My question is, why isnt there B/C emulation for the 40GB? Shouldnt it be the same for both 40GB and 80GB models?

I bought A TON of original XBOX (I didn't have one last gen) games to play on my 360. I think only two of those games made it past the title screen. The rest are suffering from neglect. I have well over one hundred PS2 games. I've only played one game for that system since I got my Wii60. I have about 50 Gamecube games. Only Super Mario Sunshine got played in the last few months, and that was to get me warmed up for Galaxy. Backwards compatability is a nice novelty, but it is by no means a deal breaker. While I'm still gonna spring for the fully loaded model, the main reason I'm buying a PS3 is to play PS3 games. That's just me.

well, since a retailer is US (what is the name ? I forgot it !) is discontinuing the PS3 80gb, Sony will soon make an official delcaration and we will soon see what they have next.

Personnaly, if they dont put something to take the place of the 80gb THEN PS3 sales will decrease. Remember about (guess) 50% of the NA PS3 are 80gb, and 50% are 40gb.

 Yeah cause those three games totally replace Phantom Brave, Shadow of the Collosus, LaPucelle: Tactics, Guilty Gear XX, King of Fighters, Kingdom Hearts, Street Fighter Aniversary Collection, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Viewtiful Joe, and a host of other games that won't have an equivalent for a long time this generation, if ever. Anyone with an ounce of brains would realize that the large PS2 library would be a good way to help attract new buyers since there are plenty of great old games.

man, u can still play PS2 games using ur PS2
and I assume a guy who knows nothing to video games ill always prefer to play the news fresh P/sequel than plyaing old PS2 games (it is why he is buying a PS3 AND NOT a PS2)

But, personnaly, I also want to be able to play my PS2 games, so yes, a BC comeback (a BCCB ^^) would be great.

The original PS3 systems(20gb/60gb) had the Emotion Engine CPU (EE) and the Graphics Synthesizer GPU (GS), which is the full hardware BC for PS2 games. The 80gb model had the EE CPU stripped out of it, but Sony left the GS GPU in it to retain partial "software" compatibility with PS2 games. Sony has to work on the PS3 software to improve compatibility with PS2 games. Some games work fine, some don't, so it's kind of hit or miss unlike the EE/GS hardware BC, which has no problems. 

To reduce costs even more, for the 40gb model Sony removed both the EE CPU and GS GPU, effectively stripping it of any PS2 BC at all.  

I have a 60gig ps3 but in reality i've played a ps2 game on it once just to see if the dualshock 3's rumble worked with  ps2 games. it does, but my modded ps2 still plays all my ps2 games.

personally, i'd rather put the wear and tear on my 4 year old ps2 that's worth maybe $50 than wear out my $500 ps3 playing ps2 games.

i think sony will offer some sort of solution for 40gb owners at some point. they'd look too hypocritical to just dump BC and never look back.

I don't really like a full cut of BC, but I'm thinking that they may have some kind of solution when it happens.

But I guess we'll see

For me a PS3 with BC is crucial, ny ps2 is falling apart and i would rather buy just a ps3 with bc than ps2 AND a ps3. My ps2 is like 7 years old right now, it's on its last legs.. Hmm i sure hope that someone in Poland is willing to sell me a 60 gig version :D

I don't know if I'd go as far as saying I won't buy any PS3 without BC anymore. There's just too much upcoming stuff for the console that I want. I won't pay current prices though. If the system got down to, say, $199, I'd have a hard time justifying not spending that money when I could find another PS2 for under $100. Otherwise, I guess I'd have to buy a used 60gb or something. BC is very important to me, and I would be extremely angry at Sony if they took away the option completely. I'm already fairly pissed that they dropped it from even one of their models.

My theory in the other thread was that this is just the first step towards introducing a new backwards compatible high-end SKU with some or all of the following features:

-A new pack-in game, or the option to choose an off-the-shelf game with the system
-The DualShock 3 bundled in
-A larger harddrive
-A 65nm processor

This is consistent with what they've done in Europe. Then again, dropping all BC support is also consistent with what they've done in Europe (and Japan). I'm hoping that they're planning to introduce the new high-end SKU in those regions too, and they just happened to get around to dropping the 80/60gb there earlier.