Microsoft has recently slashed the asking price of its Xbox 360 console in Japan and the US, and early reports have subsequently suggested a 100 per cent increase in sales.
Hoping to continue that trend, it now appears that similar price cuts will be unveiled in the UK. Late last week, a Woolworths employee was kind enough to scan a page from the retailer's upcoming catalogue and send it over to the folks at Engadget:
The catalogue shows Xbox 360 Arcade, Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite prices at £129.99, £169.99 and £229.99, respectively. That's a healthy range of prices to have going into the Christmas period, and buyers may note that the standard Xbox 360 - sometimes referred to as the Premium - is to be cheaper than Nintendo's Wii.
Microsoft has thus far denied any scheduled price cuts for the UK, and the above scan could just be an indication of Woolies' attempt at a retail surge. We're quietly confident, however, that a price drop will occur throughout the country.
If you're thinking of buying an Xbox 360, it might well be worth waiting a few weeks to see if prices do edge closer to the £100 prediction we made earlier this month.
On the other hand, those thinking of upgrading their old Xbox 360 console for a newer, quieter and hopefully more reliable model might see this an opportune moment. Our recent analysis showed retailers such as Blockbusters are offering £115 for Xbox 360 trade-ins. Should these rumoured price cuts become reality, you could then be upgrading to an all-new 60GB Xbox 360 for just £45.