The kids ps2 has finally blew up, how much should I be bidding up to for the ps3, and is there anything I should be aware of?
Cheers.

If you buy one from somewhere like Gamestation you can get extended warranty plans that cover in the event of a failure. It also covers things like broken controllers and so on. Not sure if its available on second hand ones or not.

Be wary of controllers passed off as Sony ones on eBay. They look exactly the same but a different letter in the serial number gives them away as fakes. They will not work with the V3 software update.

I got mine a couple of years ago and paid £170 for it. Its worked flawlessly since I got it. Has a 80GB HDD in it. Not sure what the new slimmer ones fetch. Also I dont know if the newer ones are backwards compatible, but out of the older ones only the 60GB version was able to play ps1 and ps2 games IIRC

as creg said you are unlikley to be able to play ps2 games (ps1 gamaes play ok on all ps3's though)

1st version of the ps3(60gb) could play ps2 games aparently, but were/are expensive.

Aye – if you want to be able to run your PS1/PS2 games, you'll be after a 1st generation (60Gb) version, as these had HARDWARE-based PS2 emulation.

Model Number: CECHAxx

They also have 4 USB ports on the front (reduced to 2 on later versions)

They also have a whole slew of flashcard/memory-card reader sockets too : )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3#Model_comparison

Regardless of what version you go for, if you want to transfer your PS1/2 game saves you'll need a USB adaptor to stick your PS1/2 memory cards in. These are pretty cheap/available on Ebay etc.

Oh – Upgrading/increasing the hard-drive is a piece of pi$$ too, should you ever need to : )

http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/127009/how-to-swap-out-and-upgrade-a-ps3-hard-drive/

We looked at this last year (for my son), and ended up buying an XBox (and then got given a PS2 by a friend a month or so later…).

Couldn't find the 'right' PS3, plus how many of our PS1 games were ever played on the PS2 – pretty much none.

So now have both the PS2 and XBox connected.

Very pleased with the XBox and how it works.

Thanks all, excellent info!!

i had a ps3, thought it was dire for online gaming, so if they do that go with the xbox also the controllers are a lot nicer and seem to find everything cheaper.. thats what id go with anyway!