It's a hard time for the gaming industry right now. Console sales are in virtual freefall, and revenues have dropped sharply for all of the big manufacturers. Sony has been hit especially hard, since their losses started several months ago. There was a great deal of pre-E3 speculation that Sony would announce price cuts for the PS3, but those failed to materialize.

However, this article from Gizmodo makes me think that those price cuts may be coming down the pipe after all. During a conference call Sony CEO Nobuyuki Oneda announced that the PS3 was now 70% cheaper to manufacture than it had been at launch. This means that Sony can afford to drop the price substantially without becoming unprofitable.

All of the console manufacturers are going to be searching for ways to increase their sales over the coming months. If Sony is the first to roll out with major price reductions, they could gain an edge on their rivals and bring their gaming division closer to something resembling solvency once more. Whether or not they'll make the cut remains to be seen, but something tells me that Oneda mentioned the cost decrease for a reason.