Yesterday, I mentioned how adept Sony has become at flipping the bird to gamers, this time in regard to the "price cut" of the 60GB PS3 and the soon-to-be-released 80GB PS3 at $599.

Today, we get word that Wedbush Morgan Stanley gaming analyst, Michael Pachter, is predicting that when stock of the 60GB PS3 runs out the 80GB PS3 will replace it at the $499 price point.

I have to disagree. We're talking about Sony here; the company that can't make a smart decision when it comes to the PS3. Judging from the past, there is no evidence that Sony will lower the price of the 80GB PS3.

Read more of my thoughts

In fact, I think that the Sony execs will try to ride out the $599 80GB PS3 for as long as possible, even through Holiday '07.

You see, Sony already loses about $240 per PS3. Now, granted, the 80GB PS3 will not have the PS2 emotion engine hardware for backwards compatibility (it uses software emulation instead), thus saving a few bucks, however, even with that cost savings, they're still losing a good chunk of money.

In other words, the 80GB PS3 is slightly cheaper to produce, but Sony is still losing money on each and every one sold. Why knock off $100 and lose even more?

Sony's thinking, I surmise, is that they're offering consumers a "better" PS3 for the same price as the former "lower end" PS3, so it really is a price cut. This is the Apple price structure. The iPod is always going to be $299, it just gets better hardware each time.

With that thinking guiding Sony's decision making, they think that they are giving the consumer a double bonus: a chance to pick up a PS3 for $499 (the 60GB) while also offering them a better PS3 for the old price. How altruistic of them?

But how does this appear to gamers? As my article mentioned yesterday , it appears as if Sony has flipped us the double bird.

But what if Sony does drop the price of the 80GB PS3 to $499 when stock of the 60GB dries up? Well, that will also serve to make gamers angry, particularly those who just recently bought the 60GB for $499 or bought the 80GB for $599. Both are screwed: the 60GB purchasers could have waited a few months and gotten the 80GB and the 80GB purchasers just paid $100 too much.

In this hypothetical, Sony is in a lose-lose situation and would simply be better off sticking to the $599 price tag. They could then, next Spring, reduce the price and get both a media and sales bump leading up to the 2008 holiday season when they'll finally have some blockbuster games.

On a side note, Pachter also made mention of some stocks to buy and not to buy. I agree with Activision, EA, and Ubi, EA being my least favorite. I also think that Gamestop and Nintendo are sure bets (disclaimer, of course, that I am not a stock expert, I just follow the industry and I am not responsible for your money).