I guess that when Sony bought the double raw materials this month they were not wrong (and yes, they did that, while at the same time cancelling all big PS3 sales... This was one of the stuff that made their "secret" slim not so secret...)

Shortages: 'tis a marketing tool to imply success or a trend for 'undecided' consumers to jump on. Sort of like when a movie studio announces there are already looking at a sequel for a film that hasn't released yet-- it gives the impression they endorse the quality of the film and give the illusion of success beforehand.

If you were a big retailer, wouldn't you resort to crying 'Shortages!' to move volume? Even in a speculative way? I won't be fooled! But I shall rant aimlessly.

Here we go again with the shortages and the long lines at launch. I hope no one gets shot this time.

Knock another $50 or $100 off this thing and then we'll see if maybe people are clamoring a little bit for this thing. In the meantime it is just a bunch of propaganda - Sony is late to the party.

@David sometimes shortages are a marketing tool, but not a very good one. These companies want to sell as many units as possible, including the retailers. For example, Nintendo with the Wii, they did not want to create demand by lack of product they wanted to satisfy that demand but lacked the infrastructure to keep up. Sony has similar problems. That includes both now and at the intial launch period.

Perhaps, and this is a long shot theory, that Sony wanted to limit the first run spec version of the PS3 that was probably too expensive to ramp up heavy production on, but after the PS2 chip was removed, and now with the less expensive specs, there is no way they are intentionaly hamstringing produciton to create a shortage perception for a marketing campaign.

Sony wants to sell as many PS3 as they can make, as fast as they can make them. Period.

I have to admit, I already pre-ordered on Amazon. The shortage is most likely hype, agreed, but there is a certain amount of pent-up demand for the PS3 at a more reasonable price (and size)

No Linux...

But would you rather get the bigger 160 GB ed or the 120 GB slim? I haven't seen it in the wild yet but it looks cheaper than the ps3 i own. I'd be interested to know if they've made it a 45 nanometer cooler and
more energy efficient beast. Will you be able to upgrade the hdd with a 2.5 sata drive or have they gone propritary.

Will bc ever return via firmware update,how many usb ports does it have?

Lot's of stuff remains unanswered but at least they've made some effort.

u usb ports i believe and bc doesn't returned.

2 usb ports....

@Wes:
- The CPU is 45nm, not sure about the GPU.
- Power consumption is down (supposedly by 34%).
- Yes you can still do the hard drive upgrade with any 2.5" SATA drive.
- No word on BC ever being offered as a future firmware update.
- 2 USB ports.

Hope that helps.

I'm liking the new revamp. The look isn't for everyone, but as a 60g owner myself I'd have to say that this minimalistic design and new matte black look is quite awesome, and I'm sure it's better in person. The old spiderman 3 font and dust magnet cheapish plastic cover didn't do it for me.

Even though people saw this coming months ago, I think Sony has times this update for the PS3 fairly well. At $299 the playstations strengths as a blueray player will make that asset even more useful for boosting sales. Not to mention the fact that this pricepoint is just $50 above that of the wii, which is impressive. I would like to see how Nintendo and Microsoft respond. As of the revamp and the incredible lineup of games coming, I think without a doubt that Sony just made the PS3 the most desirable console for Christmas.

Glen: you and 2 other people care. :)

Thanks i'm considering getting a slim but everything being bigger on playstation from installs,updates,dlc
and the like i'd advise people to just get a 500GB replacement drive swap it with the hdd that came with your system and begin from there otherwise you'll eventually max it out with everything from photo's,mp3'smovies as well as game related content. I'd sure be nice if sony allowed you to install from an external hdd or internal...then you could simply get a 1tb hdd and plug it in through usb.

Ps3 might not be designed to work like that or loading over usb might be too slow but if it was possible
that'd be nice.