Oh boy. Sony is upping the ante in the next-gen format wars with a surprising move that sees the BDP-S300 $100 cheaper than previously announced. If you were in the camp with a mindset that the PS3 was the cheapest way to get your Blu-ray fix then you’ll be happy to hear this news.

It’s rather interesting because Sony’s first Blu-ray player cost a cool $999 when it was first released about 6 months ago. But, as suspected, falling production costs on the diode are the reason for such drastic price cuts. Maybe I’ll consider purchasing a Blu-ray player now that it’s only $499.

Sony cuts price on new Blu-ray player [Yahoo! News]