WiiU’s imposing E3 appearance causing Sony and Microsoft to split prices in half?

June is right around the corner and along with the abundance of shitty summer flicks also comes the biggest gaming event of the year, E3. Nintendo will be socking up all the attention this year with their new hardware. While Sony and Microsoft will have no hardware this year to show, it seems they’d be left in Nintendo’s dust.

Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities analyst, predicts an almost definite price drop for Sony’s Playstation 3 this year and a potential price job for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 as a result of Nintendo’s announcement. Don’t expect as drastic of a price drop that Sony’s Playstation 3 received back in 2008 in which Sony’s Playstation 3 price was split in half like Justin Bieber at a NAMBLA convention but, a small price drop will be better than no price drop. On the other hand a major price drop for the 360 will be a first for Microsoft. There is no exact confirmation of this yet but, a price drop is pretty much inevitable (which is good news for me and many of my friends).

Pachter also does not expect a next gen Xbox console announcement until a core 360 model costs less than $200/£180. Microsoft also recently announced a new family console titled XBox Loop, which may be revealed at E3 this year. [pullquote_right]We expect hardware sales to rebound once price cuts are implemented, but expect a recurrence of the dip next holiday, partially buffered by some modest contribution from the introduction of the PS vita earlier on this year and the Wii U later this year. – Pachter[/pullquote_right] “Recent slowings of Microsoft’s hardware sales could cause a price drop by this year’s E3. We do not expect an annoucement of a next generation console from microsoft until they drop the prices of there core £360 hardware to under $200. PS3 hardware sales should continue to lag behind 360′s sales until Sony introduce another price cut,” he said.

Of course this is not the first time Nintendo’s actions have influenced rival companies actions for example, the Nintendo’s Wii “motion control” is the obvious inspiration for Sony’s “Move” controller and less so for Microsoft ‘s “Kinect” system. Another example would be Nintendo64′s analog stick which clearly set the standard for how future controllers would be made.

This sale data will was a Part of NPD’s sale report which will later be released this Thursday. March has not been a good month for US game retailers with software sales decline down by 23% to $565 million in software sales despite a big launch for EA’s Mass Effect  which shipped more than 3.5 million copies during its first week. April doesn’t look much better either but, May could be a “pick me up” to game retailers with the releases of Rockstar’s Max Payne 3, Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Future Solder and Blizzard’s Diablo III.