n the wake of Microsoft' s announcement at the beginning of this week that it was cutting the price of the Xbox 360 across Europe, The simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich believes a similar move in the US is the company' s " only feasible and economic option" to combat Sony' s PlayStation 3 momentum.

" Whether there is an Xbox 360 shortage or not, it is clear that the PS3 has gained considerable ground on its rival," he said, as the impact of last year' s PS3 price cut and Sony' s Blu-ray victory become clear.

" Given these past two months and the momentum that the PS3 has gained, Microsoft must react quickly as the PS3' s momentum will only get stronger until Microsoft reacts."

The Xbox 360 Arcade SKU is now cheaper in Europe than the Nintendo Wii, and half the price of the PS3, and Divnich believes that a similar move in the US is needed.

" In the short-term, Microsoft' s only feasible and economical option is to look at reducing its hardware price in North America to at least slow down the PS3' s momentum until it can implement more long-term solutions to winning the next-generation console war," he said.

Chris Lewis, Microsoft' s newly-promoted VP of Interactive and Entertainment in Europe, yesterday told GamesIndustry.biz that the price cut would " open up the mass-market floodgates."

" We enjoy 42 per cent of that revenue share right now in this generation," he detailed. " That' s a key milestone for us to have met and surpassed. We' re also attaching just a little bit over seven games for every console – considerably ahead of where we stand with our competition."

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Would Microsoft put a dent in the Nintendo Wii' s skyrocketing sales figures if they were to drop the price of the Arcade at or below the Wii?

Discuss.

Meh, who cares? Xbox 360 is a tired old pussy, I' ve stretched it out enough already. I' m ready for the next gen. In the mean time, I' ll get some PC games to hold my attention.

Jeez man, I just got used to calling this present gen.

Mine' s almost dead, I took it to a friend' s house and left it there, it works whenever it wants to. Good riddance.

Is it just me or is this whole concept of spelling doom for the 360 because the PS3 has momentum quite silly?

Last I checked (January), the numbers are as follows.
1. Wii: 20.13 million, as of December 31, 2007
2. Xbox 360: 17.7 million, as of January 3, 2008
3. PlayStation 3: 10.49 million, as of December 31, 2007

Let' s say the PS3 outsells the 360 by 1,000,000 every single year or approx 85,000 per month. That' s going to take roughly 7 years to break even with 360. Is there even going to be an Xbox 360 or Wii in 7 years time?

This is just a guestimate, (and I' m tired) there' s nothing saying it' ll be sooner or later than this. But either way it' s probably going to take a good solid 4-5 years before there' s any indication of PS3 getting out of 3rd place. By that time we' ll probably be salivating over the next consoles.

Would Microsoft put a dent in the Nintendo Wii' s skyrocketing sales figures if they were to drop the price of the Arcade at or below the Wii?

No, Wii has TEH INNOVATIONZ!!!

ORIGINAL: UnluckyOne

Is it just me or is this whole concept of spelling doom for the 360 because the PS3 has momentum quite silly?

Last I checked (January), the numbers are as follows.
1. Wii: 20.13 million, as of December 31, 2007
2. Xbox 360: 17.7 million, as of January 3, 2008
3. PlayStation 3: 10.49 million, as of December 31, 2007

Let' s say the PS3 outsells the 360 by 1,000,000 every single year or approx 85,000 per month. That' s going to take roughly 7 years to break even with 360. Is there even going to be an Xbox 360 or Wii in 7 years time?

This is just a guestimate, (and I' m tired) there' s nothing saying it' ll be sooner or later than this. But either way it' s probably going to take a good solid 4-5 years before there' s any indication of PS3 getting out of 3rd place. By that time we' ll probably be salivating over the next consoles.

Because 360 is dead.

2005-2009 RIP
PS3 will be like 2006 - 2012

They' ll release the next xbox towards the end of 09 and we' ll barely see any 360 games during 09 so 360 pretty much dies this year.

They' ll fight PS3 the only way they know how, make a bigger console with more muscle, typical American company.

And lets see if said new muscular built is actually meant to last.

Multiplatform titles are still selling twice to four times as many copies on 360 than PS3. COD4 and DMC4 both are leaning heavily to the 360. The PS3 could be a late bloomer in the same way that the SNES was; ultimately gaining an edge in overall sales as this generation of consoles gives way to irrelevance.

ORIGINAL: UnluckyOne

Is it just me or is this whole concept of spelling doom for the 360 because the PS3 has momentum quite silly?

Last I checked (January), the numbers are as follows.
1. Wii: 20.13 million, as of December 31, 2007
2. Xbox 360: 17.7 million, as of January 3, 2008
3. PlayStation 3: 10.49 million, as of December 31, 2007

Let' s say the PS3 outsells the 360 by 1,000,000 every single year or approx 85,000 per month. That' s going to take roughly 7 years to break even with 360. Is there even going to be an Xbox 360 or Wii in 7 years time?

This is just a guestimate, (and I' m tired) there' s nothing saying it' ll be sooner or later than this. But either way it' s probably going to take a good solid 4-5 years before there' s any indication of PS3 getting out of 3rd place. By that time we' ll probably be salivating over the next consoles.

You have a good point there, I was thinking the same thing.

I don' t even bother reading into these things anymore. All I worry about in the console industry is whether or not developers, and console makers will look to emulate the Wii to try and leach some of its success.

The fact is this.

I play my 360 the most of my consoles, 10x as much as I play my ps3(I could have got CoD4 for ps3 though, which would pretty much make time spent on it even with 360).

I play my ps3 a fair amount, which I expect to increase a great deal come fall, and love it as a Blu Ray player. If I were to get GTA 4 for it(I' ve settled on the 360 version), then I would play it a ton. Pretty much the only reason my ps3 gets used as little as it does is because I own a 360 which I slightly prefer for the majority of multiplatform games. If I only owned a ps3, I would play it a lot more, and wouldn' t feel shortchanged on the multiplatform games.

I barely play my Wii at all, even Super Mario Galaxy couldn' t pull me away from the 360(it was a nice change of pace though). No, I' m not a huge fan of SSB. I enjoy it quite a bit, but as with all fighting games, I get bored after 30 min. Am I to be punished with a lack of games because I don' t enjoy one particular game? With the Wii, it appears so. I don' t see Mario Kart changing my mind about this. I enjoy the game, but it' s still just Mario Kart. People criticize western gamers for playing " another FPS" because so many don' t push new boundaries. At least I get a new story, weapons, and scenery. I feel like with Mario Kart, I' m getting the same gaming experience I had as a child play it on the SNES. It' s a fun experience, but ONLY with friends, and real life friends, not online. If I' m to get only a few good titles on a console in one year, I want it to be something more than a shinier rehash of an old idea. It was fine on the N64, since most titles on it were there 3rd or 4th iteration, and I was still a kid, but 10 years later I expect more than the same except with a new console.

This is how I feel about the current console market. I' m generally happy with it, and I' m keen on enjoying it while it lasts. Before the disparity between console graphics and those of a computer is too large to ignore.