Xbox 360 Less $50 Starting Tomorrow

Insiders believe that Microsoft will soon be cutting down the price of the Xbox 360 Pro to $299. The gaming consoles’ former price is $349. Based on my complex mathematics, that’s exactly a $50 price cut!

The cut coincides with the forthcoming E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), an annual event widely considered as the video game industry’s biggest trade show. The E3, which will run this year from July 13 – 15 in Los Angeles, is used by all game developers to show off upcoming releases.

Although Microsoft reps have been keeping mum about the price decrease, almost everyone from video game bloggers to tech sites is sure it’s going to happen.

After posting pictures of flyers and posters announcing the forthcoming price cut, gaming blog Kotaku has posted a cellphone capture of a GameStop internal memo announcing that the official date of the price cut is in fact July 13^th, the first day of the E3.

Actually, Target has already posted a $299.99 price tag for the gaming console on their online store.

The last time there was a price cut for the Xbox 360 was way back in August last year, when Microsoft cut back from $399 to $349, coinciding with the upcoming release the following month of their benchmark game “Halo 3.”

Even with the overall economic crisis, the Sony PS3 gained a significant sales boost with the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 exactly one month ago. So aside from the forthcoming E3, a price cut was also necessary to counter the increasing PS3 sales.

After this cut, the 20 gig Xbox 360 Pro will be $100 cheaper than the 40 gig Sony PS3. Their other competitor, the Nintendo Wii, is the cheapest of the bunch at $249. Sony and Nintendo have no plans of cutting down prices yet.

“Our plan is not to reduce the price,” Sony’s CFO Nobuyuki Oneda said in an interview. “Our strategy is not to sell more quantity for PS3 but to concentrate on profitability.” That’s a pretty strong comment, being that we are only four months into the business fiscal year which ends March next year.

“I doubt we’ll see Nintendo do anything on price. They don’t really need to,” said analyst Doug Creutz of Cowen & Co. “But at a difference of $50, it does start to get interesting.” Nintendo has been selling out Wii’s with its cheap $249 price tag. The new difference of $50 between the two consoles will definitely challenge one of the Nintendo console’s main selling points.

Of the three gaming giants, Microsoft will be the first to have a press conference during E3. We are all hoping that the rumors are true, and we are hoping against hope that the other two console makers follow suit.

Remember that in 2004, when Microsoft dropped the cost of the original Xbox to $149, Sony followed suit and did the same for to the PlayStation 2. And just last summer Sony had a price cut of their own, selling the 60 gig PS3 at $499 - by which Microsoft reacted with a $349 20 gig Xbox 360. After four months, Sony introduced the $399 40 gig PS3 -with a $50 difference and a 20 gig added hdd, the PS3 is now catching up with the Xbox 360 for control of the gaming console market. Though it should be noted that the Xbox 360 has a year’s head start over its next gen competitors.