Xbox 360 Price Reduction in Japan

Prices for the Xbox 360 video game console are reduced by 30 percent in Japan. Microsoft made the reduction in an effort to compete with the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PS3.

In an effort to stir up demand in Japan, Microsoft Corp will lower the price of its Xbox 360 Arcade model by $73.92 in Japan. The console has been struggling in Japan due to Nintendo's Wii and the Sony PS3 which has higher demand.

The Xbox 360 Arcade is the least expensive model. The gaming console does not come equipped with a hard drive.

The price reduction will make the console cheaper than the Wii and PlayStation 3.

Xbox 360 models with hard drives will also get a price reduction in Japan by 5,000-8,000 yen,

However, the Microsoft's console has beaten the Sony PS3 in Japan weekly sales for the first time in the week ending August 10. During that time there was high demand for "Tales of Vesperia" which is a role-playing game by Namco Bandai Holdings.

In the United States, the Xbox 360 Pro model was reduced from $349 to $299. The Pro series has a 20 gigabyte hard drive.