Sony dropped the price of the PS3 by $100, added a meaty blog, continue to enjoy an edge with their Blu-ray movie format, have some good looking games in the pipe, but still remain third on the next generation console gaming sales charts.

Consumers bought 425,000 Wii systems in July, an 11% increase over June, according to The NPD Group. That brings the total number of Wiis sold since its launch to 3.6 million. Sony sold 159,000 PS3s, up 61% from June. Microsoft, which dropped the price of its Xbox 360 systems (now priced $280-$450) earlier this month, sold 170,000, down 14% from June.

Ouch for the Xbox 360, no doubt wounded by bad publicity over their faulty hardware. Sidenote: still receiving intermittent blackouts on my Xbox 360 Elite here and there. I’m about on the breaking point of taking it in to get it swapped out — and making it Xbox 360 system #4 that will have been replaced in our home in less than 2 years.

The article points out that momentum is on Sony’s side for this coming holiday season. While I think they will continue to move more systems, I doubt they’ll be anything more than #3 through the holiday season. The real gaming console war will be waged in 2008 when the Wii and PS3 have an established library of games and the HOME online system is out.

Halo 3 is going to give Microsoft a huge sales bump, not to mention Two Worlds and Bioshock adding to the system desirability. The Wii is readying Wii Fitness which is bound to be a hit with a mass audience of overweight people (I consider myself in this group), both gamers and non-gamers alike.

• Xbox 360 to be in “neighborhood” of $300 USD
• $500,000 for MTV Xbox 360 show
• First retail Xbox 360 eyewitness acccount: sold out!
• System shortages causing eBay price and availability orgy
• PS2 outsells Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 in March 2007
• On day 74 a million iPhones sold, an average of 13,513 sold per day