New PS3 model

Sony has recently unveiled a new PlayStation 3 model in Japan.

Link

Looks very cool at first glance. Color's nice, 40 GB hard drive...also the 342$ price tag is a major incentive for me, I'm one of those people who would never buy the original PS3 because of it's exorbitant price tag. They're also selling a 60 GB model in Japan, although I can't really see when you'd ever need that much space on a console system.

They're releasing this new model in Europe later on...for roughly 200$ more. Seems like typical regional bias if you ask me. Ah well. Too bad they're not releasing it in North America at all. Some of us penny pinchers could do with the price cuts.

The only real downside I see is that there's no PS2 backwards compatibility. Not a problem for someone like myself, but if you're a PS2 gamer upgrading to the new console, it's only fair that you're able to play games you've accumulated over the years on your new system. That was Sony's original stance, anyway.

Sounds like this new PS3 is a rather mixed blessing.