Is this year shaping up to be the most important – and lucrative – gaming Christmas ever? Last year the PS3 was still in the early adoption phase while the 360 was a hardcore gamer dream machine. This year the PS3 and 360 have the wider spread of titles, greater visibility and crucially, in the 360's case, a price cut.
Microsoft European announcement sees the entry-level – and fairly pointless - Xbox 360 Arcade cut to UKP129.99. The standard console – now with a 60GB HD rather than 20GB – is down to UKP169. While the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite, which feels slightly overpriced despite the cut, is at UKP229.99.
So what does this mean? Microsoft is spinning the cut as being a complement to the forthcoming Xbox Live overhaul but clearly there is more to it. Microsoft desperately needs the 360 to expand into the wider games market so successfully exploited by Nintendo. With the standard model (60GB HD) now ten pounds cheaper than the Wii you can see the marketing potential. But will it be enough?
Forget Wii for a minute – it will certainly outsell the 360 and PS3 over Christmas. But can the price cut help the 360 win the sales battle with PS3 this Christmas? Or will Sony and Playstation's brand loyalty – will this year see the millions of PS2 users finally upgrade? - win out over the cheaper Xbox? That's assuming Sony don't cut the European PS3 price, of course.
