Analysts expect the Playstation 3 price drop to push the system beyond the sales of the Xbox 360 for the first time ever in the U.S. (for the month of July). Patcher expects that the Xbox 360 has sold 115,000 units while suggesting that the PS3 has sold 160,000 units units during July. A second analyst also supports that the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360. All estimates will be put into their place when the NPD group release the official sales data next Thursday.

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Now a pair of analysts is predicting that when the NPD Group releases its July sales figures next Thursday, they'll show that Sony's console outsold the Xbox 360 for the first time since its release last November. Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter and the SimExchange's Jesse Divnich have released their expectations for July sales, and they've pegged PS3 sales at 160,000 and 165,000, respectively. (Divnich's hardware numbers were derived from the fluctuations of the SimExchange's own user-driven prediction market.)

By comparison, Pachter believes the Xbox 360 tallied 115,000 sales for the month, with Divnich suggesting Microsoft's system netted 142,000 sales. Pachter said sales of the Xbox 360 could have been hurt temporarily by the company's recent warranty extension calling attention to hardware reliability problems.