Rumor: PS3 price to drop $100 this week

A Circuit City advertisement reported by the site Cheap Ass Gamer indicates the PS3′s price will drop $100 for July 15-21, 2007, bringing the price of the 60GB system down to $499. Other sites, including GameDaily Biz, were able to confirm that the price will drop on July 12, 2007, with a store manager. Target and Best Buy ads have also surfaced, seemingly confirming the universality of the price drop.

Sony has not yet commented on the sale price or made the $100 price drop official, though an inteview by Boston Globe makes it sound pretty well set in stone:

“Our initial expectation is that sales should double at a minimum,” Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview. “We’ve gotten our production issues behind us on the PlayStation 3, reaching a position to pass on the savings to consumers, and our attitude is the sooner the better.”

The article also reports a new, 80 GB PS3 for $599 will be released in the US, preloaded with the game Motorsorm.

Likely a bit of clever pre-E3 PR, rumors of the price drop had been floating around the web for a few weeks, making it onto every E3 preview blog list in creation. This comes soon after a Sony official said the price would not drop any time soon.

Read [Boston Globe] Also Read [Cheap Ass Gamer] Also Read [GameDaily Biz] Also Read [Kotaku]