Sony Corp.cut the price of the PlayStation 3 by $100， or 17 percent， in the United States on Monday， a move that should boost the video game console's lackluster sales.

　　The PlayStation 3， which includes a 60-gigabyte hard drive and a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player， will now cost $500， or $20 more than the most expensive version of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360.

　　The PS3 still costs twice that of Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii console， whose $250 price and motion-sensing controller have made it a best-seller despite its lack of cutting-edge graphics and hard disk.

　　“Our initial expectation is that sales should double at a minimum，” Jack Tretton， chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America， said in an interview.

　　Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said Sony's price reduction would not double sales but may boost them by 50 percent to about 120，000 units a month. “The greater significance is that Sony is signaling to the market that we're coming down the cost curve pretty fast in making this thing. It's a pretty consumer-friendly move，” Pachter said.

　　索尼公司周一宣布，美國市場所售PS3游戲機售價將降低100美元，降價幅度達17%，此舉將大大改進索尼視頻游戲機銷售低迷的局面。

　　配有60GB硬盤驅動器和藍光高清DVD播放機的PS3現在將以500美元的價格銷售，比微軟Xbox 360游戲機的最高配置版多出20美元。

　　PS3游戲機現在的售價仍是任天堂WII的1倍，后者250美元的售價和動作感應控制器使其成為最暢銷游戲機，雖然它沒有先進的圖形顯示功能和硬盤。

　　索尼計算機娛樂北美公司總裁Jack Tretton說：“我們初步預測PS3的銷售至少增加兩倍。”

　　Wedbush摩根公司分析師Pachter認為，索尼的降價不會使PS3的出貨數量增長兩倍，但將促使出貨猛增50%，從而使月出貨量達到12萬臺。他說：“索尼此舉的意義在于其向市場發出了信號，表明游戲機的成本曲線變化很快，這是一個對消費者比較友好的舉動。”