For nearly three years now, the console has sold briskly at $249.99, but beginning on September 27th at Best Buy (and everywhere else, naturally), the happy-go-lucky machine will be offered for just $199.99.

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Considering that two of the three versions of the Xbox 360 are currently priced at $250 or lower and the PS3 Slim is just $50 more, this shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. In fact, considering the true cost of Wii ownership and the fact that the Big N has managed to turn a profit on every single Wii sold (unlike most new consoles, which are loss leaders for at least a year or two), it’s a little surprising that it’s taken this long for the little white box to come down in price.

image © Engadget

This, of course, is in response to the recently-released PS3 Slim, the skinny, $300 version of Sony’s Blu-Ray player. Rumor has it that it also plays games. I’m afraid Sony has an uphill climb ahead of them if they truly want to compete with the 360, but at least they’ve now got a decent ad campaign, instead of something designed to confuse and horrify you.

image © Engadget

The Nintendo Wii has remained at $249 since its launch, and as of April of this year, Nintendo was still denying that any price cuts were imminent. But with the X360 Pro dropping to the Wii’s price point and the full-featured PS3 Slim and X360 SKUs moving into the Wii’s neighborhood, it’s hard to believe that we won’t see a $50 price cut before the holiday season begins in earnest.