For the first time since the two Japanese consoles locked horns two years ago, Sony's PlayStation 3 came out on top. In march the PS3 outsold the Wii in Japan by a significant margin. Sony shipped 146,948 units, while Nintendo managed 99,335, and Wii sales are apparently starting to slow down.

We like the Wii, but frankly its immense success is sometimes a bit annoying, and a price cut after 50+ million shipped units over the past two and a half years sounds like a reasonable step. Or does it?

According to the Financial Times, the Nintendo's BOM cost for the Wii has dropped 45 percent since it was introduced in November 2006. This obviously gives Nintendo a fair bit of room to reduce the MSRP, but it's still unclear if a price cut is needed at this point.

Sony's instant success can in part be attributed to a few recently announced hot games for the Playstation, whose Japan launch coincided with the Playstation's record sales month. The Wii is still outselling its rivals in most markets, and a price cut limited to Japan only, on account of one weak month doesn't sound very plausible.

More here.