Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter seems to think that a price drop is imminent for the PlayStation 3. GamesIndustry is reporting that the analyst expects the console to have its MSRP reduced to $199 on February 21st, the day following what is expected to be the reveal of Sony's next home console. He went on to speculate that Microsoft will perform a similar price drop on the Xbox 360 sometime before this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.

I love it when analysts make firm declarations like this. If they turn out to be correct, they look like the smart guy in the room for a little bit. If they're wrong, there's absolutely no way to weasel out of having been wrong other than to admit it, reinforcing the entertaining premise that analysts are just guessing. Either way, I feel like I'm the winner.

PS3 price cut likely next week, says Pachter [GamesIndustry]