Not that i'm anywhere near having the money to afford one, but is the 20gb PS3 good enough? Why would a person want the 60gb version? (assuming the 60gb costed more)

I'm not really even sure what the harddrive is used for on the PS3. Is it used as a memory card would be? How many saved games would fit on the 20gb?

Yeah it's good enough but you'll miss out on a lot of movies, and what not

Yep.
If I had to choose I would get the 20GB because that is more than plenty for game saves alone. The Playstation 2 Memory Card only held 8MB and that sufficed so imagine that times 2,500.

Even if it it becomes too small for you, you can always upgrade the HDD. Sony provides instructions in the manual on how to do this and what type of HDD to use. But keep in mind some games require additional info be installed on to the HDD. For example, some of the game I already have:

Ratchet & Clank Future - 417MB
Heavenly Sword - 2GB
Motorstorm - 372MB
Resistance: Fall of Man - 673MB

= 3510MB

So already I'm using 3.5GB (I have 60GB), the 20GB is no different then a computer in that you'll already have about 3 or 4 GB used for the systems own OS. and Unreal Tournament III will be using about 3.5GB to store on your HDD for faster loading times, but they've also said its not needed. So the 20GB is truly for anyone that will only be gaming, but again, you can always upgrade the HDD without voiding your warranty.

Even if it it becomes too small for you, you can always upgrade the HDD. Sony provides instructions in the manual on how to do this and what type of HDD to use. But keep in mind some games require additional info be installed on to the HDD. For example, some of the game I already have:

Ratchet & Clank Future - 417MB
Heavenly Sword - 2GB
Motorstorm - 372MB
Resistance: Fall of Man - 673MB

= 3510MB

So already I'm using 3.5GB (I have 60GB), the 20GB is no different then a computer in that you'll already have about 3 or 4 GB used for the systems own OS. and Unreal Tournament III will be using about 3.5GB to store on your HDD for faster loading times, but they've also said its not needed. So the 20GB is truly for anyone that will only be gaming, but again, you can always upgrade the HDD without voiding your warranty.
What exactly is making Heavenly Sword taking up over 2GB of space?

I got the 120GB Xbox Elite, and I'm already down to just under 90GB. Not sure how all of that is split up but I'm sure if I looked I could tell which games are taking up how much space. That's on top of all the other features that uses memory on the system.

If you're a hardcore gamer, 20GB is probably not the model PS3 you want. That's why I picked up the highest capacity model Xbox, because I'm a hardcore gamer and I knew I'd use the space eventually.

On my 20GB Xbox360, I have 4 Live/Player profiles and over 25 game saves. I still have about 14-15GB.
I cannot see myself needing another 100GB.

What exactly is making Heavenly Sword taking up over 2GB of space?

Mainly for faster loading, same like any other game. The game has almost no loading time.

Smokey, games get installed on the PS3 in order to facilitate caching; the 360 doesn't. Although it bloody well should, because then Mass Effect wouldn't have the ridiculously long loading times it has. SPACE ELEVATORS SHOULD GO FAST DAMMIT. Also, i've had my 20 GB Xbox since launch and i'm only using 10GB, so I don't know what the hell you've got on yours :p

Also, the 20 GB PS3 is inferior to the 60 GB only in that it doesn't support PS2 games. But, it has more efficient cooling and power usage, so one could argue that is more important than backwards compatibility, especially considering the HDD is a standard 3.5" drive anyway.

Well, I have several videos, songs and photos stored on my PS3, thats whats taking a lot of the space. On top of that I have about 22 games I've downloaded form the PS Network. Also, its the 40GB that doesn't support PS2 games. the 20, 60 and 80 do. I've also found out most PS3 games are actually not region coded. So if Europe gets a game before we do in the states, I may have to import it. There have been several threads on the playstation forums that discuss this.

Yes Please.

>>Also, the 20 GB PS3 is inferior to the 60 GB only in that it doesn't support >>PS2 games.

I knew the 40gb was incompatible with PS2 games, but is the 20gb also incompatible with PS2 games?

>>Also, the 20 GB PS3 is inferior to the 60 GB only in that it doesn't support >>PS2 games.

I knew the 40gb was incompatible with PS2 games, but is the 20gb also incompatible with PS2 games?

Read my last post please.

20GB is not enough, OS an cache uses up to 8GB so it is really a 12GB.
Demos and PSN games have no limit, so they can be larger than XBLA games.
Some games offer or force HDD instal

20G is not enough

Also, the 20 GB PS3 is inferior to the 60 GB only in that it doesn't support PS2 games. But, it has more efficient cooling and power usage, so one could argue that is more important than backwards compatibility, especially considering the HDD is a standard 3.5" drive anyway.

srsly.

for anyone not familiar, a 500gb hdd can be had for under 100$.

I can tell you that you should get the 60 Gig model because very soon they will be hard to find, Sony stopped making them I believe, and the advantage of having the 60 Model is that it comes with the ps2 chip built in to the hardware. The 20 Gig model has a software emulation program, same as the 80 Gig. And you need the PS2 chip to play all playstation games unless u want to wait for Sony to make the changes so that other models can emulate the PS1 and PS2 games. Also, the good thing on the 60 Gig is that all you need is just a bigger hard drive from the laptop. Because the Sony app is stored on the hardware itself. So you can just change the drives from 60 to anyhting higher.

Seeing as I'm the only person here who knows what they're talking about from personal experience, let me enlighten you. The reason for the larger HDD is because you can download games, full games larger than on Xbox Live, from the PS Store. It comes Wi-Fi ready which helped me since my router was distance away from my PS3. If you're going to play online or use the store, get the 60GB. If you want it for the next FF and singleplayer games, get the 20GB. I wouldn't consider the 40GB.

Why would you need 60GB to play online?

I am seriously asking because I have had little to no contact with the PS3.

Why would you need 60GB to play online?

I am seriously asking because I have had little to no contact with the PS3.

The 20GB is online capable, but the 60GB has built in Wi-Fi so you can connect to the internet wirelessly. It's a good idea to get the 60GB because if you're going to use it online, you'll likely download from the PS Store. The downloads on the PS Store take up a lot of space. All this I stated in my previous post, read carefully.

This may be a stupid question but is the 20GB only in America or can I get it in europe aswell?