Ive said it time and time again, Sony is ripping off consumers, especially in my country Australia. We have NO access to a BC model. The only model available is $AU260 overpriced based on exchange rates (and that is AFTER taking into account our GST) and at the very least $AU200 overpriced based on economies of scale as well.

Ive said time and time again. Give me BC and a fair price (one where they make the same profit/loss as in the US and Japan per unit after taking into account scale and taxes) which would be $AU500 or at the MOST $AU550 and I WILL buy a PS3.

And their blatant failure to try and alert consumers to the lack of BC after pushing it so hard for a year is pathetic.

slowly opens door and eases out of room

 its on the box.. cant get any better of an alert then that. 

Plus honestly why does BC matter that much? You bought a PS3 for PS3 games. The added ability to play PS1 games is just a bonus.

From a PR standpoint yes, but from a business standpoint, it won't happen.  You can be damn sure that PS3 sales numbers have been inflated at least 3-4% because of people who bought a 40-gig, tried to play a PS2 game on it, then immediately traded it back in for a 60-80gig model.

Come to think of it, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was Sony's mysterious reason for removing BC from this model, since we know removed the Emotion Engine only saved a few dollars.

Comeon, have you actually seen the tiny writing on the back of the box (mixed in with other writing)?  After a year of trumpeting their machine's flawless integration with the majority of the PS2's game, do you seriously thing this isn't a little deceptive?

BC matters to me (and apparently many others) because it allows me to play my old PS2 games on the one system, and in some cases (mine) allows me to throw out the now broken PS2 I own without buying another one.  Also, BC seemed to matter a lot to Sony fanboys when the PS3 had it completely and the 360 didn't......... 

Dude, gaming has always be expensive in Australia, so live with it.

Also, it's just not Sony as you call it that's 'ripping' us off, it's Nintendo and Microsoft, just grab the American prices convert them to Aussie dollars and you'll see the same as what your complaing abough with Sony, here is an example:-

Wii $ 250US = $282.74AU but it acutally cost $400AU

Your 80gig model PS3 in America is cheaper then Australia's 40gig, exchange rates included.

We nearly pay as much for a Wii as you would a PS3 40gig in America.

 Actually I can find a Wii for $AU346 at Big W, as Nintendo is allowing retailers to buy cheaper due to exchange rates, Sony apparently is not.  So $250 plus exchange rate is $AU275 plus gst tax is $AU300ish which means we pay $AU46 for scale economies.  With Sony, we pay $AU200 at least.  I promise you, Sony is ripping Australians off like no other.

what a bunch of idiots! read the back of the box! Sony isn't hiding it, its in big print on the back of the box and its common knowledge...at least I thought.

That's because Sony fanboys already have a 60/80gb PS3...they're not missing out on anything. Besides the 80gb PS3 will eventually make it's way on AU shores, if you want BC that bad then just wait for it. If it's too expensive then... get away from Australia, gaming in AU sucks anyways and so does the water problems.