Do new PS3 bundles mean Slim is coming soon?

[Kevzin]

You could call it a sign of things to come--or just one good PS3 bundle.

According to Kotaku, next Sunday (July 12) Best Buy will begin offering an 80GB PS3 with two of the best exclusives for the system--Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2--for the price of the PS3 ($400).

How does Kotaku know this? Well, a Best Buy employee apparently sent the gaming site a photo of the bundle and other Best Buy employees have confirmed that the photo is real and the bundle is coming. (Chalk this up as a rumor, but it seems pretty legit as far as rumors go).

Recently, Best Buy had the PS3 paired with Wall-E and LittleBigPlanet for $400. But the MGS 4 and Killzone 2 bundle is definitely designed to tempt more hardcore gamers who, say, might just own an XBox 360 already and are looking for a Blu-ray player.

Clearly, such bundles are designed to move systems--and they probably will move. The big question is whether this is part of a concerted effort by Sony to clear the channel of "old" consoles to make room for the potential release of the rumored PS3 Slim, which many hope will cost $300. A recent report suggests that a new PS3 may arrive as soon as this summer.

If indeed it is clearing the channel--and if indeed this latest bundle is for real-- hand it to Sony for creating an enticing package that will lure fence-sitters in even when faced with the possibility of a new system arriving soon. If you do the math using Best Buy's prices, you're looking at a savings of $90 on the games (Best Buy is selling MGS 4 for $30 and Killzone 2 for $60).

So, is a MGS/Killzone 2 bundle at $400 a better deal than a hypothetical PS3 Slim at $300 with no games included? That's hard call until we know what specs we're looking at for the Slim.

But let us know what you think.