But even so, what will the average consumer say?

"They doubled the harddrive space for no extra cost! More value for my moneyz!"

You can bet your ass that Sony is gonna make sure people know that the space has been doubled.

First off sony already stated previously that they are working on full software emulation. In fact the current 80gb $500 model used software as it is.

They are dropping production costs again. Basically reduce the hardware connections on the PS3 to only that of the 40gb level.

This will give Sony a standard PS3 to produce, thus reducing costs even more. They have thrown in the 80gb vs the 40gb to soften the blow when the 80gb w/ software emulation goes bye bye permanently.

Once all of the other 40/80gb models are completely gone from retail and the new 80gb is profitable they will put out a firmware update that will allow software BC that is at least as good as the current emulation found on the 80gb now.

Then they will either do as I say above and also offer a larger storage PS3 or since you can easily just put your own HDD on the PS3 they may just continue with the one sku. Which should be good enough for *most* players.

Its really not that big of a deal and makes a lot of business sense.

Wow. That is a stunningly bad reason.

It's because Tretton's phrasing gave the strong impression that this is going to be their only model on shelves after it launches. He tried to word it as though it's the 40gb that's being discontinued and the 80gb that's replacing it, when in fact it's just the opposite. I don't have the clip recorded, but once it shows up online we can start analyzing his words to death.

It's also just the logical conclusion: obviously they're not going to have two 80gb models on shelves at the same time, and they didn't announce any new "high end" model to replace the current bundle.

Full software emulation is not possible on the PS3. It's not even possible to completely emulate the PS2 on top-end PCs.

Edit: I mean it's not possible in any reasonably playable fassion.

I haven't seen anything from a reliable source that indicates they have been able to emulate the GS or are even working on it.

I think it's smart. People will automatically think an 80 GB PS3 has backwards compatibility and superiour features. When this i launched ignorant people will think the 80 GB just had a $100 price drop.

And I haven't seen anything from any reliable source that indicates that it is not possible and/or they are not working on it.

See, I can play this game too.

There are people who know more than I do, like SSJ, that say emulation is difficult if not impossible because the GS has high speed memory inside of the chip that is faster than the memory inside the PS3. It's not a game, it just the facts as they exist.

And I'm not claiming they are not working on emulation. But there are plenty of people making it seem like fact that emulation is not only possible, but upcoming. I haven't seen any information to support that position.

 How does holding back this magical patch to make the systems BC make any business sense? Is there even a decent working PS2 emulater for the PC yet? The system is ridiculously hard to emulate, and there has been a host of very intelligent people trying to make it work for a long time. I don't think Sony is going to suddenly have the secret break through that makes it all possible in less than a quarter the time others have been working on it.