Well boys and girls, things got real yesterday over at Microsoft. The rumoured price drops across all SKUs finally happened. Here is a quik break down of the new pricing:

Arcade: $199
60GB Pro: $299
Elite: $399

$199!! That is an insanely cheap system. Will Xbox sales rival the Wii’s this holiday season? Probably not, but I can’t wait to see the NPD’s.

Chris Kohler of WIRED’s Game|Life blog had some strong insight in the wake of the drop:

Yes, whichever one gets up over the other this year will surely trumpet it loud and long. But the cat’s already out of the bag: Microsoft never should have let Sony get a foothold, just as Sony gave Microsoft no quarter last generation. Both have significant advantages over the other that they will leverage for small victories, but neither will pull out all of the stops, because there’s nothing to win anymore. As much as Microsoft and Sony like to talk about 100 million units or 10-year lifecycles, it all rings hollow: Somebody’s going to sell 100 million consoles this generation, but it’s not either of them.

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