"Why are they allowed to treat the consoles differently by their accountants?"

Accountants really are the magicians of our times. A very wise man (my dad) once told me:

"Son, any time you ask someone a question and they tell you that the answer is 'complicated', that means that, most of the time, there's alot of 'BS' involved.

Accounting is a very "complicated" field :)

"First, the way deferred revenue works: EA recognizes revenue on Xbox 360 over six months following the sale, but does NOT do so for PS3. So sales of Xbox 360 games during the last two quarters (Battlefield: Bad Company and Army of Two) are rolling through till December, while sales of PS3 games are booked when sold. "

Why are they allowed to treat the consoles differently by their accountants? I can't think of a valid reason and it seems like it could very easily be abused to massage earnings. Could you ask him a follow-up?

My bundle is gonna end up more like a cassette player, some headphones, and old tapes of Fibber McGee.

lol "still in good shape."  I guess I'm optimistic early in the mornings!

That Pachter's a smart man.  Oh well, anyway, I get the feeling PS3 has a big holiday ahead of it.  Little Big Planet is probably going to steal money away  from me that would normally go to Animal Crossing.  Not to mention the holdiday line up seems pretty huge.

A cheaper bundle with an HDTV, Little Big Planet, and a PS3 at Best Buy or something would probably well really well this holiday.  That is, if the economy is still in good shape.