With the advent of FF13-2 (... and the other off-shoots, and whatever that Something-Rain game was again, and...), I'm faced again with the debate of getting a PS3 or not. Since the price of the console has essentially dropped by half since the last debate (and I can buy FF13 new for what's advertised as 33% of the original retail price!), it's looking, ya know, more likely that I'll go ahead with it. But there are a few things I'd like some insight into.

1: Merits of HD-space. I can get a Slim PS3 with 160 Gb for a little bit less than a 320 Gb-model. What reasons are there for wanting a bigger harddrive? If I'm not going to play very many games, would I benefit from it at all?
2: Slim over Fat? Okay, so the Slim buggers are newer (presumably higher quality components, further optimised such-and-such), but what are the merits of each? (You probably won't need to debate them amongst yourselves - I'm intellectually capable of making my own decisions based on others' input, and old enough to face any consequences thereof.)
3: Region-coding and 3rd party firmware. I read a lot at its launch that the PS3 would do away with region-coding - which alone made it a very near thing I went out and bought one then and there, but then I decided to get an absurd sound system instead - so I expect concerns about imported games are a thing of the past. But can I have a report from anyone playing a US or Japanese game on a European console? All working fine? Any sense at all in going for a pre-hacked console if all I'll do is play games from the EU or US? Blue ray is not yet a factor.
(A store I've had good experiences with in the past is offering a Slim 320 Gb-version with some CFW or other - no un-modded console - at a not much more expensive price. They also have a forum where this is discussed and described at some length. There are other places I can go to for the stock consoles.)

And don't you go get excited, or anything! There is NO WAY I'll go through with this before May, at the earliest. There are a number of reasons, but the most urgent one is making the rent on a student-economy, all while being technically very busy. (Well... a PS3 with FF13 would certainly make me a busy man, but I'm supposed to be busy PRACTICING MY HORN-PLAYING - graduation coming up, looking at real-world auditions here and there, I'm sure some of you know the drill.)