Though the 20GB PlayStation 3 is a thing of the past (despite Sony's claims it was here to stay), recently Sony had the FCC review a new iteration of the console that included an 80GB HDD. It is primarily destined for South Korea, though with the continued dismal sales performance of the console in the U.S. they may make it available there as well. Obviously, a capacity upgrade is a fairly simple feat for these units, and the hope is that a larger hard drive will make it more appealing to users:
"Increasing capacity for models is one of the options," Fukuoka told the AP. "We make such decisions depending on the needs of the market, and every country is different."
The larger capacity unit has yet to be launched in South Korea, but will be sometime next month. After that, perhaps we'll hear more from Sony on what they intend to do. Regardless, will an extra 20GB of space be enough to make up for the appeals of other consoles over the PS3? Maybe not now - but if on-demand content for the PS3 proves to be too good to resist, then it could be a big help. They need that help, for sure, as sales for the PS3 still lack considerably behind the Xbox 360 and Wii.
Both Microsoft and Sony have now shown themselves willing to modify their existing consoles, re-selling the same unit with slight iterations to try and pick up more interest. The Wii has seen stellar success since its launch without this, but will Nintendo consider the same once sales begin to drop off?