What we heard: According to industry analysts, Sony is going to make one of its gaming platforms very affordable this holiday season. Unfortunately for next-gen gamers, ...

The price shuffling does leave us wondering whether Sony is still planning to slash a little off the PSP Go's top line at some point later in 2011, only maybe doing so closer to the launch of the ...

Last October, Sony dropped its slide-top, spindle-free, downloads-only PSP Go from $250 to $200. Still too expensive for my money, but then the Go never grabbed me anyway.

Sony has shipped 23 million PSP units to the U.S. and 67.8 million units worldwide since the device launched in 2005. North American customers have a catalog of 590 games, the company said today.

Along with the PSP price cut, Sony said they would add 13 new games to the device's lower-price "Greatest Hits" ($19.99) and "Favorites" ($9.99) software collections.

SCEA product manager restates no discounting is in the offing, touts soon-to-be-230-game library.

The new, UMD-less PSP Go is an absolute dream for Sony. Since it lacks a way to play games purchased at retail, Sony gets to set the prices for every piece of content bought on the system.

Sony needs to do something to get back in the portable game. With developers … ...

Indeed, Sony Canada's Matt Levitan told me earlier this summer that the PSP Go is best considered a high-end portable gaming device. "It's more of a tech-savvy, early adopter handheld," he explained.

Sony said the units will now sell for $169.99, "delivering a significant $30 savings to consumers." ... but the first official price cut since the PSP was introduced in 2005.