Okay, I'm a regular poster over at AVSForum.com. It's a great group of guys over there, all A/V enthusiasts, some of these guys with $60,000+ Home Theater set ups, others like me who don't even own an HDTV yet, but who are there just to do some research and discuss games. All of us seem pretty mature.

Well, today, a poster by the name of BenjaminG posted this in one of the many 40GB PS3 rumor threads:

I've gone through his posting history, and he sounds legite. He's definately from Australia, and he seems to really know his stuff about Blu-Ray, gaming, and other stuff. Could this be for real!?!

Edit: Here's the thread. Second post from the bottom.

It's not conclusive, but it's one more piece of evidence...

Many people now believe this will happen. Regarding Europe, where I live, Sony has already announced a new bundle, the price will be announced on the 12th... which makes it likely that it is a price drop announcement. It's just a bit overwhelming to believe that they'll drop the price to 400 €, but if I had to bet right now, I'd say they will.

And I can hear Sony Europe's explanation for such a price drop already:

"We have a history of passing cost savings to consumers. Our Starter Pack had a lot of value included in it, but we have now decided to subtract the cost from those bundled items and start selling the PS3 for 200 € less".

You heard it here first ;)

jumpin jahosaphats BATman!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, the 30% reduction in price falls right in line with the 400 Euro ps3 pricing. 600 to 400 is a 30% reduction. 600 to 400 in the states is also a 30% reduction, if you ignore the first 60GB price drop.

It all fits.

And before people start saying PS2 emulation comes for free with software, it's not true. Even the 80 GB PS3 has the GS chip, just not the EE...

But Sony is saving very little by removing the GS, card readers and 2 of the USB ports... if those are the only differences, it goes to show how desperate for money they are.

Also, if anybody who reads this has a GameSpot account, would you mind going over there and posting this in System Wars? I would, but I was perma-banned back around e3. That's how I ended up here, lol.

Why'd you get banned, friend? Get a little kooky during E3?

It happened around here, too.

I think I can see the angle Sony is shooting for. They drop the PS2 compatibility completely from the 40GB as an entry level for those still iffy about price, and then drop the price of the PS2 to $99. That way, if they really want to play PS2, they can still get it for only a C note.

I'm guessing that perhaps dropping some ports and the backwards compatibility will drop manufacturing costs, but if I was a guessing man, I'd say they will still be losing money. A necessary evil, I'm afraid. How else can you counter huge Christmas lineups for the Wii and 360?

I got banned for posting in a thread containing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows spoilers. :|

I was lvl 31, had over 12,000 posts, and only 12 moderations between them, most of the moderations consisting of minor offenses like a post containing too many quotes or something similarly retarded. So, of course, one of the nazi-mods (i'm pretty sure it was that jerk CaseyWegner, I swear he had it out for me) decided I deserved to be perma-banned over Harry Potter.

Yeah, I agree DD, there is absolutely no way, PS3 will counter against the Wii and 360 lineup. Its freaking amazing.

"""Also, if anybody who reads this has a GameSpot account, would you mind going over there and posting this in System Wars? I would, but I was perma-banned back around e3. That's how I ended up here, lol."""

LOL

Personnaly, I still think that the playstation name can sell the console, particularly in europe with the PES2008 bundle around ...

Even more it is saied that the 399$ will come with Spiderman BR or something like this ?
So they are trying to save their PS3 with the BR player.
Quite funny considering the PS3 bring the BR to life ...