PS3 Price Drop to $249

Gamers looking to get their hands on Sony's PS3 should be happy to note that the console manufacturer announced a price drop on all PS3 models today, effective immediately. The 160 GB PS3 has dropped in price from $299 to $249, and the 320 GB model has dropped from $349 to $299. At Sony's 2009 Gamescom press conference at they announced the PS3 Slim - and the $299 price point which helped to bolster sales.

While a new PS3 model was not revealed this year, the reduced price point should help the PS3 garner more sales, especially with the attractive line up of games Sony has this fall. Sony announced in their press release that PS3 worldwide sales reached 50 million in March 2011. This price drop will certainly help to increase those numbers.

In addition to the lower price point of the PS3, Sony announced the release of a Europe-exclusive budget PSP model. The low-cost PSP will be known as the E-1000 model and will feature a slightly improved design over the PSP-3000. The E-1000 will not support Wi-Fi capabilities, though it will launch for the price of €99.00 later this fall.

On current PSP models, Wi-Fi is used to both update the system and connect to the PlayStation Store. Luckily, Sony already has measures in place to make sure gamers can still get full functionality through the new system. As with every firmware update in the past, new firmware can be downloaded directly through the PlayStation website. In addition, the Media Go software that Sony launched a while back will allow users to connect to the PlayStation Store through their PCs. The only issue being that Media Go is unavailable to Mac users, meaning those using Apple's computers will be unable to connect to the Store.

In addition to the lowered prices on the two consoles, Sony also announced a line of budget UMD titles to launch alongside the PSP E-1000 - such as Eye Pet Adventures and FIFA 12, the budget line will run gamers €9.99 per title. This move will likely milk a bit more juice out of the PSP before the launch of the PlayStation Vita early next year.

Will you be picking up the PS3 and/or PSP due to the new price drops?