The Energon Pub

Its a mystery I can't seem to find an answer too. 40GB models are everywhere, but the 80GB is just gone. Apparently last christmas Toys R US dropped the price of the 80GB to $399 to clearance them out, which is weird because at that point the 80GB model might have been out for like 3 months or something. Newegg.com has the 80GB ps3 listed as "out of stock: Auto Notify" Its simply gone everywhere, in fact the retail stores here dont' even have a price tag up for the 80GB model anymore.

I've heard rumors of a 120GB model coming soon packed with MGS4 and a dual shock controller, but I can't even find any truth with that. Anyone want to shed some light on this?

They're not manufacturing them anymore.

As for the reason why I believe the 80GB version was shelved because of problems with the backwards compatibility software, and was replaced with a version that does not support BC at all.

Strange really as the 80GB's software BC replaced the 60GB's hardware BC.

Why the sharp drop in storage space though? I ask myself. I can only imagine them releasing storage addons in the future.

As for a 120GB version, I really don't know.

Thats really weird. So the BC isn't that great? That sucks, thats pretty much the primary reason I wanted an 80GB over a 40GB. I'm not too concerned about space, as i hear the PS3 just uses laptop drives that can be replaced.

I'm hoping to get one soon, as well as a 1080P 46 inch flat panel TV

You could try getting a used 60GB PS3, that's probably your best bet.

They may not have discontinued making them as they are making an 80 gig version to be bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4 when that comes out.

Its my understanding the hardware BC was dropped to cut production costs which really was a good thing not a bad thing. After all the original production cost was something unreal like $865/unit. A new manufacturing process, the drop in price of blu-ray players/drives, and the lack of the PS2 hardware have dropped its production price to $400/unit. Which is why PS3 is no longer being sold for outreagous prices! Whats sad is how much money they were loosing per system while they were selling them at those outreageous prices! Sony made a bold move pushing the blu-ray, but it sure paid off in the end.

Its no big deal really I guess I could deal with a 40GB. Plenty of room to save games, and I can just keep the PS2, and keep it attached to my old 27inch CRT TV which is going in my "office" after I get the new TV.

I don't know much about all of the hardware mumbo jumbo, but I've got the 80 GB and have had absolutely no issues with it. Everything from the Blu-Ray player to connecting to my wireless network are flawless.

the reason why is because sony used an emulator to make it BC. it costed them more to make it then to sell it....its rumored that they 80gig will come back but it wont be the BC. i was lucky enough to get the 80 gig when it was still out this past winter. there also talks for a 125 gig but i think thats a bit to much....i mean my 80 will take me forever to use up

Bombus distinguendus wrote:the reason why is because sony used an emulator to make it BC. it costed them more to make it then to sell it....its rumored that they 80gig will come back but it wont be the BC. i was lucky enough to get the 80 gig when it was still out this past winter. there also talks for a 125 gig but i think thats a bit to much....i mean my 80 will take me forever to use up

If many more games have ridiculous 7gig install files like GT5 Prologue a 120gig hdd still mightn't be enough for the ps3.

80 and 60 both have good BC
but the 60 has perfect BC (from what I was told)it actually has PS2 hardware inside.
the 80 doesnt have many problems though the 80 is like 90% BC and the 60 is like 99% BC

you can check compatibility with this link:
http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/CompatibleStatus
seems like most problems were already fixed according to the site.

my advice is to not get a 40G, there are too many good PS2 games,
and the PS3 upscales them to HD which is nice.

well I have a PS2 so I'm not too worried about having BC. Cool how it upscales them though.

Maybe this MGS4 model will have BC than that will make it totally worth the $500 price tag. a $60 game, a DS3 controller, BC, and all the nice extras the 80GB offers such as memory card ports and 4 USB ports.

Either way I'm waiting till June. They just discontinued the Spiderman 3 bundle on the 40GB model so now you just get a Six Axis and a stupid composite cable. There aren't any real good deals on PS3 right now so I shall wait...but it will be hard.

I just got a Sony Bravia 46E3000 1080P LCD projection TV, and I'm real anxious to see what High Def Gaming has to offer. Cool thing is the menu interface on the TV is identical to the Menu interface on the PS3

btw the MGS4 model IS backwards compatible! Here's the proof:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&productId=8198552921665371946&langId=-1