Sony Corp. said Tuesday it is cutting the price of the console by $100, bringing the 80-gigabyte version to $299 effective immediately. A slimmer PS3 with a larger hard drive launches in a few weeks, also for $299.

Riccitiello says the price cut was a "great move," and he praised Sony for not leaving it to right before Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Consumers will likely be bombarded during the holiday season with an onslaught of messages from companies selling everything from DVDs to TVs to cell phones, he says. Doing the price cut in the middle of August instead "really stands out."

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