All those points are accurate, I also believe they are ripping off suckers, but no more than DVD manufacturers do with the escalating quality scheme with movies.
Make movie, sell in this order:
1) The Movie
2) Widescreen edition
3) Special edition
4) Collectors edition
5) Platinum edition
The scheme being used on this game is similar in idea, and there is a still a sucker born every minute.
All you can do is bitch to the distributors, or politely inform the masses at Best Buy that they don't need it.