@thevagabond

I know, but if your about to pay $600, £425 for a product, you usually know WHY

HOpefully SONY will give compensation (to those who bought it in the month be4) if 40GB is really $399 tho as 8GB - 40GB $200 difference is very weird

and surprise surpsie not too many people are paying $500-$600 for this product, now are they.

They are all fine. They all play games. Different options just means more choices for different people. As long as what you buy plays the games you want is all that matters. If so many sku's bother you then don't buy them.

 The true problem will only rear its ugly head when one model can play a game another model can't.

I dont like the idea, is not working, and probably will be gone by the next gen...

This practice was not adopted to give the consumer a choice so much as it was adopted as a hand-fisted solution to dealing with the problem of having a console that was too expensive for gamers of the last generation to own.

That won't happen, I'm sure they test the games on all models before releasing them.

Also is the same hardware. The only difference really is the hardrive space. Only thing I can see happening mainly for the 360 is that more games will need a hardrive which is fine as most have a hardrive and those that need it will just have to buy it. It is NOT a ripoff since you payed less for the hardrive less version and by then it might be cheaper so you end up saving more than those that bought it with the hardrive. Again ALL versions will play the games though I can see sometime in the future SOME games needing a hardrive.  

Yeah these multiple SKUs etc are just messy and probably confusing to a lot of consumers. Sure most people here and the experienced gamer will know exactly what they want there console to do etc but new comers (or casual gamers) to the market are likely to be put off.

The cheaper/budget versions feel just that and the more expensive/fully loaded version is just too expensive.

Sony and Microsoft should of sorted this from the very beginning but instead they are messing around with upto 5 different models!!

Xbox= Core Edition or Premium Edition or Halo Edition or Elite Edition next the Arcade Edition!!!! (not forgetting the new generation with HDMI enabled versions with 65nm CPU etc)

Sony= 20gb or 60gb or 80gb (60gb to be discontinued) or 40gb (no USB or backwards compatibility)

I'm not sure Microsoft would allow that. They have rules for xbox 360 games (for example, anti-aliasing is mandatory), and I would be surprised if the rules allowed that.