Microsoft Corp. confirmed during the E3 conference that it does have plans to reduce the cost of its Xbox 360 game console, however, did not say when exactly the company proceeds with the intention. Analysts believe that the company may slash the pricing of the console by Christmas.

Vice president of Microsoft Game Studios said at E3 that the company would like to attract novice and casual gamers, those, who currently buy Nintendo Wii gam console, to its Xbox 360 platform. For that the company will need to cut down the price of its machine in the first place and also develop appropriate games.

“We need to compete effectively for that customer and part of that is getting to the mass market price point for the console. We definitely are working on that area,” Mr. Kim is reported to have said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Earlier it was reported that following the E3 price drop Microsoft’s Xbox 360 core package will cost $249, the Xbox 360 premium version will drop to $349, whereas the Xbox 360 elite model will be available for $399. Currently the appropriate versions of the consoles are sold for $299, $399 and $479, respectively. Meanwhile, Nintendo Wii, which outsels PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 combined, is available at $249.

“The timing depends on a lot of different factors and we’ll just keep evaluating those,” Microsoft entertainment and devices division president Robbie Bach said in an interview today.

But in fact, the question of when Microsoft drops the price of Xbox 360 is also really important, as Nintendo may respond with its price-cut and the Xbox platform will not take any advantages from its equal price to Wii.