Quote: Originally Posted by Blaster man Agreed. I misstated what I meant although both have the effect of making the sales of the current console fall off a cliff which would be why IMO stores are trying to sell inventory down with discounts.

You might have something to talk about if multiple retailers were doing deals on multiple SKUs, but one retailer doing a promo on a single SKU isn't indicative of anything.

And as I mentioned above MS actually RAISED PRICES across the board on their hardware in the last week or so.

You are vastly overestimating the possible 'osborne' effect, given that new hardware isn't a simple replacement for current hardware due to the probable high price and lack of software. Sony sold huge number of PS2s during the period when the PS3 was announced/launched because it was targeted at a completely different market segment than the PS3 and that the PS2 was fraction of the PS3 in price...Same with the DS....tons of those have sold during the period when the DSI, DSIxl and 3DS were announced and launched as well. Not everyone needs the latest and greatest, and more significantly, most can't afford it nowadays. If folks haven't bought a 360/PS3 by now, they probably either have zero interest or can't afford it. Neither of those factors are likely to be different for the next gen of hardware for the first couple of years.

Whatever hardware comes out in the next year, only a small segment of the market will be motivated to buy due to the price/lack of software. Announcing new hardware will have minimal impact on existing hardware sales (price info, launch games and how long they are going to be waiting for it are necessary for people to make the buy now/wait decisions in most cases) ...however, once the launch price and date are set (which won't be set until probably Aug/Sept at the earliest...Look what Nintendo did with the WiiU),there might be some impact of some buyers holding out but that will be completely overwhelmed by new sales to price sensitive consumers with price drops on the old hardware that will coincide with new hardware launch. No one is clearing out inventory in prep for the next gen at this stage...this market doesn't work that way...they clear it out a year or two AFTER the next gen comes out (or in the PS2's case 5 years after).