Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3 Bundle

I am extremely impressed with the new developments and hype regarding Metal Gear Solid 4. The game will be released on June 12th worldwide (which is very rare for a Japanese-made game to coincide with its international release) and will also be released in a PS3 bundle pack feature. The bundle includes the game, an 80 gig PS3, and a wireless dual shock controller.

The price for the entire bundle is slated to be US$499, which isn’t bad considering the current $499 price of just a single 80 gig PS3 by itself. The prices of all this jazz are of course subject to change. The PS3 pricing on its own is really ludicrous though. The hard drive space seems to be determining the price with a clever marketing ploy. The 40 gig is still in production and being sold at retailers for $399 now. First we saw the 20 gig, then 40 gig, then 60 gig, now the 80 gig. They’ll just keep on adding in an extra 20 gigs and tack another $100 to the price, making the previous version look “cheaper” (in both quality and price) prompting a buy both ways for the poorer who want a lower price, and the richer who want the latest model pawning their old one off. Soon we’ll likely see 100 gig models on the shelves for $599. Is 20 gigs of HD space worth an extra $100? Hell no. The differentiating cost of production between these different HD models would be complete peanuts — mere cents in labour.

As it looks now at $499 for this bundle you also get the game, a cool-looking hardware box, and wireless controller (which isn’t cheap). I’d estimate the saved money in buying this bundle to be about $100 to $150 depending on where you live and how high your taxes are. Not too shabby!

I’m one of those guys who has been holding off on buying a PS3. It was too expensive, no good games, and was very underdeveloped and buggy in the early releases. Looks like the kinks have been worked out finally, and some good games are actually coming out for it. I told my friends long ago that I’ll be buying a PS3 probably whenever Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out because I don’t see the price of a PS3 going below 400 dollars any time soon within the next 2 years.

So well this is ok for me — I’m going to buy this very bundle when it comes out and I believe it’s going to be worth every dollar. Way better than the featureless and buggy 20 gig model and the middle of the road 40 gig model — an 80 gig model should be more than sufficient for the amount that I’ll use system even when the 100 gig or more models do come out. I’m not sure this bundle in itself will significantly boost PS3 sales or not but Konami clearly has great marketing and development teams. I’m convinced enough to be buying a PS3 just for the game, so I’m sure Metal Gear Solid 4 will be a huge success in the western market.