Update: Oops! We've realized we covered this before, but think of it this way -- now you're two times more aware of these firm, firm prices as the other denizens of the internet.

Whether you've yet to join the hunt for the Golden Ticket-esque Nintendo Wii, or you're one of the eight people yet to buy a Nintendo DS of some shape or color, we certainly hope that the reasoning behind your reluctance to join Camp N isn't the anticipation of a price drop for the two (relatively) affordable consoles. According to a recent statement from Ninty's Satoru Iwata, there are currently no plans to lower the retail price on either of their money-printing apparatuses.

While this fact isn't exactly surprising considering the systems' sales success at their current costs, Iwata's reason for the set-in-stone price is rather intriguing -- should either system undergo a cheapening, he explained, it would upset those who bought the console at its former price. Yes, we're sure it has nothing to do with the near completion of Miyamoto's personal, Scrooge McDuck-style gold coin swimming pool.

What was just a rumor as recently as this morning has apparently already become reality -- the Canadian Toys R Us web site is showing $50 reductions in price for the Xbox 360 Pro (now $349.99) and Halo Edition - (now $399.99). An informant at a Canadian Toys R Us has also told us that the Xbox 360 Arcade has been reduced $20 (to $279.99) and the Elite has come down $50 (to $449.99 -- all prices are in Canadian dollars, eh?)

Ironically enough, FutureShop, where this morning's rumor first originated, has not lowered their web site prices as of press time. Perhaps they're waiting until Friday to unleash that Turok Elite bundle on an unsuspecting public?

Does this surprise move mean an American price drop is in the cards? Probably not -- much like the previous Microsoft Canada price drop, the adjustment seems designed to bring prices up North in line with the weakening American dollar.

Update: Apologies for the inadvertent act of bad foreign relations. No offense was meant, Canada. Are we still cool?

[Thanks Stephen]

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.

Sony's CEO Howard Stringer is giving a little tease about Sony's current PS3 sales numbers before NPD lays down the law later today with the October data. Stringer says that in the two weeks prior to Nov. 11, they sold 100,000 units per week. However, the NPD group will only reflect data for the month of October, which saw the PS3 selling between 30K and 40K per week, according to Stringer. Sales only expectedly jumped after the introduction of the 40GB model on Nov. 2.

Stringer admits to all the difficulties the PS3 has found in the last year, telling the Associate Press, "Obviously, we've taken so much heat over the year on PS3 ... Finally, the turning point has been passed." Although it's probably still too early to say that, at least Sony seems to be on the right path -- good thing everyone's sales go up during the holidays.

[Via GameDaily]

It's such a "duh" statement, but when the president of Nintendo says the Wii isn't getting a price cut it does qualify as something to report. Speaking with the Associated Press, Nintendo pres. Satoru Iwata says, "Y'all beeatchs crazy? We ain't droppin' da price! Come up in my house askin' dumb question like dat? I oughta cap you." Fine, fine, he didn't actually say that. He really said, "We're absolutely not considering a price cut."

This echoes statements made yesterday by Nintendo senior managing director Yoshihiro Mori, who said that (surprise!) there is no price cut planned. This was following Nintendo's adjustment of their fiscal forecast where they said profits would be higher than expected. From the consumer perspective, the Xbox 360 Arcade at $280 hopes to put a dent into Nintendo's business, possibly prompting an eventual drop in the Wii's $250 price in '08 -- but first, the Wii needs to stop selling out the moment it comes back in stock.

Mama always told us that if everyone else is jumping off a bridge we should do it too. And so we give you the "news" that retirement-bound Nintendo marketing VP George Harrision told Reuters that the Wii is staying at $249. Harrison says that the Wii is still selling out everywhere and there's no need to drop the price at this point. The man is absolutely right.

Oh heck, while we're reporting the obvious: The PS3 is still too expensive (hopefully not for long), Microsoft won't port Halo 3 to PS3 -- ever, the PS3 will not be getting rid of Blu-ray and the Wiimote eats batteries like a fat kid at a buffet. We're sure there's more obvious news we can stumble upon today, but we're pretty sure saying the Wii won't get a price drop is definitely in the top three.

Amazon has a nice little deal going where you can get all you see above for $599. Found over at the CAG, the bundle includes the Xbox Elite, HD DVD drive (which comes with King Kong), the movie 300, and a mail-in form for five HD DVDs for free. The main thing to focus on here (because the free movies were announced a while back) is that you save about $60 on the hardware.

The $599 price is certainly interesting given that it's identical to the 80GB PS3 model which includes the Blu-ray player and this package seems geared for the movie inclined. Then again, you can always get a clearance 60GB PS3 with Blu-ray for $100 less than this bundle. Of course, we don't buy our systems for movies, we buy them for games, and in that department y'all can choose who's ahead at this stage.

[Via CAG]

Following the super-secret price drop on the Xbox 360 in the States, all eyes turned to Europe as they asked, "Me too?" Nooooooooo, not you too! Well, at least not right now. GI.biz reports that a spokesperson for Microsoft UK said that the announcement was for the US and they "have not announced any pricing changes in Europe."

Oh, buck up Europe. Sony did the same thing last month when they gave the US a price drop too. There is the possibility that Microsoft is saving their announcement for Leipzig, which is only in a couple weeks. Who knows what will be trotted out for Europe, perhaps they'll get a "starter pack" at the console's current price with some added value.

In the wake of leaked flyers from what seems like every major retailer in the country, Microsoft is finally ready to come clean on the Xbox 360 price drop announcing today a $50 cut on the main console (known informally as the Pro or Premium model) from $399 to $349. The price drop – scheduled for August 8th – is timed to coincide with the August 14th release of Madden NFL 08, one of the three titles that would have made up Microsoft's holiday hat trick (before GTA IV pulled out of the race early). Noting the staggering 624 day stretch since the console's November 2005 launch, Microsoft's Mitch Koch said, "The fact that we have been able to keep our launch price longer than any other console while retaining our leadership position demonstrates that consumers believe in the value of Xbox 360."

It's not just the Premium system getting its price axed. Just like the flyers promised, the Xbox 360 Core will drop $20 to $279 while the Xbox 360 Elite (which should now actually be available in stores) will see a $30 drop to $449. In a brief chat with Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, we had a chance to ask about some of the lingering questions surrounding this price drop. Greenberg was quick to point out this decision was timed to coincide with the launch of Madden and not any cost-cutting measures on their part (read: 65nm processors); however, they wouldn't cite specific details on the components. The Premium console is seeing the largest price reduction since it enjoys the largest percentage of sales, at 80% of all Xbox 360 consoles sold. Specific bundles, like this Table Tennis bundle, are retailer specific and not "channel-wide" according to Greenberg, so don't expect to walk into any old box store and pick one up (that one is Circuit City specific).

The new Xbox 360 shipments are coming in for next week's super-ultra-secret price drop weekend. And what we originally thought was just a deal of purchasing an Xbox 360 and getting Table Tennis for free at Circuit City appears to be a little bit deeper. Turns out the game is actually bundled in the packaging and not just an add on.

We've contacted our Best Buy and GameStop sources to see if their new shipments come with the game inside as well. We also don't know if this has anything to do with Best Buy's Top Spin bundle. Hopefully we'll get some answers starting Wednesday (or maybe a little earlier) when the GameStop materials regarding the big Microsoft announcement start showing up in stores. We can't help but wonder if this is the Microsoft answer to Wii Sports being packaged in the Wii. Oh well, consumers get a free game with the system and that's not a bad thing at all.

[Thanks ToeFurB]

Although really not evidence of the Aug. 12 price drop, there are some interesting things going on with the Xbox 360's pricing and attachments at Best Buy. We've received two separate Best Buy scans of a "360 Top Spin Bun" that will go on sale on Aug. 12 for $399 (the same day as the expected price drop). Though we're not positive, a Top Spin 2 pack-in seems to be the obvious component here (take that Wii Tennis!).

Also curious is that Best Buy has brought down the price of the HD DVD attachment for the Xbox 360 to $150. It's currently sold out online, but most major retailers are still pricing the device in the $180 to $200 range. It's not marked as a sale so, unless there is a computer error, the price looks to stay. Retailers plan to get more details on Xbox 360 pricing next Wednesday.

[Thanks Anonymous and El Conejo]

In the wake of the Wal-Mart flyer and the Toys R Us flyer, now comes the Circuit City flyer sent to Joystiq showing that beginning Aug. 12 the Xbox 360 premium will be $350, the Elite will be $450 and the Core will have a $20 break and be $280.

This still doesn't explain the fate of the Core once these units sell out, but the Xbox 360 price drop is looking more and more legit. Plus, if you purchase at Circuit City, it looks like you'll get Rockstar's Table Tennis for free. Don't forget to pick up your 3200 worth of MS points for $20 at Circuit City this week too.

[Thanks ToeFurB]

For those hoping that the expected $50 Xbox 360 price cut would bring the Core model down to the Wii-diculously great price of $250, we got some bad news. According to a source at Best Buy who sent Joystiq these images, the Xbox 360 Core model is dead and remaining stocks are all that's left of the system.

The sheet, according to our source, shows the description of the Xbox 360 Core hardware and underneath it is the word "deleted, meaning it is being taken out of the system." The out of stock date reads 7-29-07 and the larger image (found after the break) shows the pref code "y." According to the source, "This means replenishment of this item is not expected."

In a statement from July 16, when we originally heard rumblings that the Xbox 360 Core was over, a Microsoft spokesperson told us in regards to it being discontinued, "No. Xbox 360 Core remains an important member of the Xbox 360 family." Well, if the Best Buy papers end up being true, an important part of the family is about to swim with the fishes. Like Fredo from The Godfather, it breaks our hearts. We've contacted Microsoft to see if they'd like to revise their "important member" statement.

[Thanks Anonymous]

Update: We heard back from a Microsoft representative who said, "Nothing's changed since last week."

Well, CheapyD, who runs CheapAssGamer, is convinced about the $50 price drop coming to the Xbox 360 in August. Following yesterday's leaked "Wal-Mart" ad, today the crew at CAG dug up this Toys R Us ad for the week beginning Sunday, Aug. 12. The image taken by UgamerX is still really hard to make out and was probably taken on the sly, but the picture, in the largest size available, does seem to show toward the right side a "Valid Monday 8/13/07 ..." regarding some other deal, meaning the ad is at least in the same week. Also, Madden 08, which releases Aug. 14, can be clearly seen above the price drop image.

Cheapy D says, "When they become available, I fully expect the other retailer's ads to reflect the $50 price drop." Another member at CAG named Speedy, who was the one to expose the price drop for the PS3, typically gets Circuit City, Target and Best Buy flyers early; so we'll see what's really going on that week when he posts that week's flyer information. No word yet on how this will affect the Core or the Elite models of the Xbox 360.

[Thanks CheapyD, James, Zewone]

Microsoft has announced a price drop for the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player from $199 to $179, effective as of August 1st in North America. Appearing at Comic-Con in San Diego, the announcement was made amidst promotion for the HD-DVD releases of the film 300 and the cheerleader epic, Heroes.

Not content with just a twenty dollar dip, Microsoft has extended Toshiba's "Perfect Offer" promotion to Xbox 360 owners, awarding five free movies with purchase. The hard part now is choosing between Casablanca and The Dukes of Hazzard.

Naturally, the Xbox Live Marketplace wasn't left out in all this news as 300 will be making its way to the service in HD on August 14th, while free content for Heroes will arrive sometime before its HD-DVD release.

[Thanks, Devwi!]