I don’t think its just the price. In fact I’m pretty much sold on the PS3, the thing is I’m not sold on HDTV.
As a gamer I don’t have much time for watching movies, or anything more than a couple of hours of tv a week. I think sony have pushed how much better the PS3 experience will be on HD so much that I don’t think I would get my money’s worth from the console unless I had a HD screen to play it on.
Giving away free HDTVs only adds to that feeling.