In the aftermath of the Xbox 360 price cuts, Sony has been blowing its own trumpet this week claiming that it is well on target to achieve it's fiscal year PS3 forecast of 10 million units sold, before March 2009.

According to President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Jack Tretton, sales of the PS3 are currently 30% ahead of its forecast, and 100% better than this time last year.

"We are tracking at 100 percent up over last year ... about 30 percent ahead of where we should be. So sales could slow down and we will still hit our number," said Tretton in an interview, Reuters reports.

Despite his comment that there could potentially be slower sales in the lead up to Christmas, Tretton has also gone on record to say that he firmly expects PS3 and PSP shortages over the holiday period. That's PR speak for "Get your ass down to the shops otherwise you might be disappointed". (It's usually untrue, unless your name's Nintendo).

Speaking on its competitors, Sony believes that the PS3 is still good value and just as worthy (if not more) of your cash than the Xbox 360 and Wii. In the current economic climate, Tretton believes that people want value for their money and the PS3 offers that.

“I'd say we are able to meet somewhere between 80-90 percent demand, based on how things are trending. I think people are going to question every dollar that they spend, but they are going to look for value in return.”

Sales of the PSP will undoubtedly grow following the release of the PSP 3000 in November. A price cut of its PS3 hardware would certainly help to spur sales, but Sony is still adamant that it doesn't need to go down that route.

In September, Sony CEO Howard Stringer stated that the price of the PS3 wouldn’t be cut before 2009.

Source :: Reuters