PS3 news
New 40GB Model to be Available in North America on November 2nd for $399;  Effective Immediately, 80GB PS3 to be Priced at $499

Yeah... the 40GB has NO backwards compatibility.  None.  Say what!?  I honestly thought the tech reporters were all being stupid when they were discussing the European and Japanese releases.  My bad, I guess Sony was the one being stupid.  I'm not buying this model.  Period.

And with the 80GB down a hundred bucks, it only needs to drop another $200 before I'd be willing to pay to play... oh, but that would be if it had the emotion engine.  I don't quite understand why the software emulation is such a bad thing for the PS3, but it is unanimous that backwards compatibility is somewhat sketchy and certainly not as good as having the full hardware.  So I think I'll be passing on the 80GB model.

And the sad thing is that I think it's pretty clear that there will be no future models added to the line up that incorporate the emotion engine.

So... I guess I'm going to be shopping for a 20GB PS3 with a price roughly $150-250.  That gives me a full on, "fer real" PS3/PS2 with a 20GB hard drive that I can upgrade anytime I need more space.  That's the real deal there.  All of the full blown power of the REAL PS3 for less than half the price of the shitty new models...

Of course, there are two problems with my carefully laid plans.  I don't have a few spare hundred laying around right now.  And I seriously doubt I can find a WORKING PS3 for less than $350.  Prices on Amazon look to start roughly $50 below retail... for the currently available SKUs.  On eBay?  A really quite check gives me a 20GB PS3 with Buy It Now for $260 (S/H $22).  Oh, look, it's a DEAD PS3 for 250.  [smacks forehead] 

I wonder if the used PS3 market will stay as ridiculous as the used PSP market.  Even DEAD PSPs cost a lot.