It's finally been announced- the current top of the line package now comes in at $499.  If you want an even bigger hard drive and a bundled game, namely MotorStorm, feel free to still pay $599.  What's funny is that if you read message boards this is mostly viewed as bad news and more 'proof' that the PS3 is going to fail.  Ignore the Sony stock price and the fact that we're supposed to ignore console problems within a year of its release (that's what Nintendo bots will tell you in defense of their lack of games).

I guess the price should have remained the same or gone up.

In a sense this change is good news, but keep in mind that the PS3 book comes with instructions on how to put in your own hard drive.  In reality you could throw in a 350 GB hard drive and still get the PS3 to work properly.  If you're not crazy about MotorStorm then just get the $499 version and buy a nice meaty hard drive.  It's possible to get 400 GB hard drives for under $100, FYI.