In a bid to revive sales of the Xbox 360 video game console in the U.S., Microsoft Corp. plans to drop the price of the “Pro” flavour of the machine and also introduce a new model with 60GB hard disk drives, according to market rumours.

As news-stories at Ars Technica and Hollywood Reporter claim, Microsoft intends to cut the price of the Xbox 360 20GB that now retails for $349 to $299 already this month and also introduce a model with 60GB hard disk drive, which will cost $349. Eventually the 20GB model will be discontinued, according to news-stories that cite anonymous sources.

Earlier this year – in February, March and April – the world’s largest developer of software lowered pricing of its Xbox 360 game console in Japan, Europe and several Asian markets in order to better compete against Nintendo’s Wii and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s PlayStation 3.

The plan for the USA market does not seem to be inline with price drop strategy for other markets. Enlarged storage space will hardly attract many new customers to Xbox 360 console, especially in case the entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade will continue to sell for $279, whereas the high-end Xbox 360 Elite will retain its price-level of $449.99 without improved functionality.

Microsoft Corp. did not comment on the news-story.