With third party developers struggling, Sony has slashed the price of their PS3 development kit today in hopes of attracting more third party developers to the PS3. In addition, Sony is introducing new software development features, like debugging tools and support for applications such as SN Systems’ ProDG development software.

After the price cut, this is what the new prices for dev kits look like:

North America: $10,250

Europe: $11,250

Japan: $8,600

Analyst Mike Goodman had this to say about the price cut on the PS3 development kit:

“Nintendo has proven to be successful with first-party publishers. In fact, Nintendo’s first-party titles are significantly more successful than third-party titles. But Nintendo is the exception. Both Sony and Microsoft need successful third-party titles in order to succeed.”

Third-party titles are critical because Sony’s PlayStation 3 launch titles such as “Resistance: Fall of Man,” haven’t been the massive success stories Sony was hoping for. Looking back at the PS2’s success, third-party titles such as “Grand Theft Auto,” “Metal Gear Solid,” and “Madden” drove the success of the console.

“So far, with the PS3 we haven’t seen any must-have titles,” Goodman said. “But there’s a couple titles in the hopper that can really drive the market forward.”

LittleBigPlanet could be one such title, he said. “It’s fundamentally different than any other game I’ve played before. It should have mass appeal. It’s cooperative, it’s silly, it’s fun. It’s different than most console games where it’s about fighting and shooting.”

And next year, he said, Sony could get a boost with Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PS3, the latest in a major series that helped drive the PS1 and PS2.

“I’m not saying the PS3 is going to overtake the Wii,” Goodman said. But the new titles, he added, are going to make Sony more successful than it has been.

The PS3 sold 121,000 units at retail for the month of October, according to the company. That brings the total for the PS3 up to a little more than 5.6 million worldwide. Nintendo, in contrast, has sold 13.2 million units of its Wii console worldwide during the same timeframe. Still, Sony remains optimistic.

“Sony expects a great deal of momentum moving forward this holiday and beyond with the availability of new PS3 hardware and pricing,” the company said in a statement. “Based on internal data, the company is already seeing a great spike in sales with a 192 percent lift for the PS3 over the past two weeks.”

Perhaps Sony is applying to their PS3 developers what they’ve learned from PS3 consumers– people like massive price cuts.