Microsoft has now confirmed a couple of rumors we had heard last week about a new 60GB Xbox 360 and a price cut for the 20GB model. Today the company made an official announcement of the release of a new Xbox 360 with a 60GB hard drive coming in early August to take advantage of the increasing number and size of games, video and music for the game console.

In the same announcement Microsoft announced that the 20GB Xbox 360 model is on its way out with a price drop to $299 while supplies last, which is $50 less than before. The Arcade version and the Elite will remain at $279 and $449 respectively.

Nintendo has announced the launch of its WiiWare game download service for the Nintendo Wii. This launch comes almost a year after Nintendo announced the WiiWare game development platform last June. If you’ve hooked up your Wii game console to the Internet you can connect to the Wii shop channel, buy some Wii points and start downloading some new games online.

The Wii points exchange rate is at $1 USD to 100 Wii points and the online games run from 500 to 1,500 Wii points each with six games initially available. The service offers games built my independent developers that they can then post and sell through the Wii Shop Channel. The initial game lineup is different in the U.S. than those launching in Japan with the single exception of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As a King, which launches in both.