They’re not forcing anyone at gunpoint to use their PS3 for these commercial projects. They’re simply offering users a choice. If a user chooses he can still use his PS3 for Folding@Home. However, if a user is a bit short of cash he can instead use his PS3 for the commercial projects to get discount on games he may not otherwise be able to afford.

Nobody is being forced to do anything and it’s up to the end user what they use their PS3 for, be that charitable or for their own gain, so what’s the problem?

Shawn, here's one of him looking much friendlier:

http://i19.tinypic.com/42xuzk4.jpg

Sorry, I'm sure everyone has seen that already but it still amuses me the way he's all smiles while giving you the finger on the sly.

Here's the TH-50PZ700 in the UK for the bargain price of £2799.95 = $5,495.42. That’s a 57% mark-up:

http://www.avland.co.uk/panasonic/th50pz700/th50pz700.htm

Not enough of a makeup for you? Then how about the TH-42PZ700 for £2499.95 = $4,907.38. A mere 96% mark-up:

http://www.avland.co.uk/panasonic/th42pz700/th42pz700.htm

Anyone who buys a TV in the UK is a chump. I prefer to buy projectors because they can be imported easily from sites like www.pricejapan.com. That said, I think a better solution is to leave this hell hole of a country; something I intend to do at the earliest possible opportunity.

I could be wrong but I assume this is because hard disk manufacturers have moved to from 60GB to 80GB platters. This is based on an observation that in the past drive sizes were all divisible by 60 (120GB, 180GB, 300GB etc) while now all drives are divisible by 80 (160GB, 320GB, 400GB etc). Presumably then 60GB platters have gone out of production so the drives will be 80GB regardless, and there’s no point selling an 80GB drive as a 60GB drive.

Why single out Sony for overcharging Europeans? The majority of consumer electronics companies doe it. I was comparing the prices of a Sharp LCD TV and a Pioneer DVD player and in both instances they were just under double the price of the US models. It’s the same with just about everything and cars that are manufactured in Britain can be bought cheaper abroad than they can in the UK.

Corporations know the British are stupid enough to pay these prices so there’s no reason to lower the prices. I personally import everything and cannot understand why people buy things like games consoles in the UK when the PAL versions are not only considerably more expensive but are often inferior (no component output on Xbox, no progressive scan Gamecube games, no backward compatibility in PS3, virtual console games that run 17.5% to slow and with big boarders on Wii).

Don’t blame the companies, blame the idiot consumers who buy the cut down over priced crap sold in Europe and particularly the UK. With a recent UN report showing that Britain has the lowest standard of education out of the 21 most economically developed nations the situation isn’t likely to change since most children couldn’t even calculate the price different to realise they’re being exploited.