The Sony PlayStation 3, thus far, has been a failure.

Outsold five to one in Japan by the Nintendo Wii and trailing the Xbox 360 in North America, the big black console has largely lost the gaming throne it inherited from its ancestor, the PlayStation 2. Much of the PS3's current condition is a result of Sony's high price point, with consumers forced to bone up $599 for the feature-laden system.

Hopes, however, are now rising, ever so faintly. That's because Sony has recently dropped the price of its Blu-ray player, and it could mean similar reductions to the PlayStation 3. (Source: dailytech.com)

Although the PS3 contains a number of costly parts, including a powerful cell processor, its most demanding component may be the internal Blu-ray player. Heralded as the next movie format, Sony included Blu-ray in the PS3 without taking into consideration the wallets of its fan base. As a result, many gamers have switched allegiances to Microsoft, or perhaps back to elder statesman, Nintendo.

The original Blu-ray player, the BDP-1000, retailed for about $1,200. That's a ghastly cost, and although it made the PS3 a real-deal in savings, the $599 price tag remained too high for gamers far more interested in, well, games. However, Sony's new player, the BDP-S300, will retail for less than the PlayStation 3, at $499. That has prompted Wall Street experts to say, "If the cost of Blu-ray is coming down, you can drop the price of anything with Blu-ray in it." (Source: cnn.com)

Retailers and gamers alike would love to see the price of the PlayStation 3 cut, for obvious reasons. There's still potential for the console, since it retains much of the support that made the PS2 so dominant.