With PAX East generating industry buzz this weekend and E3 coming up so soon, a big rumor about another price cut for the PlayStation 3 has caught our eye. The console is already holding steady at $249 for the 160 gigabyte model, but one analyst claims that the PS3 may drop in price even more come E3 this year.

It hasn't been that long since the PS3 received a price drop to $249, and with Sony's president confirming that there would be no announcement of a new system at E3 this year, Sony may need a trump card if they are going to wow non-mobile gamers at the convention and boost hardware sales. Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities analyst, foresees a price drop for the PS3 to give gamers something to hold onto to breathe life back into sales, which are currently being beat out by the Xbox 360 monthly in the U.S..

It was almost a year ago when the PS3 was catching up to the Xbox 360 in global sales, but the tides have changed as overall hardware sales on current-gen systems slow down. Pachter believes this price cut could rebound PS3 sales, but not considerably.

"We expect hardware sales to rebound once price cuts are implemented, but expect a recurrence of the dip next holiday, partially buffered by some modest contribution from the introduction of the PS Vita in February and the Wii U later this year… PS3 hardware sales should continue to lag those of the Xbox 360, and we expect sales to trend downward by 10 - 20% monthly, until Sony cuts prices once again, likely at E3."

Pachter also predicts that Microsoft could be considering a price cut for the Xbox 360 as well - falling in line with the rumored Xbox Lite (a cheaper Xbox 360 model).

"Recent slowing of Xbox 360 hardware sales could cause Microsoft to consider a price cut by E3. We do not expect an announcement of a next- generation console from Microsoft until the Xbox 360 core model is priced below $200, likely around this time next year."

Pachter predicted a price cut for the Xbox 360 last year before E3, but that never came into fruition. Could he be right about the PS3 this time? Should we even be listening to his predictions on this?

Does the PS3 and/or Vita need a price cut and is it time to unveil a new home console?

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Source: GameIndustry.biz