exactly!

 See I'ma have to dissagree :D Now we have FREE online Unreal Tourny III Frag-fest's :P and for hectic online multiplayer goodness it almost doesn't get better XD

 Great reply. Go for it my friend. You will enjoy it a lot more then you might think.

Also, regarding your main question, here are the list of differences:

1) 2 USB ports vs 4 USB ports

2) No media slot readers

3) 40Gb HD vs 80Gb HD

4) SpiderMan3 (blu-ray) vs Motorstorm (game) 

5) No backwards compatibility

 You can easily swap the 40Gb for a 250Gb for about $100 or you can use an external hard drive using USB2. If you decide to use a external harddrive (I wouldn't suggest it since it's so easy to replace the internal harddrive) then don't forget to buy a 4 port USB hub (less than $20).

If you need HDMI cables don't buy in retail stores, they will rip you off. Buy here ($7 USD for a kick ass cable - I got 3 of them just in case ;) )

http://monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024008&p_id=3992&seq=1&format=2

I hope you have as much fun as I do with my PS3, it's a great console and does not deserve the bad mouthing it's getting in USA.

Yea, the new ones only have a fail rate of about 15%, which is quite a bit better then over 30%.     Why should you pay for online service when you can get it for Free with the PS3?  That's just an additional cost that I could put towards another game every year. 

 Halo 3 sucks.  I had it, played and beat the single player game.  Only played about 5 hours online and quit because of how horrible the online game is.   There's also nothing like listening to kids scream racist comments and swear all the time because they think it's cool.  The 360 is coming off to me as the "Kiddie" console where all the immature and antisocial kids go on to cuss and be disrespectful to everyone.    I'm sure everyone loves to play a game and hear some kid cussing, dropping the "N" word, and whining in a high pitched voice proclaiming how wonderful they are and how they "Pwned" you.

 There's nothing quite like having a enema with a elephant trunk, but that doesn't mean I want to do that.  If you want to self fellate yourself and the 360, do it in the microsoft section of the forums here.

 Lightbleeder made his decision and stated quite eloquently why he wants a PS3 and there is nothing that the fanboys can do to change his opinion on his decision to buy a PS3.

Lightbleeder, when you pick one up, put me on your friends list and we can play some games online.   With all you said, I'd just go with the 40gb, it will do all that you want it to do.

As much as people like to say that Nintendo doesn't compete with Sony/MS, it does.

 In fact, one of lightbleeder's posts reveals that, on some level, the iPod competes with the PS3.

The bottom line is that disposable entertainment dollars are disposable entertainment dollars. Everybody in the entertainment industry is going after different niches in the entertainment market. 

I absolutely love it when people just completely make up numbers. The new ones haven't been out long enough to figure out their failure rate (which initially appears to be quite good based on 'net bitching, but again, it's still too early).

40GB model does come with Spiderman 3 right?

Game_boy,

I didn't get ur last comment ...

I didn't look it up, did you?   And to steal a quote from Stephen Colbert:

"That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say "I did look it up, and that's not true." That's 'cause you looked it up in a book.

Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Every night on my show, the Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, OK? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the "No Fact Zone." Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term."