Sony Cuts PS3 Price For Xmas

Sony has slashed the price of PlayStation 3 by $100 in advance of holiday shopping; the cheapest console will now be a 40-gigabyte model for $399—down from $499 for a 60-gigger. PlayStation is the priciest of its rivals, and sales have lagged: Compared with 404,000 Nintendo Wiis and 277,000 Xbox 360s, only 131,000 PS3s sold in August, the Journal reports.

Sony’s system is now only $50 pricier than Microsoft’s, but still nowhere near Nintendo’s $250. A Sony honcho admitted PS3’s high price—$599 as recently as July—had hurt sales. But the chop comes with a catch: The system won’t play games from PlayStation 2—a limitation meant to spur more new purchasing. (More Sony stories.)