Update 8:15 PM EST: Toys R Us Canada has apparently lowered their prices already.

Thanks to an anonymous tipster, we have early word on what might be an upcoming price drop for the Canadian Xbox 360. The above phonecam photo comes from a FutureShop Canada employee, who says he was "quite surprised" to find a $50 price drop for the Xbox 360 Pro Console advertised right on the front page of next week's advertising fliers. Our source also tells us that the inside of the flier trumpets a $50 price drop for the XBox 360 Elite (to $449), an offer which allegedly includes a free copy of Turok.

Both price drops should be effective Friday, if this rumor proves true, and while we have no way of confirming this information as of yet, we have no explicit reason to doubt it either. Regardless, if you're a Canadian looking to buy an Xbox 360, it couldn't hurt to wait a couple of days to see if you can save a bit of green, er, funny multicolored money.

The Hollywood Reporter, er, reports that Microsoft will cut the price of the Xbox 360 by $50 in early August. THR says their source believes the price cut is because August is traditionally one of the slowest times of the year. That may be true, but our magical source from the nether dimension says it's probably got just as much to do with the megaton called Halo 3 dropping in Sept. 25.

The report really has no new information to bring to the "When's Microsoft finally going to drop the price?" game. The best they've got is an unnamed source. Please, if we trotted out every tip we've gotten on an Xbox 360 price drop we could probably do a Best in Show presentation based on grammar, probability of validity, and firmness in belief. Is the price drop rumor true? Well, we think it's got to happen sometime soon ... right?

[Thanks Joel]

Canada lost their PS3 price break this week as the 60GB console went from $649 Canadian ($549 USD), to $699 Canadian ($592 USD). This places the Canadian price in line with the United States' 60 GB price of $599. We're sorry for Canada's loss here and congratulate those that purchased their console before Sony took out their handy dandy currency conversion program and did the math.

But wait, the plot thickens. Gamespot reports Sony told them, "Although the suggested retail price (SRP) of the PlayStation 3 in Canada has not changed, some Canadian retailers have chosen to increase their retail price as a result of the weaker Canadian dollar. This increase is solely at the discretion of the retailer, as Sony Computer Entertainment Canada has not issued a price increase."

We're not experts on Canadian society, but typically consumers don't like to have price increases mysteriously occur. Whether it was a passive move by Sony or retailers to create price balance, this increase for the consumer, no matter how the blame game ends up, is not going to help move units.

[Thanks to all who sent this in]