Sony's 40GB PS3 arrives in retail store stockrooms
By Conrad Quilty-Harper 
posted Oct 27th 2007 12:58PM
posted Oct 27th 2007 12:58PM
[Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
These are already listed on stores like Target.com and Bestbuy.com. Also, 80 gig PS3's are already marked down to $499.
Good thing prices are coming down. Now all it needs is some games.
So is there a warning about the lack backwards compatibility on the box?
It would stink if someone got home with their new 40GB PS3, stuck in a PS2 game, and then found out it didn't work.
I do not know if they have a warning label on them or not but I doubt it. It probably has it as a line item somewhere on the package but not as a warning label. This is similar to the XBox 360 Core that cannot play original XBox games. That system does not have a warning label on it either.
My guess is that similar to the Core, and all other electronic devices, it will have a big list of things it can do and not a list of things it can't. I have no problem with this.
I'm pretty sure I saw photos elsewhere of the box that had a label that said Warning:Does Not play PS2 games. So yes, it's there.
How do they even find 40GB drives for these things? Did they have to travel back in time 5 years? Maybe they found an abandoned warehouse full of them?
Actually, I bet you're pretty close. I'm sure manufacturers have tons of old drives sitting around and are looking for creative ways to get rid of them. Enter, the 40 gig PS3. I was checking out info on some of Sony's camcorders the other day and one of the pictures had a cutaway of the camcorder. It was a hard disk model and I was shocked to see a laptop size drive inside. I assumed they all used the smaller 1.8" models used in ipods, etc. since that is what I would have designed a small camcorder around (and for the price, it seems like you should be getting a physically smaller drive as those camcorders aren't cheap). Anyway, I guess it's better they sell them somehow, but I honestly don't imagine hard drive manufacturers actually starting up the manufacturing lines to produce 40 gig hard drives anymore.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116028
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136128
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152505
I'd keep going, but Engadget limits me to 3 url's. You get the idea anyway.
Jeff - It's called sarcasm. Ever heard of it?
the ps3 uses the cheap seagate drives not western digital! they are retail £18
Ha it says 'Free Playstatio' on the first picture :-D I'm just hoping the next 2 characters are 'n.' ;-)
I've already pre-ordered from EBGames, hoping it's Delivered on 11/2 so I don't have to wait the whole weekend for it.
Why not just go to EB or BB and buy it? I don't think you will have a hard time finding one...
I don't know where abouts in the world you mean that these things are hitting shelves, but working in Currys in the UK, I've been selling 40 gig PS3's for a few weeks, sold two today as it happens.
Who even cares? It's like when Apple released the new 3G iPod, but then released it in a 40GB. BFD!
Giggedi goo!!
The 40GB PS3 is already in my local electronic-store in Lower-Austria, near Vienna
I cant wait damnit!
What was it the Sony execs said about a single sku being the proper way to sell the PS3 in the US? Something about the multiple sku model failing and such?
I have mine since the begining of the Week :-) (available since 2 weeks in France)
There is not sticker about PS2 compatibility but there is a sentence about it in the description of the package at the back of the box.
I use it on a SD TV. Too bad they only include a composite video cable. You have to purchase an aditional SVideo or RGB cable to obtain a perfect picture quality on SD TV.
I've bought it almost only for GT-HD and the demo of GT5 Prologue :-)
I've taken Motorstorm and Sega Rallye.
Motorstorm is excellent but both GT demos are better :-)
Uh Ohs!! I smell a lawsuit! I can almost guarantee there wont be 40GB useable on that drive! That asshat that went after Seagate will be lining up here soon too!
haha it sucks about the backwards compat. I'm so glad I plunked down my $46 and bought it at launch (friends dad bought it for me for some work I did for him that cost me $10, and forgot 6% tax when he sent me a check for $600... bummer haha)
But is it better than a George Foreman grill? Does it reduce fat? Does it leave those cool grill marks on your food? There's no comparison if you ask me.
Woo Hoo no backwards compatability with ps2 games and made by foxconn who use sweatshop labour great one sony fu**ing ppl at both ends!
Can you provide some information about foxconn and sweatshops?
@ KC
there was a two page article in the mail on sunday a while back about the work conditions and way they recruited their staff by only employing ppl mainly women from far away villages so they had to live on the complex in squalid, slave type rooms packed with worker,s working upto 20 hour days being paid $50 a month but they had to give $25 to the foxconn factory for board and food.
this type of employment in asia was considered within the law but is that justification for the exploitation of these people?
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/06/19/foxconn_ipod_sweatshop_claims_a_vicious_attack.html
so you can thanks these exploited ppl in china for your discounted ps3!
These have been on sale for weeks.. Oh wait, it's just Engadget forgetting to tell us what country their story applies to AGAIN.
I wonder how much money sony is losing on each console? anyone know?
Look at that horrible game it's bundled with...oh wait that's a movie. So you buy a game machine and get a free movie? What? Further proof that making a good game console was secondary to using the popularity of the PlayStation family to push their format of choice. Go ahead any buy one so you can show Sony your appreciation for how they let you help fund their format war.
On a very-much related note, does anybody know how I can find a 20GB model at retail now? I mean, I think most of the big-box stores stopped listing them on their websites, but I'm wondering if some smaller shops might still stock them and I just haven't thought where to look.
Seriously, what kind of tard buys a 40GB when the 20 is cheaper and better in almost every way?
The 20gig is solid unobtanium for most practical purposes and has been since like just after launch.
Strangely enough...
These 40GB versions have been on sale here in South Africa since this past weekend (27/10).