Microsoft PR rep: No 360 price drop this fall

Until May, conventional wisdom was that, when the holidays rolled around, Microsoft would drop the price of the Xbox 360. The reason? Prevailing opinion reasoned that, since Sony would price the PlayStation 3 near the 360's $299/$399 dual-price SKUs, Microsoft would in turn undermine the console's launch by undercutting its rival--that, and release Halo 3.

However, just like the holiday release of the final chapter in the Master Chief's Covenant-blasting adventures, a budget-priced PS3 is now only the stuff of nerd dreams. Likewise, a late 2006 360 price drop will not come to pass, according to a post on Gamerscoreblog.com by John Porcaro, a Microsoft PR manager.

"As you're all aware, there have been rumors of a price drop for the Xbox 360 coming along later this year," wrote Porcaro. "The official word from folks in the know is that there are currently no plans for a price drop this fall." (Emphasis in the original.)

The rest of Porcaro's blog post goes on to talk about how the cost of a $299 baseline Xbox 360 is a small price to pay to enter the next-generation of gaming, given the fact Xbox Live Silver is free and the console also plays DVDs and MP3s. Oddly, though, Porcaro's superiors in the Redmond, Washington, headquarters had not returned requests for confirmation of the price drop as of press time.