Publishers are pleading UK retailers not to start a price war. It’s a serious request, but some retailers can’t help taking the piss. And I’m not talking about obscenely low prices. Read more…

Following a price cut in Japan, Microsoft has followed through in the Unitied States. Now the cheapest current generation console, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is the first to reach $200. Read more…

In a bid to undercut Nintendo’s Wii in Japan, Microsoft plans to slash the price of the Xbox 360 by almost 30%. Read more…

New Sku! New Sku! Another one to add to your collection.  This time it’s a 60GB Xbox 360 to mirror Sony’s black monolith.  Oh and we hate to say “I told you so,” but the 20GB model will also be receiving a price cut. Read more…

Sony will start selling a new configuration of their Playstation 3 console in Europe starting October 10th of this year. The new model will have a 40-gigabyte hard drive compared to the 60-gigabyte model out right now.

Sony is listing the price of the 40-gigabyte model at 399 euros ($564.17 U.S.) and will lower the price of their 60-gigabyte model from 599 euros to 499 euros ($705.56 U.S.).

In an effort to keep the price down, the 40-gigabyte model will not feature backwards compatibility for older Playstation games. So if the ability to play your Playstation 2 games is important to you, the 60-gigabyte model is the way to go.

Does the release of this 40-gigabyte model in Europe mean that the U.S. can look forward to the same soon? As the holiday season approaches, one can only hope that the answer will be yes. It would seem only logical if Sony hopes to steal some of the Wii’s thunder. Ripten will keep you posted.