Since Microsoft apparently didn't suffer enough indignity with the whole J Allard-in-dreads happenings -- we were sure our caption contest sealed the deal -- another Xbox exec has gone on record making predictions on Sony hardware, unfortunately without similarly high stakes. Xbox director of technical strategy Andre Vrignaud is betting a steak dinner with the staff of Level Up that Sony's going to hit the market with a $399 PS3 SKU by Black Friday 2007. His thinking is that Sony won't want to stick with a $599 80GB PS3 as its sole offering, and therefore will drop the 80 gigger to $499 and supplement it with a stripped down $399 40GB PS3 that skips out on WiFi, a memory card reader and backward compatibility. Of course, Sony's not talking much about SKUs ever since its total PR disaster on the 60GB price cut during E3, but that doesn't necessarily mean the company is ready to take a page out of Microsoft's book and go all PS3 "Core" on us.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

So the story goes that Microsoft's bald J Allard and Newsweek's bedredlocked N'Gai Croal are at dinner together, and they make a bet: if the PSP sold 10m units faster than did the PS2, Allard has to dress up like N'Gai (during his next E3 keynote, which never came); if not, J gets to shave N'Gai's head. Guess who won. Not that we think of ourselves as particularly cruel, but surely we can't be expected to let this one go without a caption contest, can we?

Evan: "After that unfortunate night with the Rastafarian gamers, Allard swore off marijuana forever."
Ryan: "Headline: J Allard hired to manage Weird Al's White & Nerdy tour."
Don: "You mean it doesn't cost an extra $100 to add WiFi to this thing?" [Snap! -Ed.]
Paul: "Yeah, but does this come in Simpsons yellow?"
Ross: "Behold the Zune Elite. Now with HD-UMD and minoxidil."

Hapless tipster James bet his brother $150 last March that the Apple iPhone "would come out before March of 2007." He's apparently been talking the trash, especially with all the recent Macworld rumorings, but was dealt a low blow by Steve's announcement yesterday of a June availability. Now his bro wants him to pay up like the sucker he is, but James wants a second opinion. Does an announcement count for "out," or does James need to have one in his hands? Since we're still a little bleary eyed from Macworld and CES coverage, we've decided to pass the question on to you, oh insightful readers.