I'm surprised no one else said this (though cleaning it could be a good idea), but...

Where is your system situated? When it starts to get hot, it gets INTENSELY loud, with fans blaring etc Make sure it's got enough room to cool, and see if that makes a difference.

Also, I once had a piece of the sheet of plastic that covers the game sitting on top of my disk, and only saw it at the last minute, as it was being pulled into the machine. I grabbed it in time, but it could've gotten sucked in there. Any chance something like that might have happened? It could seriously mess up your machine.

Oh, and whoever said "warped disk" could be right, too.

Video games don't translate well to movies...

I can't think of any full length features based on video games that I liked. They're always way to cheesy or just fan service.

I personally bought the 80 Gb, and this is why...

I don't like the concept of running out of storage room. The 80 Gb pretty much guarantees I won't. The person who posted above me mentioned that you can buy a multicard reader seperatly, so if it costs less than $100, go for the 40 Gb. If not, just get the 80 Gb and have it built in.

You're certainly better off having the PS2 since the software emulation on the latest 80 Gb isn't up to par with the PS2 hardware. I no longer have a PS2, so I wanted that back compatibily as well, flawed though it may be.

My system came with Motorstorm (which I won't play, and would've opted out of if I could), but again, if you want the game and the Spiderman movie, the 40 Gb sounds like a good idea.

In the long run, I'm sure it doesn't really matter. You still get PS3 game functionality and a Blu-ray player, so the 40 Gb sounds like agood dealfor you. I mean, a $100 is a $100, right?

I can totally see where you're coming from.

Some of the levels really are very easy (especially while collecting the first half of the stars), and the surfing/ball/bubble levels could've been WAY longer.

However, I truly do love this game. The creativity in level design is just really facinating to see, though I can see why people wouldn't appreaciate a second play through. I also love the tight controls; they just make the game really fun to play.

Oh, and once you get up to about 85-90 stars, the difficultly ramps up HEAVILY. Some of the levels can be frustrating as HELL. But to each their own. I hope this doesn't turn you off Mario in the future; there's a lot of love that goes into these games.

Oh man, I've been waiting for a suped up version of Wart to show up!

I never understood why he just dissapeared. Personally, I think he should team up with Bowser and Wario, and make a HUGE Mario game bringing all the Mario storylines together!