New PS3 starter pack unveiled

[Bodhesatva]

I immediately had two separate thoughts when I read this article -- one positive for the PS3, one negative.

1) This will definitely sell more PS3s, whether people here want to admit it or not. Not as much as a 100 dollar price drop, obviously, but Heavenly Sword is a new game (not a 6 month old one, as Resistance/Motorstorm were), and the amount of total added value won't be ignored. More people will buy in, and I think it's silly to suggest otherwise.

2) The fact that Sony did NOT opt for an actual price drop suggests that they are, as others have noted, approaching financial limits. Adding Heavenly Sword as a pack in will probably have 1/4 the impact that an actual 50-100 dollar price drop would have; but it also costs 10 dollars to include (max), instead of actually costing 50-100 unmitigated dollars, as a price drop would. I'm quite sure Sony WANTS to drop the price (look at how much they're packing in there! Three games and an additional controller!), but at this point it seems apparent that they cannot afford to.