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"As the PlayStation 3 launch approaches, rumors of an Xbox 360 price cut are once again making the rounds -- but as usual, Team Microsoft is telling us not to get our hopes up. DigiTimes recently reported that a source at an unnamed Taiwanese OEM manufacturer is claiming Redmond has successfully negotiated lower production cost of between 15% and 20% on the 360, thanks to a combination of ramped-up production volume, falling component costs, and decreasing defect rates. While it's likely that Microsoft is aggressively seeking a lower per-unit cost on the consoles -- after all, it's supposedly losing over $100 on each box -- it's completely unclear as the whether these savings will be passed along to the consumer or kept in-house in an attempt to shore up losses on the hardware side of the equation. Since the PS3 will already be pricier than the 360 at launch, it seems that Microsoft certainly doesn't need to implement price cuts to stay competitive -- making the denials all that more plausible -- but then again, announcing price changes too early might hurt short-term sales, making the denials somewhat suspect. In the end, it seems like this could go either way, so if you're looking to save a few bucks, there's still only one surefire way to do so.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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