Sony first announced the Ratchet & Clank Collection back in March, and finally set a North American release date last month. Come August 28th, players will be able to snatch up the set for for a cool thirty bones. As it turns out, the Lombax and his robot sidekick won't be alone -- Sony is launching an entire line of PlayStation Collections, with God of War and inFamous rounding out the first batch of releases.

Sony, of course, is no stranger to these sorts of collections, and has already released several of them: the Jak & Daxter Collection, the Sly Collection, the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection and two previous God of War collections. That said, the publisher appears to be rededicated to the initiative -- in addition to the three sets debuting on the 28th, more such collections are in line to be announced in the coming weeks, with the next batch of titles slated to hit retail this Fall.

As with Ratchet & Clank, the God of War Saga and the inFamous Collection will both sell for $29.99 -- a great deal when you remember that Sony's previous collections all started out at $39.99. For that matter, unspecified titles from each release will be made available to purchase individually on the PlayStation Network (remember, though, that PlayStation Plus subscribers can already score a free copy of inFamous 2). We've already covered the contents of the Ratchet & Clank Collection, but check out the details on the other two collections, and all the box art, below.

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God of War Saga

  • God of War
  • God of War II
  • God of War III
  • God of War: Origins Collection (which includes God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta)
  • Exclusive Bonus Content
  • Voucher For 1 Trial Month of PlayStation Plus
  • Remastered for HD, DUALSHOCK Control, Full PlayStation Network Trophy Support and 3D (3D supported only in  God of War: Origins Collection)

inFamous Collection

  • inFAMOUS
  • inFAMOUS 2
  • inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood
  • Extra missions
  • Additional character costumes, power ups and weapon styles

According to the PlayStation Blog, each retail package will include "a few additional goodies to make it worth your hard-earned cash," though the PSN games will be, regretfully, goodie-free. Such is life.

It's nothing new for a publisher to try and make a few extra bucks off its back catalog -- goodness knows, Nintendo's been doing it forever -- but Sony's approach (simultaneous retail and digital releases, discounted prices, remastering where appropriate) is, in my estimation, currently peerless. The idea that a video game receives a single retail release, to be potentially followed at some distant point by a full price digital release, is simply archaic -- no other branch of popular entertainment operates that way, and console games shouldn't either. Kudos to Sony for adapting to a changing marketplace. Let's hope Microsoft and Nintendo are paying attention.

Ranters, what do you think of Sony's new line of  PlayStation Collections? What other PS2/PS3 games would you like to see added to the series? Should PSOne games get the same treatment? Let us know in the comments below.

The God of War Saga, inFamous Collection, and Ratchet & Clank Collection all launch August 28, 2012, for PS3.

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Source: PlayStation Blog