Sony cuts price of Playstation 3 by USD 100

There have been reports for quite some time now that the Japanese technology giant Sony's Playstation console 3 has not been doing well against Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. In a bid to be competitive, Sony has slashed the price of its struggling PlayStation 3 console in the US by $100. Customers can now buy Playstation consoles for $500 apiece.

Through this move, Sony expects to double sales of its advanced PlayStation 3 console. The Playstation 3 console includes a 60-gigabyte hard drive and a leading edge Blu Ray DVD player and is only $20 more expensive than Microsoft's Xbox 360 in the US.

Apparently, Microsoft is also preparing to lowering the price of its gaming console, the XBox 360. Microsoft is expected to announce the price cut during E3, the annual video games trade show in Santa Monica, to be held in mid-July 2007.

Nintendo, on the other hand, has been very successful with respect to its pricing. At a price of USD 250, the Nintendo Wii has proved to be an enormous hit with consumers who have shunned the superior graphics of the PlayStation 3 in favour of the more interactive game-play of the Wii's motion sensor-based controllers that allow users to physically play games like tennis on the screen.

Powerful US retailers had been pressurising Sony to slash the price of its playstation console. The Wii has sold 2.8 million units since the two consoles were launched in November 2006, double the 1.4 million Sony consoles that have been sold over the same period.

Sony has also revealed plans to increase the storage space to 80GB to offer more capacity to download and store more content on the device. The
new upgraded console will have a price tag of USD 600.

Only eight months after release, the price cut for the PS3 may be one of the quickest in console history. With $100 off the current top model, Sony may be responding to the relatively sluggish sales of its consoles when compared against its competition.