Nothing succeeds like excess, it’s said. In this case it’s the excessive trimming all models of Xbox 360 received in the US recently - they’ve been shifting like hot cakes in a desperate hot cake shortage ever since…

A quick recap, and the 360 has been through a tough old time of late. Humiliated by runaway Wii sales and comprehensively whupped by the Playstation 3 during the summer months, despite the latter’s late arrival to market, loftier price point and smaller catalogue of software. Something had to give, and in such cash-strapped times the only sensible manoeuvre was to lop a substantial chunk off the rrp of all models. To which end the Elite was slashed to $399, the regular model to $299 and, most significantly, the hard drive-less Arcade to $199 - breaking the $200 price barrier and undercutting the Wii by around 50 bucks into the bargain.

Small wonder that sales have picked up significantly since the drop. In fact most retailers are reporting an impressive 100% uplift, and some are claiming that certain models are selling six times as much as the previous weekend. Way to go indeed.

Of course precise sales figures have not been revealed thus far. We’re going to have to wait for the all-seeing NPD Group figures in early October for that. But it will be interesting to see how much the Wii/360 gap has narrowed and what the effect of the newly launched 80GB PS3 will be. Watch this space, then.