I still see a lot of folks commenting on the impending PS3 sales cut and how much it will increase sales of the PS3.  Obviously a $299 price point would definitely move more systems.  The problem is at that price the PS3 will be once again bleeding money at a time when Sony needs to start making money.  Sony needs to be profitable anywhere possible after the abysmal year the company had last year.

Another argument I have seen lately is the average consumer not seeing the value of the PS3 at $399 vs an Xbox 360 at $199.  I think my solution would help close the value gap even at twice the cost.

If I were doing the marketing/packaging of the system this is what I would do:

1.  Take it down to 1 SKU with a price tag of $399.  It would inlcude a 120 gig hard drive so the Elite 360 would not have an advantage.  Hard drives are dirt cheap and the extra cost of increasing from 80 gig to 120 gig would be small. 

2.  The system has been promoted as a Blu-Player since day 1 so include a remote control for movie watching.  This one to me is just common sense.  How many people out there have a wife/girlfriend that never pick up a game controller?  You want to market it as a Blu-Ray player, fine.  But every other one comes with a remote control.

3.  Include a pack in movie.  Sony has it's own picture studio so including a catalog movie on Blu-Ray (Spiderman 3, I Am Legend) would once again be another low cost addition.

4.  Pack in with two games.  I would pack in a couple of older quality games that would appeal to multiple age ranges.  Ratchet and Clank ToD and GT5 Prolouge come to mind but you could also use Heavenly Sword, Resistance 1, or Uncharted as well. Or you could let the consumer pick two out of the 5.  Since these are all Sony titles the cost would once again be small.

5.  Include an HDMI cable.  Sony is selling a sophisticated piece of electronics and is not providing the correct means to connect it.  HDMI cables are dirt cheap to make so why not include one?

6.  Include a coupon for 10% off a Sony Home Theater system or Sony HD TV.  Hey, if the person is buying a PS3 you'd might as well give them incentive to upgrade another part of their set up with one of your products.

7.  Finally advertise the system as the essential HD Experience.  If someone is thinking of upgrading to an HDTV or already owns one, market this package as is if there TV would not be whole without a PS3.  Blu-Ray players are already being pushed upon people buying HDTV's why not make it a no brainer.  For an extra $100 would you not choose this package over a stand alone Blu-Ray Player?  For gamers looking to upgrade to the current generation of systems this would be a pretty sweet package as well.

By doing the above things I believe Sony increases the value of the PS3 package greatly without adding significant cost.  They can keep the price at $399 (which they need to do for quite some time still), and should increase their install base significantly and be able to turn a profit on the package.

What are your thoughts on this?

FF13 and GT5, that's what would increase sales.

Not even going to bother reading that because contrary to popular thought, Sony are not retarded........just partially. I am sure they thought of all these points and more but the big difference is that they know what can be done and what cannot be done, it all comes down to money. Everyone here is just making guesstimations (including me) and nothing more, eg all those who predicted a price cut for the PS3 to $300 fiscal year 09.

For example i'm going to assume that one of those points was to bundle a game, financially that means Sony would not be making a penny from the game which has been bundles. That would be absolutely useless to them and also it would be highly unlikely for someone to say "oh wow the PS3 if $400 but the game I wanted is bundled with it, i'm going to buy it now."

Ratchet and Uncharted would be a smart pack in.

iight look
the 360 beat the ps3 this week by like 7k i believe
so price is not the answer for xbox, most people know it too, imagine a 199 ps3 vs 199 360
MURDER easily
but yeah sony would lose money on the price drop
but they make alot off of software and the psp line up will give them money as well

 Maybe for a quick burst, particularly GT5.  But FF13 is a hardcore game.  You have to figure a good portion of you hardcore gamers either have a PS3 or 360 at this point.  So it's effect on system sales won't be as large as some expect.

So instead of dropping the price you're saying they should spend more money themselves on packing a shit load of stuff in that is netting them profit right now when it's not packed in..

Not gonna happen.. Not all that anyway, may as well just drop $50 off the price of the system..

bundle MGS4,LBP, and KZ2 with a metallic 210 GB PS3....there

I would say option 2/5 would work pretty well in tandem without costing too much money. People think of HDMI cables as costing $30-50 so its actually worth something and a remote costs very little yet adds a lot of value to Blu Ray.

 The direct cost to all the things I included in the system package is relatively cheap.  How much does it cost to print a Blu-Ray movie?  The games I listed are older catalog titles that aren't exactly flying off the shelves any longer.  Who in their right mind would buy the official PS3 HDMI cable when you can get one much cheaper?  The only thing that might cost a few bucks to include is the remote.  But since Sony is pushing the PS3 as a movie player, it should be included.