On Friday, during an interview at the Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, Sony chairman Howard Stringer said there was no need for the price of the PlayStation 3 gaming console to go down, even if Microsoft’s Xbox 360 does receive a $50 discount. As he sees things, if Microsoft decides to cut down on its console’s price, it would only proof the fact that Xbox sales are lagging.

According to a Thursday report of The Wall Street Journal, the Xbox price cut may turn out to be indeed approved by Microsoft as soon as this very weekend. Numerous retailers have displayed posters announcing the upcoming $299 price.

As market researcher NPD Group has found, in the first five months of the current year, in the United States, Xbox sales have been continuously losing ground to Nintendo’s Wii and the PlayStation 3.

Although Microsoft officials haven’t issued an official statement, the company’s upcoming move is quite obvious. This would not be the first Xbox price cut. Back in August, the Xbox Pro’s price tag was changed from $399 to $349; this happened right before the release of the "Halo 3" title.

Although $299 would make the Xbox 360 Pro $100 cheaper than Sony’s PlayStation, as mentioned before, Sony displays a lot of confidence and seems to not consider the possibility of cutting down its console’s price.

According to a May survey, teenagers with ages ranging from 11 to 18 prefer to use the PlayStation 3. Sixty-nine percent of the 58,368 teenagers who had been interviewed considered the PS3 either great or good. A close second was the Nintendo Wii, with a percentage of 64. Microsoft’s Xbox360 came in third with 58%.