Sales For PlayStation 3 Hardware Dipped In Q1 2011.

While Sony's estimates for the fiscal year stuck at 15 million units, hardware was actually down for the first quarter by 600,000 units. To us, this says price-drop.

Officially, Sony sold 1.8 million PlayStation 3's last quarter, putting the system's global hardware tally up to a respectable 51.8 million.

PlayStation 3 hardware was up on previous years, managing 26.1 million units compared to last year's 24.8 million. PSP hardware was also up for the quarter, though the number was a lowly 1.8 million. PSP software on the other hand showed the signs of an impending death, managing just 6.6 million units down from 9.2 million the previous year.

PlayStation 2 continued its steady decline, but still managed to ship an amazing 1.4 million consoles. PS2 software dipped dramatically however, down to just 1.5 million units.

That PlayStation 3 price-cut looks pretty obvious from where we're sitting though, and that's the big take-away. Bring on GamesCom.