Thanks Highlander

I'm still unsure where in the world I want a PS3 from at the moment (US for cheap BluRay Region A imports, upscaling all my R1 DVDs and indeed cheap consoles, or UK for R2 upscaling and ease of returns if it dies), but I don't really need:

The memory card reader - I'm happy streaming my pictures off my PC with the 360

The extra USB ports - I don't quite know what they're for, and I've got a hub in case

I don't know about the disk space, yet. On the one hand, the paltry 20Gb in my 360 seems to be enough for memory saves and downloaded games, but on the other hand I know some PS3 games are cacheing gigs of stuff on there. We'll see.

As for the other advantages of the 80Gb model, we don't know yet if the 40Gb will gain a DualShock, or indeed if this 80Gb will still have the backward compatibility. Mind you, I only have 1 US PS2 game anyway - Katamari Damacy - so I'll be keeping my softmodded, hard-driven real PS2 going for a while yet.

At the moment it's mainly to be a BluRay player, and the 40Gb model does that just fine. The only games I'm really exited for on the format so far are WipEout HD and SingStar, but there are bound to be more at the format goes on; my PS2 eventually got tonnes of use.

@Chad & Tony

Funny thing about motorways, they have multiple destinations, and not everyone wants to go to Birmingham, some want to go as far as Carlisle.

In other words, One man's killer application is another man's crappy FPS. Another man's unplayable racer is another's favorite time waster.

All the pronouncements about PS3 not having a killer application are simple garbage. If the definition of a 'killer application' is that it has to match Halo's sales, then I guess there aren't going to be all that many killer applications on any platform. Halo fans are uniquely and fiercely loyal to their game even to the point of buying Halo3 even though it's little more than PAL resolution scaled to 720p and scarcely does more than polish the game mechanics from Halo2. As I said, one man's killer application is another man's crappy FPS. Halo is a case in point.

Personally I would think that MGS4, GT5 and FFXIII will all do very nicely thank you, as have Resistance, Motorstorm, Heavenly Sword, R&C, Burnout Paradise, etc... Everyone's tastes are different. Personally I like RPGs and can't wait for Sega's Valkyria Chronicles game to arrive in the West...One man's killer application...another man's waste of space.

@Chad H

I like your motorway analogy, nice one.

I still say a motorway is a motorway is a motorway, even if it only leads to FullAuto2BattlelinesVille (which is a truly dreadful place)