360 officially advertised at £199.99

The Xbox 360 has now crept in under the £200 mark on its official advertising. The advert has snuck under the radar somewhat, but when SPOnG took its girlfriend to the cinema last night it saw the ad with its own two eyes. Although it's not specified, the price tag will relate to the Core Console.

Various retailers have been selling the no frills Core Console at £199.99 for a while now, but always as special deals. This is the first time Microsoft themselves have advertised the console at the lower price point. We feel duty-bound to point out that the ad states the figure as an estimated retail price, not recommended, but it's still a strong indicator of an aggressive marketing campaign from Microsoft.

We checked with our pals over in retail and they told us that no official announcement has been handed down from Microsoft about a price change. They speculated, however, that this might be because there aren't any Core Consoles currently available to order in the UK. By not making an official announcement Microsoft might be staving off a rush on an unavailable product.

"So what?" you ask. "We were only paying a tenner more than that to start with!" True. But it sure does bring the console that bit closer in price to the soon-to-launch Wii. And bringing it below £200 makes it seem like that much more affordable a gift for parents in the run-up to Christmas. And with that in mind, you're that bit more likely to have a 360 in your living room before the PS3 hits stores next March. Sure, you'll have a controller with messy wires and no built in memory, but you'll also have a powerful next-gen piece of hardware you can play Gears of War on.

SPOnG sees this as another indication of Microsoft taking a more aggressive stance before the next-gen console wars begin in earnest. Things be heating up. Oh yes.