The Microsoft Corporation confirmed today through a press release that it will be cutting retail prices on all members of its Xbox 360 family of consoles by US$ 50, which takes effect on August 8, 2007.

This pushes down the suggested retail price of its Xbox 360 Core system to US$279.99, while the Premium and the Elite versions will be priced at US$ 349.99 and US$449.99 respectively.

For those who are in the market for the ultimate Halo 3 experience, a Halo 3 Special Edition version of the Xbox 360 will be available in September for US$ 399.99, which sports a Spartan green and gold finish and comes along with Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 20GB hard drive, Xbox 360 Headset, an Xbox 360 Play and Charge Kit, and more.

"The fact that we have been able to keep our launch price longer than any other console while retaining our leadership position demonstrates that consumers believe in the value of Xbox 360," comments Mitch Koch, corporate vice president for Global Retail Sales and Marketing Group for Microsoft.

Also announced was the release of the anticipated football simulation Madden NFL '08 on August 14, giving Xbox 360 gamers two huge reasons to be happy this month. Madden is published by Electronic Arts' EA Sports division and is the only football game licensed by the NFL to use its teams and players.

Microsoft also reminds everyone that they'll have a stellar line-up of releases in the year's second half headlined by games such as Halo 3, Guitar Hero III: The Legends of Rock, Blue Dragon, Mass Effect, BioShock and more.

We guess you are familiar with Microsoft's "Platinum Series" for the Xbox 360. Known as "Classics" in Europe, this is actually a set of games, re-packaged, and then given lower price tags. Furthermore, games that end up in this series are those which have sold 400,000 units in nine months.

And so why Microsoft is doing this, Corp. VP of World Wide Retail Sales for the Interactive Entertainment Business Mitch Koch explained before that "it ensures that the platform's best games are available to new customers at an amazing price. And if you missed playing a game the first time around, now is a great reason to pick it up."

We brought the topic up because Microsoft of Japan just announced the new titles that will be included in the series by March 15. These games are Chromehounds, Burnout Revenge, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Perfect Dark Zero.

Now, PDZ has already been included in the first series for Europe and North America. So we expect Microsoft to tweak this line up a bit for other territories. Each game will retail for 2,800 Yen or roughly around US$ 23.

Buy: [Burnout Revenge]
Buy: [Chromehounds]