No skirmish. It’s a battle for survival. Sony claims to have the counsole market in their hip pocket with (n) units sold already. Microsoft is trying to achieve critical mass. In doing so they will insure their place in the gaming industry. As of now, the game designers have only managed a short list offering for the X-box. The best way to get more game offerings is to have wider distribution of the platform. The best way to sell to more end users is to have lots of games. It’s a little ‘catch 22’ sitchiation.

A side note: When Microsoft drops the price of its X-box game console form 3 hundred something to 199 — what happens to the retailers who have inventory that they bought before the price drop? Do they eat the diff? Are they stuck? Does MS rebate them?

Microsoft claims a development cost of 2 billion. Surely, this slashing of retail prices will add to this big black hole. I don’t see them admitting failure and walking away but Sony isn’t about to let them have market share without matching. It will be interesting to witness the resolve and staying power of the titans.