Maybe with the possible launch of this 40GB model, a price drop for the existing 80GB model to say USD 499 may actually become a reality after all.

god i hope foxconn doesnt f up the hardware.  i hate taiwanese products.  almost as bad as china's craftsmenship.

wats with all the different SKU's lately? i remember it wasn't that long ago people were calling Microsoft for having 2 SKU's, but i guess its alrite for Sony to have 4 ( 20gb, 40gb, 60gb, and 80gb)! Come on Sony get your gameplan together and stop Pissin about and make a proper decision! Its startin to get beyond a joke!

P.S. the way Sony is coming out with all these SKU's, makes me think that they are strugglin, more than people think!

juicyd, the 20GB is long gone and the 60GB is getting closer to disappearing.  Something makes me think that Sony will stick with the 80GB and a 40GB if one is to be released.  Hope it's possible to fix the backward compatibility issues via firmware updates.

Isn't the 20GB only in production in Japan? They need to phase out this model if they are thinking of launching this 40GB model. Thing is, it'll probably launch only in the States hence segmenting the console's models even more. What they need to do is sort out their region rights (if this is the reason). This way, the 80GB could make its way to Europe and Australia. The 40GB is actually a good idea - it's cheap so it can give the X360 some real competition. However, we still need a model for high media content storage; we need a 150 or even 200GB model soon! Sony knows this - their mistake would be to try and do this before phasing out an existing model. Now that would just get confusing.

I just hope they don't remove the BC completely because that would $uck.

This is going to backfire. Too many sku's is not going to help Sony / retailer inventories. It also is confusing with all the changes to USB ports... And removing backward compatibility is suicide. It alienates the one thing Sony has got going for it right now - the PS2 user base.

Wait... wont the 40 gig be more expensive to make than the 60 or 80 gig? Why would they bother gamble and lose more money? Do you think they are really that desperat to drive up sales?

OOh, it seems that sony is between a rock and a hard placce. They are actually sacrificing overall quality of a console just to get it out to the people. Bold yet dangerous.

stock hard drive is irrelevent becaause it's so easy to upgrade it. all you have to do is buy a laptop HDD and replace your current one

From what I heard. Supposedly it is M$ who is starting this rumor so people wont rush out and by the  60 GB's that are left for $500.. I really to pay attention to these things being that I have one already

If they quit the backwards compability, they will for sure freak out here in Denmark! In Denmark it's like "OMG WTF BBQ PS3 has no backwards compability OMG I'm going to die, GET DOWN! OMG!!!!111" It's sooo lame here in Denmark... A bunch of whiners..

psn id: gingo... having a smaller hard drive, no backwards capability and less usb ports is fine, as long as they dont do anything else because then it will end up like the 20 gig one which was a failure so they should keep wifi and stuff in just like the 60 and 80 gig

"To lower the price of the console, Sony is expected to drop backwards compatibility as it has done with the 80GB model, and may be reducing the number of USB ports on the console."

IIRC The 80gb model is still compatible with PS1 and PS2 games. The difference compared to launch is they are using software emulation instead of having the EE chip on-board.

@Kyfh

It's nice to see somebody else understands the backwards compatibility situation...there will be backwards compatibility...just not with the EE....it will have the same backwards compatibility as the European PS3's and the 80GB American PS3's...

And I think a $399 sku is a great idea for Sony to increase its user base dramatically which it needs to get the great software titles we all want.

Lets hope this will turn out great! All we need now is for someone to screw up on something.

P.S. HALO 3 SUCKS!!!!!! (along with all of the other halos and xbox fans!)

y are people so uptight about bc ino it wil still use software emulation so there will be backwards compatbility. but even if it didnt have backwards compatibility like babiloo said most people who will buy the ps3 ARE PS3 OWNERS... itz not like when u buy a PS3 your PS2 instantly stops working. the only thing you might be sacrificing is the PS3 upscaling the older games to HD but all that really does is make the picture more sharp bringing out the rougher edges more in the older games.

AHHHHHHHHH

Will people stop complaing about them getting rid of BC?!?!?!  They are not getting rid of BC!!!!  read the damn article!!!!!!  They are getting rid of the Emotion Chip, which runs the BC on the 20 and 60 versions, and instead are going to use software emulation to run the BC just like the 80gb has.  You will still be able to play ps1 and ps2 games.....let me say that again... YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO PLAY PS1 and PS2 games!!!!!

how is this confusing?

Why is PSU report FUD like this ("Sony dropped backwards compatibility for the 80GB SKU")?

"drop backwards compatibility"? "reduce number of USB ports"?

that's gay.

EDIT: oh, thanks ogt, nvm then.

i hope it drives people away from all the halo 3 hype. i already got my 60gb at launch so it doesnt matter to me. also ppl are saying the ps3 is to expensive i thought 700 was a good price for a top of the line gaming/entertainment system, just look at bluray drives alone there really expensive.

23rd Post!

Ok, PSU is now guilty of spreading the NO BC crap. They didnt drop BC from the 80GB version, nor would they be from the 40GB version. They mearly shifted from a hardware based BC to a Software based BC. By no means have they "dropped" BC on anything. Its all in the wording folks, and articles like this only fuel the xbots, cause you know that they will only see the line that states " dropping the BC".........thats how this whole thing got started.

Exactly, the BC is all software now... Since its been implemented, why would'nt they put it in the 40gig, it won't be a money problem, its just whats installed.  Hardware is the real issue.  Downgrade on # of USB ports?  How does that drop the price significantly?  There has to be something else going on in a system thats being made cost effectively.  I'd like to know what they are REALLY dropping from the system, unless its just cheaper made components.

NO NO NO !! Bad move if true..at this rate they might as well of not dropped the 60gb !!

I can't begin to explain my frustration with Sony on all of this.  (Keeping in mind that, as of now, a 40GB SKU is just a rumor.)

Sony already saw with the 20GB SKU that a two SKU system doesn't work; they even admitted that much! Sony needs to focus on one SKU, drop its price to compete with the 360, and leave things at that.  If they want to tweak with the HDD, fine, who cares (after all, we can upgrade to a larger HDD if we want/need to), I just hope they stop releasing multiple SKUs.

In any case I can't see what they could possibly cut out to differentiate 2 SKUs, all without hindering key features, and still be able to justify a price difference.  They can't cut out Blu-ray, HDMI, or the HDD.  Those are all integral to the PS3 and they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they did that.

They might be able to cut down on the number of USB ports, but to what purpose? The cost savings aren't that great.

That pretty much leaves bundling one SKU with all sorts of extras (couple of controllers, HDMI cable, blu-ray controller, game, larger HDD, etc.), or just offering different HDD sizes between the two (which, again, is pointless and a waste of time, money, and effort, since we can upgrade the HDDs anyway).

29th Post!!

Great a 40GB PS3 I'm fine with that whatever it takes!

It is sad how many people jump to conclusions and come up with incorrect facts.

In my opinion all I've been hearing is the ps3 needs to be cheaper. Sony is definitely working on a solution right now whether its the 40Gig model or something else and all people do is complain.

The 60GB PS3 is a great bargain right now for the price considering it can do so many things, but it would be great to see a cheaper version but we will have to compromise.

No company wants to sell hardware at a huge loss.

And I'm sure they will have backwards compatibility through software emulation. Why wouldn't they? They need to reduce the price of ps3 so therefore emotion chip must go.

The 360 uses software emulation for backwards compatibility. The 360 doesn't come with built in wi-fi. So why is the 20GB PS3 being called a tard-pack...I've never understood that.

One month later* Sony anounced the new 160GB  PS3 model, the 40Gb will now be 399 , the 80 will be 499 and the 160 will be 599 but wait theres more!  a new 699 bundle with a psp and 240GB! no.... wait another anouncment! they just dropped all the prices again but the ps3s have no features at all! you get a hard drive and the case! PLZ SONY MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

If Sony really want to cut down the price of the PS3 why don't they offer a model without the HDD?  The first thing I want to do (when I buy a PS3) is rip out the HDD (be it 20/40/80 GB) and replace it with a 250 - 300GB laptop HDD.  Even the 80GB is insufficient if you want to use it as a home entertainment system for storing movies etc..  JUST SELL US THE MACHINE FOR $200 and we'll buy our own HDD!!

@chimmey

They wont do that because you will have the stupid people of the world buying it and saying " My games dont work because theres no HDD, why would Sony sell something that doesnt work? " It would be the equvilant of buying a car with no tires. While I was against the 40GB version at first, its actually a great idea.......provided the only thing they change from the 80GB model is the HDD size. If everything else is the same, I would buy another one . The reason the 20GB version failed is because it lacked the features of the 60GB version. If it had those features, we would have seen a lot more 20GB models sold than 60GB ones.