Following the price cuts of the Xbox 360 console in Europe, Microsoft decided it was time to reduce the prices in four Asian markets in order to help their console sell better and fend off market-share declines against Nintendo and Sony. Probably, their price cuts in Europe combined with the release of Grand Theft Auto have payed off, otherwise we're pretty sure the giants wouldn't have done something like that.

According to bloomberg website, starting today, estimated retail prices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have been reduced. The interesting thing about the price drop of the Xbox 360 consoles is that each country got a different cut: the price of a basic version will drop by 17 percent to NT$10,360 ($340) in Taiwan, about 11 percent in Hong Kong, 5.1 percent to 369,000 won ($369) in Korea and by 20 percent to S$499 ($366) in Singapore, according to separate e-mailed statements received by the website.

You probably already know that Microsoft never managed to establish itself on the Asian markets, recording extremely low sales, even though they have used all the possible tricks, including the Arcade version packed with games. Probably this price cut is their last option in order to turn things around. Still, we can't help but wonder how come Microsoft can cut the console prices. They are definitely not doing it just to offer people cheaper products while they record losses - which means that, until now, we've basically bought more expensive stuff just because? At least that's the feeling I have.

Anyway, following this price cut, analysts estimate that global Xbox 360 sales will drop 40 percent in the fiscal year 2008 (to 9.1 million), while Sony's PlayStations will jump 47 percent to 14 million units and Nintendo's Wii 26 percent to 24 million. Of course, these predictions might very well turn out to be wrong.