It's good IFFFFFFFFFFFF  it makes the 40 giger come to 300$ , BAD because of no backwards compatibility............ which SUCKS

NOOO!!! i still want the 80 GB !!

that sucks for people that don't have the other gig. i'm glad i bought my 60 gig right away

I'm glad I have my 60GB i got last year, it suits me well.

Everything is starting to make sense, and im actually starting to get convinced that the price will fall on Monday....

Im not sure that dropping the 80GB is a good decision for BB though

i'm glad i already got the 80gb

I must say, anyone who was able to get their hands on a 60G regardless of when they got it, definitely got their moneys worth.  I haven't had one issue yet and it seems to be the best one they manufactured at this time.

True that!

I would rather prefer the 20 gig over the 40gig anytime........But i'm very much satisfied with my 60gig, yeaaaaaaaaaaah. 

let's be honest, how many (other than us core gamers) care about backward compatibility?  I don't think too many especially if it is at a higher price.

yeah got my60 gig and been loving it ever since but im wondering why cut something from the consumer who are proabably looking for a bigger hard drive, this kinda makes consumers have to upgrade their drive and not everyone is tech savvy

The only downfall is no backwards compatability in the 40 gig....  I bought a 60 gig last January and I've replaced the hard drive with a 250 gig so anyone can still do that if they don't get the 80 gig.

This is a mistake by Best Buy unless there will be other sku's down the road. Due to cost cut in half, it's possible that Sony will start making the 40gigs with backward compatibility knowing that it's going to bring in more consumers. Forget the black and white, I want the silver PS3!

That is interesting. Not really sure why Best Buy would do this.

what are they thinking I wouold never buy a 40 gig I would just gt an xbox

not a lot of people like the 40GB so how is this gonna make the ps3 sale better??

Can we just wait till Sony say something. I'm not going to believe an unknown source that works at best buy. not to mention this source is probaly not an manager of any kind. I'll believe it when i see it and hear it from the horses mouth.

wtf why all that bash against the 40gb version? ill guess most ps3 owners or future owners have a ps2 so why do they care about the BC?

From now on I think this ought to be the last sku move Sony makes. Its going to confuse consumers if there are two sku's and one has BC and a bigger HDD. Maybe they should have just included BC for the 40gig and made it a standard. :/ I don't know why BB is doing this unless there was poor sales of 80gig's which I doubt.

Probably like the OP said a intiative.

psn id: gingo.... seems sensible but its good to give people a choice so maybe this is a bad move i donno

I really don't understand why they're discontinuing all the SKU's that can play PS2 games. I have a 60gb so I'm set but no backwards compatibility is not too cool in my opinion. I mean, even 360's can do backwards compatible

It is a good thing that I got my good ol' 60 when they came out. I don't understand why they(Bes Buy) would do such a move. The best buy near me have been selling 80g's like theres been no tommorow!

Most likely what's been happening is Sony only produced so many 80gbs then consentrated on the cheaper 40gb. at the tiem the 80s were probably plentiful but all the units being sold recently probably depleted them from BBs stock. Untill they clear out more 40gbs it probably seems like a good idea not to buy anymore of the 80 for now. I dont think this means the 80gb is cancelled completely though otherwise more stores would have made mention of it.

I do expect them to drop the price on the PSTwo though. a 299 40gb plus a PSTwo for 100 would still mean they get to sell you PS2 and PS3 games evenif the 40gb is a horribly gimped abortion.

i 160hdd is about $100 so if someone wants to upgrade it will still only be $400, i have the 60gb and i dont really use bc that much

Same here only with a 250 gig

I finished off final fantasy 12, gta4, and god of war 2 really before jumping into my 60gig ps3 on November 2006. My ps2 has since then been in my closet and I have not used bc either. Now onto some devil may cry 4 demo and pixel junk monsters =)

Sony arent listening. Yes, there is a price drop - but thats not what everyone talks about. Every single person that comes into EB looking to buy a PS3 asks me "Does it play PS2 games?" - and since we only have the 40GB model I always say "No." - and you should see their faces. It puts A LOT of people off buying it... it's then up to me to try and sell it no matter what and it becomes a lot harder for someone still looking to keep all their old PS2 games. Lucky I got a 60 gigger, but if they get rid of the 80GB model then there's no hope for the system.

amen 'gaden' amen

They should put a game w/ the 40 gig then.

What if Sony offers a firmware update on 40GB models that enables backward compatibility?  Is such a thing possible?  Anyone that is tech savvy that can answer me please? :O

FING STOP PEOPLE!!!! Its just a Best Buy  worker saying this.  If it is true, you will still be able to get a 80 gig at other places. BC is fing awesome btw. Playing your PS2 games in HD is a lot more fun. @ Jared the 40 gig can't play ps2 games even with a firmware update. It doesnt have the hardware to do it. I bought a 60 gig last year in march and Im glad I did. It hasnt gave me one problem. And to who ever said the 360 is BC, your right, but its BC is very limited. All my old PS2 games work just fine.

Has anyone thought of the fact that Sony is facing HUGE pressure from the software companies to eliminate the bc feature. i mean seriously....why do you think the software adoption rate and ps3 game sales are so low. because people are still buying ps2 games for 10 bucks. If sony loses dev support they lose the console war...plain and simple. they have to find a happy medium to keep consumers and software companies happy. for awhile it was 2 skus but with sony still having poor software sales for their ps3 games they have to fully support their ps3 agenda and let the ps2 stand on its own. i really don't have a problem with only pushing the 40gb...i have a 60 and a 40. i will say that i miss the extra usb ports though and the memory card slots. still sony has to get to the magical 299 price point as soon as possible and also they have to win back dev support because everyone here knows the devs are very upset with sony. look on the bright side...you will get more ps3 playing partners this way and hopefully a whole heck of alot more games made for your system. i mean all i hear is complaints about games being delayed or gimped for the ps3 or not enough good games....well with this initative that should show the developers sony is fully 100% behind ps3 success and thus developers will give you guys more and hopefully better games. besides...once people start playing ps3 games they won't want to go back to playing ps2...i couldn't ....it just hurt my eyes. and if they want.......well there are 120 million ps2s out there for them to use....seriously...it isn't that big a loss.

Could this be why Sony wanted to hire an emulator? Hmm...

Glad I have my 60GB (250GB) already.

this will never happen.  I work for  a major electronics retailer and Sony is continuing to offer the 80gb version, and we are going to carry it moving forward.  If Bestbuy wants to lose sales than so be it.  We will gladly take their customers.

I still wonder why this decision is was even made, did they have an overstock issue?

Dropping BC isn't gonna force ppl to buy PS3 titles, as they still have the PS2.  The fact that these 3rd gen titles aren't exactly leaps and bounds ahead of the previos gen, is more the issue... for example the graphics, and physics, in the FPS "Black", isn't exactly left in the dust compared to other 3rd gen FPS's.  I hope Sony are just preparing for a beefed up PS3 Elite...or something simular. 

Who cares if Best Buy stops selling the 80GB, its there downfall.  If someone wants a 80GB model, just buy it else where.  Still I don't understand why they would stop selling the 80GB completely.  Why not just reduce the number of units they order in.  I'm sure they will still order in a 80GB console if you ask them

Dah What exactly is the story here? Sony already announced that these models are being discontinued - What? do you think Best Buy wasnt going to discontinue selling something thats not being made and Eer What's with all the top secret "we know someone who might have seen a piece of paper saying something the world already knows" what a muppet!

@mikeghtmare

I am a true to the core gamer......I care about backward compatibility......that's why I got my 60gb even after the 40gb came out.....and I'm from Portugal....not U.S.

damn it.. i was hoping to upgrade from 60gb to 80 at the end of the year.... i have a deal with bestbuy to replace my 60 gig for a new one, if somethings wrong with it.. well hopefully they'll have a better one than the 80gb

I'd question this because the white PS3 is 80gig that is currently in the FCC.

Be odd to me to see them drop what is a game console and/or Blu-Ray player.

No, no,no i want the 80 gig

 Im really glad I have the 60GB.  I have kids and they play alot of thier PS2 games on it. - this is a little surprising  to me cause one of the main attraction to the playstation brand has always been the BKW compatibility.  But reseach is showing its only a very small % that is using BKWC.

More rumors and speculation.  Here's a rumor for you, "I interviewed an 18 year old employee named Chris in a Walmart from the West Mifflin area of Pittsurgh, PA.  Chris told me that he and his buddies got drunk two Saturdays ago and scored some blow.  In their drug and alchol induced haze they went to see a palm reader, who based on the short length of their life lines, referred them to an oracle in Pittsburghs' Southside.  The oracle informed them that Sony will be discontinuing all models and replacing them with a pink model that has a 1TB hard drive, six usb ports, four IEEE-1394 ports, and it comes bundled with Pirates (porn) on Bluray and Mario Party 17 (controllers sold seperately)."  I don't know about you guys, but I have already sold my 60 GB model from launch, and I'm am anxiously awaiting its release, which according to Chris will be be January 29, 2008 at a price tag of $289.57.  CAN'T WAIT, CAN'T WAIT, CAN'T WAIT......

svtschmidt - lol, we get your point!  But lets not forget that many future facts start out as speculation and assumptions and if you want to be "in the know" and see stories as they develope you must be willing to open yourself up to these type of speculations- or you'll hate being a part of this or any forum like this- for the "official" PR releases with 0 speculations, visit the official Playstation Website, thats what I do, but this is just more fun! from a fellow yinz'er!! Go pens!

lmao @49 good one. I think they're removing it so they can replace it with an SKU that comes with Dual Shock 3. Don't know if anyone has already mentioned that, but they said the DS3 would get here around Feb, and no one has mentioned it since.

Mixed feelings on this matter.  If this is a pretense of things to come from Sony themselves, I think it is a bad move.  There is no reason from the article to believe that Sony will completely get rid of the 80GB model from stock and only leave one stripped down SKU on the market.  It only mentions the rumor of Best Buy stores not stocking the 80GB model.  It is fine for those waiting on the price to come down; however, there are those who still would like the extras that the 80GB model gives.  Hard drive size isn't that important since most people shopping for a PS3 know that you can upgrade the HDD at any time relatively easy.

The fact that the author of this even hints at this being positive makes me sick... this is horrible for sony.  This means bestbuy is losing money when they buy shipments of the 80 GB PS3.  That means they are not selling.  This is horrible news for Sony.  Bestbuy is going to stop selling 80 GB versions because sony is going to price cut.  You think bestbuy and sony share secrets?  Idiots...

just looked at best buy's website and you can only order the 40gb model,  Like many have said this is their own loss.  Other stores will pick up their sales.  Some have posted how bc does not matter due to most ps3 owners having a ps2, this may be true however I am glad I have the 80gb model for the fact that I dont like any more wires and junk cluttering up my entertainment area than there has to be.  that for me is reason enough to love the 80 gb model, or I might just have to have the biggest and baddest of everything I can get lol.

Personally I would not get too excited if you want a B/C PS3 and have not purchased it yet. All we really know is the BB is going to discontinue stocking this PS3 SKU in their stores. I really doubt that Sony is going to do away with PS3 B / C entirely.

I want my 60GB & 80GB models? Why does anyone care about them - you can put in your own hard drive and backwad compatible with PS2 is worthless because PS2 is worthless. Those games looked bad why bother play them again? None where any good just throw them in the bin and play new gen stuff