Canadian Price Cut For 360 Sparks New Rumors

The website of major Canadian electrical chain Future Shop has posted details of a new low price Xbox 360 premium pack deal, sparking further, extremely unsubstantiated rumors of an imminent official price drop in North America. The deal offers a premium pack Xbox 360 (including hard drive and wireless controller), plus a copy of launch title Project Gotham Racing 3, three months of Xbox Live Gold membership and 1250 Xbox Live Marketplace points for CA$499.99 (US$445). Similar bundles currently retail for $500+ in the U.S., although it seems likely that the Future Shop bundle is one created by the company itself, rather than officially organized by Microsoft, as sometimes occurs when specialty retailers attempt to stimulate demand. Nevertheless, rumors continue to circulate that Microsoft will drop the price of the premium pack in the U.S. by $50 or more in the run up to Christmas, in an attempt to compete with the launch of the Wii and in particular the PlayStation 3. Official comments from Microsoft, though, have all indicated that a price cut is not imminent, with Peter Moore stating, perhaps partially in jest, that the high price of the PlayStation 3 already creates a virtual price cut for the Xbox 360. In addition, demand still seems high for Xbox 360 at the current price, further reinforcing the impression that the Xbox 360's $299/$399 tiering will stay the course in America for now.