I don't understand the thinking. Is it to reduce costs?

Surely, just dropping a few GB on a HDD doesn't drastically reduce costs?

Far from it, I know that as time moves on, everything increases - be it sizes of HDDs, or consumer demand for space.

Therefore, what may be cheap to source today (40GB 2.5in HDD), could end up costing twice as much as a 80GB drive in a year (or two), as comsumer demand for the smaller drives drops (in the marketplace), and market forces start to drive prices up.

I suppose I should just be greatful that SCE aren't making the HDD optional, and telling people to buy SCE-branded USB memory keys at £20 for 128MB (á la £20 for a 8MB PS2 card)!!

So if you pop the PS3 from play into your basket with some URL trickery.....

http://www.play.com/Games/PlayStation3/4-/3497508/-/Product.html?add=3497508

the suggested price is £299

They can't really shave anything else off other than hdd size surely? If its just hdd size then its on my christmas list. And since I've no friends looks like I'm wrapping it up from myself to myself.

Wo is me.

I seem to remember them bundling a Spider-Man movie with the PSP to promote the UMD format - and god knows it worked then, I can't move but I'm trampling on those darned UMD discs...

Excuse me now, while I go for a jog........listening to my Minidisc player, of course. (Oh, you knew that one was coming.)

The price clearly states $399.

Which means, given Sony's previous pricing strategy for us in the UK, that will remain the same sort of price as it is here now.

Oh well.

I for one will never buy a next gen console until there is pricing parity across the markets, if this console $399 in the States I wouldn't pay more than £199 for it here.

It's not just the HDD size that is supposedly being changed to reduce the price. According to most rumors citing documents filed on the FCC's website in the U.S., the new 40GB version excludes all media card slots and also has 2 less USB ports. Also (according to analysts) to make the PS3 an estimated $45 cheaper per console, sony has now gone to software emulation in the 80 GB version to play PS2 games as opposed to actual hardware inside the PS3 and that they might have done away with backwards compatibility for PS2 games altogether on this version which i could care less about anyway.

fyi: the PS3, as sold in the EU since launch, features no h/w emulation of the PS2 (as per Jap/US).

Since emu is done via s/w, is there much to drop?

"fyi: the PS3, as sold in the EU since launch, features no h/w emulation of the PS2 (as per Jap/US)."

fyi: The EU PS3 still contains the PS2 graphics chip. Only the PS2 'emotion engine' is emulated in software.

> I for one will never buy a next gen console until there is pricing parity

> across the markets,

So if it was $100 or £100 /cheaper/ where you lived you'd not buy one?

Yeah, right.

I guess you're living in an empty house...oh hang on, you'll be waiting for house prices to stabilise worldwide won't you? We'll throw out some bread for you when the ground gets frosty...if the squirrels don't get it first you might survive the winter :)

> Since emu is done via s/w, is there much to drop?

No, it'll probably save them dosh to make one model. I wonder if the 80gb model will have the Emotion Engine everywhere too for the same reason.

i.e I suspect a 40gb without EE, 2 USB and no memory card and an 80gb with EE, 4 usb and mem reader, in Europe as well as USA.

REMEMBER THE PSX MEDIA MACHINE THINGY???

MINIDISC??

BETAMAX???

BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY MAY NOT BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD BUT WHEN YOU HAVE SPENT YOUR HARD EARNED CASH ON MANY GAMES FOR THE OVER HYPED,TECHNICALLY OK PLAYSTATION 2 ONLY TO HAVE TO EITHER KEEP IT OR REPLACE IT WITH THE MASSIVELY OVER HYPED NOT PARTICULARLY WONDERFUL PS3.OH AND DONT FORGET YOUR NEAR USELESS DVD COLLECTION YOU WILL NEED TO BE RID OF TOO!!

IF ONLY SEGA HAD PUT MORE EFFORT IN WITH THE DREAMCAST,MAYBE SONY WOULD HAVE HAD TO WORK HARD ON KEEPING LOYAL FANS INSTEAD OF FOOLING PEOPLE INTO BUYING AN EXPENSIVE WHITE ELEPHANT.

I REALLY HOPE PEOPLE KEEP UP THE SUPPORT FOR THE WII AND 360 AS THEY HAVE GREAT POTENTIAL.AND NO THE WII SHOULDNT BE CLASSED AS COMPETING WITH THE PS3 , THE WII HAS THE EDGE OF INGENIOUS DESIGN (COPIED BY SONY) AND INNOVATIVE IDEAS.LETS HOPE THE YAWN INDUCING FIRST PERSON SHOOT EM UP GENRE DOESNT FLOOD THE WII.

OPEN YOUR EYES SONY, YOUR FANS WILL ONLY CRY SO MUCH OVER THEIR WASTED MONEY.