Sure it's blurry and only a partial picture of the full page, but the information in this picture coincides with the information we've seen previously in rumored ads from both Wal-Mart and Toys R Us, sharing the exact date with the latter.

This latest ad also fuels our suspicions that Nintendo will make a big price drop announcement during the Tokyo Game Show next week, despite the fact that the company does not have an official presence at the show.

A price drop to $199 for the Wii would effectively place Nintendo back at the lower end of the console spectrum in the face of recent price drops for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

We've contacted Nintendo of America for comment and are awaiting a response.

Update: Nintendo's response, as expected, was that "Nintendo does not comment on rumors and speculation."

While the Walmart listing we saw didn't put a price tag on the Wii—currently still at its launch price of $249 USD—the Toys R Us version does, pegging the new MSRP at $199. And that's with Wii Sports included, not a stripped down package. The ad is purportedly from the end of September, due to hit the week of the 27th according to the tipster that forwarded a shot our way.

That's a week earlier than we were expecting based on the Walmart tip we received, but still not official in any capacity.

If accurate, that would mean a price drop announcement from Nintendo sometime within the next two weeks, possibly during the Tokyo Game Show. Nintendo won't be exhibiting officially at the yearly game show, but will be present at the Kyoto Cross Media Experience 2009.

We contacted Nintendo to get clarification, but were told "Nintendo does not comment on rumors and speculation." And they don't comment on blurry shots of Toys R Us circulars either!

That listing comes from an early version of a Walmart ad that loosely dates, but does not price a "rollback" for Nintendo's console. While the ad is not official confirmation of a price drop, the timing makes sense, as the Wii is about to enter its fourth holiday shopping season at its original price.

Should Nintendo announce a price drop prior to October, it has a venue at which to do it. The company will be participating at the Kyoto Cross Media Experience 2009, a multimedia event that runs September 26th to October 4th, overlapping with the Tokyo Game Show.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata just recently said that the company is not planning on announcing a price drop. "Right now," Iwata said at a recent investor Q&A, "there aren't a lot of discussions going on about what exactly to do about hardware pricing."

Of course, that "right now" was from early August and plans may have changed. Sales of the Wii in the U.S. are down by almost half from last year during the summer quarter. A price drop and upcoming marquee software releases like Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii may turn things around.

With Microsoft and Sony recently issuing their own price cuts on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Nintendo may be wisely following suit.

Due to the unofficial nature of the price drop info, we're labeling this rumor for now. We've been in touch with Nintendo of America and Walmart to get comment, but have not yet heard back.

Update: The official response from NOA, as expected, is "Nintendo does not respond to rumors and speculation."

The 120GB Xbox 360 Elite will sell for $299.99, while the popular 60GB Xbox 360 Pro will be cut to $249.99. Despite being Microsoft's current top selling model, production of the the Xbox 360 Pro has already stopped, Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for the Xbox 360, said.

"With the Pro console we are dropping the price down $50 to $249 while supplies last," he said. "Moving forward we will have two (models), the $199 Arcade and the Elite console for $299."

The $299 Elite will have one difference from the current models of the Elite, Greenberg said, it will no longer ship with an HDMI cable.

Greenberg said the price drop is a direct result of lowered production costs.

"As we continue to refine and make improvements on the internal components for the Xbox 360 and costs come down, we pass those savings on to our customers in the form of price drops," he said.

The decision to do away with the middle-of-the-road Xbox 360 Pro, which was selling for $299, was driven by a desire to simply Xbox gamer's choices, he said, pointing out that Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 with just two models.

Microsoft's price drop comes a week after Sony announced that their priciest version of the Playstation 3 was getting a $100 price drop and the company unveiled a sleeker version of their console, dubbed the PS3 Slim, which would sell for $299. Sony's new prices hit over the next week.

Greenberg calls the timing of Microsoft's price drop news a coincidence, denying that it was in response to Sony's price drop.

"We plan out what we want to do and how we do it years ahead," Greenberg said. "Many months ahead we get into the details, like the price and dates. This has been in the works for months and months.

"I think it's a bit coincidental, but it's also somewhat logical with both (Sony and Microsoft) making price adjustments at this time of the year because we are turning the corner of the holiday season."

Although Microsoft seemed to match Sony's price drop news this week, unlike Sony and despite rumors to the contrary, they didn't announce a slimmed down version of the Xbox 360. And Greenberg says one won't be coming.

"We feel great about our console," he said. "We have taken a different philosophy, adding more value to our existing console through updates and reinventing the system software."

"We feel like our system has done very well for us in the current form. We have no plans for a slim."

Greenberg also reiterated that this generation of gaming console from Microsoft will be around for quite a bit longer.

"We feel that we're not even at the halfway point (of the Xbox 360's life cycle)," he said. "That is something we believe in strongly. People have invested in these consoles, and we have massively connected communities and we have storage. I think what we did with the New Xbox Experience is a sign of what we want to do with the console."

Another, he said, is Microsoft's recently announced Project Natal which allows gamers to play games using a video camera and the console.

"It will work with our Xbox 360 system," he said. "I think that will add to the longevity of the system.

"The Xbox 360 has plenty of future."

But I guess it helps to add Best Buy to Wal-Mart and Meijer's upcoming ads showing a price drop for the Xbox 360 Elite and Pro.

According to our Best Buy tipster, the price drop hits next week. The ad lists the white 60GB Xbox 360 Pro as $249 and the black 120GB Xbox 360 Elite as $299, matching the Playstation 3's size, price and even color.

[Thanks Fave]

I reviewed the Xbox Live Arcade version of Droplitz, finding it a rather addictively little puzzle game that quickly invades your subconscious to the point where you'll dream about it. The PC version is comparable, while the iPhone version is a bit harder to control but similarly engaging. If it sounds compelling, now would be a great time to pick it up, as the Steam version is on sale until the 28th for a mere $1.99 - 80% off the normal $9.99 price.

The iPhone version has been discounted as well in order to celebrate the release of the free trial version, making upgrading from Droplitz Lite to Droplitz proper an investment of only $.99.

It almost doesn't seem worth it, really. The PlayStation 3 slim is right around the corner, selling for $299 with a 120GB hard drive, so why buy the 80GB system for $299? Well, it's bigger, and you might be able to grab it in a bundle if you play yor cards right? Either way, it's your $299 PlayStation 3 option until the Slim hits early next month.

Not mentioned during the press conference, a quick call to GameStop confirms that the 160GB system has dropped to $399 as well, so if you've been holding off on picking one up, now is the time.

TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, the HD remake of one of the best mutant turtle video games ever created, was originally priced at 1200 Microsoft points, or $15. Now IGN reports that Ubisoft and Microsoft are just a couple of big softies, dropping the price to 800 points in advance of next week's release. This means that the special 800 point bonus Microsoft announced yesterday for buying all of the Summer of Arcade titles just got $5 cheaper as well.

I'd say that's one shell of a deal, but that would be stupid.

TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Priced [IGN]

"From our perspective, this show is all about content," Sony's head of PlayStation marketing in the U.S., Peter Dille, told Kotaku in an interview yesterday. "We believe that our content story is unrivaled. It's really a relentless line-up of great exclusive games that will speak volumes to the value inherent in the PS3. Obviously people come to E3 expecting all sorts of announces. We've got a plan in place for the platform. A price drop at the show wasn't part of it."

The cheapest version of the PS3 on store shelves now is the $399.99 80GB model. The cheapest Xbox 360 is the harddrive-free $199.99 model. The Wii retails for $249.99. Sony's worldwide sales lag behind those of its cheaper competitors.

Prior to E3, spy shots of a rumored PS3 Slim made the rounds. Those images, while possibly fake, showed a box for such a unit that matched the box shown in other leaked shots for the then-unannounced PSP Go. Dille declined to comment on that PS3 Slim rumor, which some observers had tied in to the speculation that the console's price would soon drop.

I love the term "competitive pricing strategy". It's a lovely way to say that not enough people were buying the game, so we lowered the price. The new price makes a great deal more sense than the original $50 price tag, especially for a game that has players purchasing in-game cards for real-world money.

$29.99 is a pretty good deal for the game, though I get the feeling that eventually this is one of those titles that will be available for next to nothing, relying solely on card purchases to generate revenue.

Target stores across the country are currently receiving, sitting on, or awaiting stock of a new 80GB PlayStation 3 Greatest Hits Bundle, which comes complete with the reissued budget versions of the original Motorstorm and Resistance. The sku number in question is 207-23-0009, originally revealed over at Joystiq. Several stores we contacted actually had the units in stock, but when they attempted to actually ring them through the register they received a warning that the product could not be sold until March 29th, days over the close of next week's Game Developers Conference.

Perhaps dashing the hopes of a pre-GDC price cut, the new bundles were priced the same as the standard 80GB PlayStation 3 - $399.99. Of course it's technically $60 due to the inclusion of two $30 titles, but do you really need those when two superior sequels are already on store shelves?

Image courtesy of Joystiq

According to a Blockbusters' memo leaked to us today Sony is permanently dropping the price of the discontinued 40GB model of the Playstation 3 starting Sunday.

The price drop, which was verified by calls to a number of Blockbuster stores, will drop the 40GB model to $360 and an PS3 40GB bundle with an HDMI cable, Spiderman the movie and Transformers the game to $400. Stores that have trade-ins of the PS3 40GB will be selling it for $360 as well.

While the $40 or so price drop isn't much, maybe it signals other drops in line for the other versions of the console in the near future. Or perhaps Sony is clearing stock to make room for a Tokyo Game Show announced new SKU for the Playstation 3.

Update: Despite what the memo said, and what was repeated to us by a handful of Blockbuster employees across the country, SCEA says that this price cut did not come from Sony but rather is something Blockbuster is doing, likely to clear stock.

* Xbox 360 Arcade - $199
* Xbox 360 - $299
* Xbox 360 Elite - $399

Yes, that makes the Xbox 360 officially the least expensive current generation console following an $80 price cut on the Arcade model. Here's to hoping that helps Microsoft's recent hardware sales woes.

Reader Patrick sent in these pictures this morning of the Radio Shack circular for the week starting Sept. 7 which appears to verify at least two of those prices: The Elite for $400 and the Arcade for $200.

Hit the jump for the close-ups.

With price cuts possibly on the horizon that could bring console prices closer to the Wii's territory, should Nintendo worry? "The Wii audience is not choosing between 360 and Wii," said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. "Either they will buy a Wii only, or they will buy both a Wii and either a 360 or PS3. So Microsoft is right to consider the PS3 as the competition and to ignore the Wii."

Sony is the one, says Pachter, with more to be concerned about regarding possible pricing and feature set changes for the Xbox 360:

"Consumers see two boxes with very similar game experiences, and have to decide if a 360 with a 20Gb HDD, no Internet adapter, a very well-thought out Live experience and an extraordinary game library is a better deal at $349 (or $299) than a PS3 with built-in Internet adapter, a 40Gb HDD, a Blu-ray disc drive, a weak online experience and a relatively thin library of games for $399," said Pachter.

Both Sony and Microsoft unsurprisingly declined to comment on rumors or on their future price strategy.

Said Pachter, "So far, Americans consider the value proposition a toss-up, while Europeans value the PS3 more. Lower pricing and/or enhanced features for the 360 could change that."

The ad scan doesn't indicate further price adjustments for the 'Arcade' or 'Elite' models, but with the lower end SKU currently priced at $279, we would assume that it will have to be adjusted somehow. Consider it rumor for now, but we'll be getting in touch with them to learn more.

Xbox 360 price cut is coming around July 6th, price will be $299.99 [High-Def Digest Forums via NeoGAF]

"I don't really think that Microsoft and Sony are doing badly - just doing badly in comparison to Nintendo," Pachter said. "It makes sense that PS3 and 360 are doing about the same... instead of saying 'what's wrong with Sony and Microsoft,' we should be looking at Nintendo and saying, 'how the hell do they keep doing this?'"

It's easy to peg the answers on the price discrepancies, but Pachter said that's not all there is to it, pointing to Nintendo's success in a mainstream market most gamers are less aware of. "There really are people who play games that don't read Kotaku - I know it's hard to believe," he said. "There are people out there who don't even know how to spell Kotaku, and don't even know that there are websites dedicated to games."

Calling the typical console-fanboy attitude "extremely myopic," Pachter added, "There are actually people out there who have sex. The people on Kotaku, other than their parents, they've never met anyone who's had sex."

Mainstream gamers are mad about Wii Fit, Pachter said, agreeing with fellow analyst Billy Pidgeon who predicted that the Wii would not balance its supply with demand until 2009. So no price drop for Wii anytime soon - but what about the others?

"You'll get a price cut," said Pachter. "I think if I were Sony, I would wait for the Fall, or for the Christmas lineup. There's no reason for them to cut it today [with MGS 4 out]."

Pachter thinks it's likely to see a $50 reduction in the PS3's price. "They'll go $100 if they can afford to," he said, possibly close to the release of LittleBigPlanet, taking a "family bundle" angle.

As for Microsoft, Pachter said they won't stand for having the 360 and PS3 on level pricing ground, and will probably implement their own price drop commensurately. "Madden was an event for Microsoft last year, so perhaps you'll get a 360 cut with Madden. But I think if I were Microsoft, I'd maybe cut it in front of Gears 2."

Pachter also anticipates possible future supply constraints for Wii, based on Nintendo's history of consistently underestimating demand - he also thinks their attach rate estimates for Wii Fit are a bit lower than they'll turn out to be.

"That's obviously fairly significant, given we didn't have too much time to communicate it to our consumers. So with a lot more of the marketing kicking in now we expect it to grow even more in the coming days and weeks."

UK Xbox 360 sales up 40% [GamesIndustry.biz]

Rumours suggest Xbox 360 price cut this month [GamesIndustry.biz]

Wal-Mart Canada Sale Hints at New 80GB PS3 Price [DailyTech]
[Thanks, xIvSlowDeath420]