As the all-important holiday shopping season draws near, prospective console buyers are seeing a growing array of deals. The latest is a mail-in rebate for the Xbox 360 Elite, which saw its price drop from $399.99 to $299.99 at the end of August. It shaves $50 off the new price of the 120GB, making it just $249.99 (after rebate).

　　$249.99….for now.

　　Curiously, though, Microsoft is not actively promoting the rebate on Xbox.com. The home page touts the Elite as being only $100 off its previously $399.99 price--not the $150 discount the rebate would bring. Instead, the page for the rebate offer, which is being sponsored by video-rental house Netflix, is buried on a tertiary page on Xbox.com. That page gives customers a password and directs them to another page on Microsoft's main Web site, where the password is entered and instructions for mailing in the rebate are given. Rebate checks will be mailed out six to eight weeks after submissions are received.

　　[UPDATE] Microsoft is now actively promoting the $50 rebate for the Xbox 360.

　　With the $50 rebate, the Xbox 360 Elite is, for the time being, as cheap as the $249.99 Nintendo Wii. That price is expected to drop to $199.99 this coming Sunday and would make the Wii cost the same as the similarly hard-drive-less Xbox 360 Arcade. The 120GB PlayStation 3 is currently $299.99, although those who sign up for a Sony Visa Card can get a one-time $100 rebate on the console applied to their new credit card accounts.