I think they will release smaller DLCs on PS3. If they flat out say 'No DG for PS3' then a lot more people are going to just flip them the bird and pass on all those.
If nothing else it would make any contractual obligations, warranties written or implied so to speak, be more defensible. It would make any civil complaints more difficult and probably stave off any real consequences outside of having alienated a large portion of the gaming industry.
To be clear, I'm not saying I think anything will ever come from their malicious intentions. They have too much money and sadly in the US that will win them any cases..
However, I do think they could be taken to task in some of the smaller EU countries. European courts have a better track record of challenging companies that operate with shoddy business practices.
But there's fear hearthfire, a small DLC, will do much worse on the PS3 seeing as to how memory is the issue and HF is nothing but memory. Creating new houses, opportunities random events, random items and so on and so forth.
And adding more cheese wheels!!! xD
But uh yeah, I think Beth is kind of done with PS3 and skyrim lol.
Unless Sony can find the root of the issues that is.
If DG ever comes to PS3 I've lost so much interest I have no intention of buying it. I have no interest in HF as the thought of raising orphans and building a house just makes me simply watch my kids play Harvest Moon, or watch someone play The Sims. Of course I'm here posting on the DG release thread so my vested interest has become more about what Bethesda will or won't admit to the fiasco. The thing that keeps creeping into my mind is the seen at E3 with Todd Howard explaining DG and basically pointing out how cool it was (vampire lord, dragon weapons, etc), and how Xbox will get it.. yadda, yadda, yadda. When asked by Morgan Webb about other platforms it was a drawn out "I have.... No idea". The pitch was for Xbox and that's that. I no longer really care and will most likely keep a keen eye out for an up-and-rising studio that will beat Bethesda on all fronts. It will happen. There's always someone more ambitious, more open to customers, and have a more killer universe to create. One thing pops always told me "Son, there's always someone bigger and better". A humbling lesson, but one that makes you understand the nature of all things, including games.

DG isn't all it's hyped up to be, just like how skyrim can be great but isn't revolutionizing without all the hype.
The hype makes dawnguard, not necessarily the content itself.
Oooh VL, all hype. Drop the hype and for many VL form won't be interesting.
You get more complaints about DG now actually.
in the beginning it was all praise, but now a decent amount of complaints have started to surface. People played both sides, experienced it, and realized things they really didn't like about the DLC.
You still have many defending it but I still believe it's all hype, and pardon my wording but "really devoted fan" like tendencies. I hate the word really devoted fan because it's typically negative but here I just mean an obsessive kind of thing, not an insult but just die hard fans that are willing to take anything given to them.
MANY people have literally stated that no matter how bad a game is, if it is Bethesda they will ALWAYS buy it.
That's what I mean by really devoted fan. They don't even care about the quality, they just want the name slapped on it and it's perfect.
On a side note when I typed this I had the image of a sandbox game where you play as a stick man, then I started wondering if there's a mod that replaces all characters in the game with stick figures. That'd be fun xD