Console manufacturers aren't screwing around this holiday season. A week after Sony's introduction of the PS3 Slim and resulting price drop to $299, Microsoft has lopped $100 off the price of the Elite Xbox 360--putting it at $299 as well.

Nintendo, the recession ball is in your court.

As Paid Content points out, the Microsoft is suggesting that such a drop had absolutely nothing to do with Sony. "We haven't been building the Pros anymore; we're phasing them out at a $249 price point," said the console's product manager, David Dennis. "This is a manufacturing change that has been in the works for many months--we couldn't just make a global supply change within a week.

Earlier this month, Microsoft actually raised prices for its Xbox Arcade configuration from £129.99 to £159.99 in the UK.