Almost every gamer and tech geek knows that the forthcoming release of the Playstation 3 will, like the Xbox 360, have two distinct versions. At present Sony still has not provided a definite name for either version of the Playstation 3 (unlike Xbox 360’s Core and Premium Editions).

But there is some information that we can know for certain: for example, as previously mentioned there will be two distinct versions of the PS3. The cheaper version, which will retail at 499 dollars, will have a 20gb hard drive and will not have built in WiFi capabilities and flash memory slots. The 60GB version, on the other hand, will be selling for 599 dollars and will have both WiFi and a flash memory slot that can read Memory Sticks, SD cards and Flash Memory cards.

The hard drive will be playing a bigger role than expected with the PlayStation 3. First, it will be the storage for the downloads that can be acquired from the PlayStation Network, along with any applications and media files. The hard drive will also be used for the game saves. Finally, the hard drive will also be used in order to cache the files that is being used in the game in order to shorten load times. According to Sony, upgrading the hard drive is going to be quite easy, describing the process as quite similar to just inserting a new hard drive on to the system.

The PlayStation 3 will be launched in the US on November 17.

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