Another EA Content Scheme: Need for Speed Carbon

Electronic Arts has come up with an interesting new way to slice the content pie, while getting more dough from fans, with the upcoming Need for Speed Carbon Collector's Edition.  Rather than opting for a tin case or a toy or a set of fuzzy slippers, Electronic Arts is making sure that the more expensive special edition of NFS Carbon will include extra gameplay content.

Though the $70 version will include a behind the scenes DVD, Electronic Arts is including special cars, car skins and races for your extra $10.  I've railed against fancy packaging and meaningless extras, but this is an intriguing flipside of that coin.

On the one hand, buyers of more expensive collector's sets are well-served by getting actual game content with their extras.  On the other hand, it is easy to argue that a $60 game should include all the game content you can fit on the disc.

Here is what is included in the Collector's Edition, due out on October 31st:

3 new cars
10 specially tuned cars
6 new races
10 exclusive vinyl kits
Code to download Mazda RX-7 off XBLM
Bonus DVD containing behind the scenes footage on the making of the game.

How can you measure which content "belongs' in a standard edition, and whether or not certain components were stripped out?  Dear reader, how do you feel about this new development?