like a week, 2 weeks, month, 2 months, 6 months, year, or for lets say lifetime acces for lets say 150 - 200 $) , could sell.