Microsoft has now officially confirmed that the price point of the Xbox in Europe will be 149.99 Euro, with a UK price of UKP 99.99. "With the strongest Christmas games portfolio of any console, Xbox is now also the best value console on the market," commented Xbox EMEA regional VP Eduardo Rosini. "It's a winning combination for gamers this Christmas, and even more people in Europe will discover why it's good to play together with Xbox." The PlayStation 2 is also set for European price cuts in the coming days, with Sony to cut its price to UKP 104.99 (EUR ~155) this week.

Retailers will hope to see a significant sales boost for both consoles from the price cuts, much as was experienced by US retail back in June when Microsoft, and then Sony, slashed the price of their consoles within the space of a month of each other. In the UK, the PS2 has continued to outsell the Xbox by a factor of between 2:1 and 2.8:1 over the course of the summer, with the Xbox shifting around 5,000 units per week while the PS2 hovered between 8,000 and 14,000 units.