Microsoft has announced that it will cut $50 from the price of its popular gaming console, the Xbox 360. This will make the 40 GB Xbox 360 Pro to sell for $299. The move will bring the device to about $50 dollars from Nintendo’s Wii, which sells for $250 and which currently holds the largest market share.

It will be interesting to see what Sony will do given the fact that its PlayStation 3 console is already the most expensive device of the three and that the move will make Sony’s product cost $100 dollars more that than any devices of the competition. Sony previously announced that it plans to make no more price cuts, but if it chooses to stick to this decision, it will most probably have to rethink its marketing strategy to give possible buyers a reason to spend their money on its PS3.

The fact that Microsoft tries to cut the price of its Xbox 360 could be motivated by the predictions according to which people will be less likely to spend money on gaming products. The Redmond-based company probably hopes that by selling its device at a lower price, it might get some of the people who don’t really know for sure if they want a gaming console to buy its product.

On the other hand, if less people will buy gaming consoles and games that run on them, Microsoft risks losing a pretty large amount of money.

Another thing that Microsoft might announce at the E3 conference, which will take place in Los Angeles next week, is a motion sensor control for Xbox 360. Even though the company denied the rumors, people still hope that the company said that just to keep the surprise for the official announcement.