Not to steal Microsoft's thunder but it seems the PS3 will be getting a $100 price cut on their console effective July 15th. This will drop the console from $599 to $499 in the USA and probably to 499 euros for the Europeans. For now this is still very much a rumor and is only based on some leaked Circuit City ads. It will be interesting if this leaked information cause Microsoft or Nintendo to act as well. Since no one wants to announce a price cut right after their competitor (avoiding the "me too" comparisons ) and Microsoft and Nintendo have their press conferences before Sony's they can beat Sony to the punch.

I tend to think Nintendo will not drop their price till after this years holiday season. They are selling very well and it's hard for management to cut the price sine it mean losing profit. They already sell their console for $210 in Japan so if anything I would think they will just drop Wii Sports from the bundle.

Microsoft should cut their price but will they? A lot of people will be buying 360's to play Halo 3 this fall and dropping the price now will cost them a lot of lost profits. Still they need to increase their installed base now before their late summer games start coming. I'd like to see at least a $75 drop on the elite and Pro and a $50 drop in the Core. Pricing the Core against the Wii will help get the console into the hands of more games. The Wii can't compete against the 360's game line up this fall. Having the Elite $100 cheaper than the PS3 will also emphasize how much better a deal the Elite is and keep a nice price cushion between the two consoles. Plus having the Pro $175 cheaper than the PS3 is a nice option for anyone.

The move for Sony is a smart one but also drastic since the console hasn't even been available for more than nine months. It's a statement that the PS3 was too expensive to start with. I'm interested in seeing how this affects the PS3 sales in the US since the unit is barely selling 80K a month right now. The price drop plus those 5 free BluRay movie deals Best Buy and Circuit City are offering should move some units. As tempting as these deals are I think we could see another PS3 price cut within the next 12 months so I'll wait till it's $399 in the US before reaching for my wallet.