With a few rumors coming true and a few just waiting to be announced this fall will be a true console war.  Sony was the first to play their hand by announcing the 399 PS3 for Europe.  This model has a few cheaper exterior designs but has a smaller hard drive, no more memory card slots and now two USB ports.  The biggest change is the unit will no longer have 100% backwards compatibility with PS2 games.  Sony has chosen to go down the route of software compatibility and so far the European model doesn't seem to support PS2 games at all.  Why we've heard this from Europe and not in any other region is because now in Sony there regional chiefs can set pricing.  So SCEE can now price PS3s for Europe and SCEA can price them for North America. 

If you haven't heard already Nintendo is already bragging that the Wii will be in short supply this holiday season.  This kind of begs the question of how long can Nintendo limit the production of their product before it back fires on them.  The Wii has the worst 3rd party support and has very few quality games.  It's a console for kids and soccer moms while anyone who actually like to play games tends to be more interested in the PS3 or Wii.  Still the Wii is a relatively affordable option so it sells very well.  This pet rock sure has some crazy legs.

Microsoft is the one staying mum right now.  I expect they will judge how well Halo 3 does for them and then decide how to respond to the moves made by Sony.  The rumor so far is Forza Motorsport and Marvel:Ultimate Alliance will be bundled with the Xbox 360 Elite and Pro models this holiday season.  The two game pack-in is a nice move to help push sales of the consoles as gifts since you now just buy the console and don't worry about buying a game because it's packed in.  Will people see that as a $90 savings on their Xbox 360?  Or just some free games that they don't care about?  Personally I would have packed Viva Pinata's new game with Forza. 

The other big rumor from Microsoft is the dropping of the Xbox 360 Core and re-branding it as the Xbox 360 Arcade.  The new box will come with a wireless controller, a 256MB memory card and 5 Xbox Live Arcade games lead by Pac-Man and Uno.  There has been some talk that this 360 will come with an HDMI port to support the highest quality of visuals.  If this console stays at $279 I think it is still too expensive for consumers because every sales rep will tell you you need the $100 20GB hard drive. By throwing in the 20GB HDD into this console Microsoft would be applauded by the gaming community but alas I suspect they will not.

Sony has made the biggest move to get back into this console race by dropping the price of their console a whopping $200 in less than a year after launch.  It is obvious that Sony is not willing to just hand over their title as console king.  I expect that a $399 PS3 in the US will bring the PS3 to about 40K/week sales up from 30K/week it's averaging since the first price cut.  The Halo effect seems to be in full force as the 360 sold around 470K units in the US for September.  Thats 200K more than August and 300K more than in July.   The 360 has outsold the Wii in the US and Europe since Halo 3 has been released.  Will these sales continue?  I suspect not every Halo fan made the move to a 360 just yet.  At $449 and $349 the 360 is probably still too expensive but should still sell very well this holiday season... like selling millions of units.  That said Microsoft needs to take a proactive step in Europe by launching TV and Movie downloads in Europe along with an addition 50 Euro price drop.  Nintendo is not in this fight and may very well be in the works on a new Wii that supports HD graphics.

Source:
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