There's an old saying that you can never be too rich or too smart. For hardcore gamers, add to that list: you can never have too much hard disk space.

Sony announced Tues., April 17th that is it thinking about launching PlayStation 3 (PS3) game consoles with that have larger hard disk drives, in order to meet the needs of hardcore gamers and other users who want large storage capacity.

The basic PS3 version includes a 20GB hard disk drive, while an advanced model sports a 60GB drive, but Sony plans to discontinue the 20GB model in North America.

"For users who vigorously store (games and other entertainment content) in the PS3, 20-giga is probably going to be too small, and even 60-giga may not be big enough eventually," said Satoshi Fukuoka, spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment.

He also mentioned that increased hard drive capacity would be just one of the changes to come to the PS3. "We are not likely to change its core components and functions such as the Cell, RSX, Blu-ray drive and network capability. But outside that realm, addition and deletion is quite possible," he said.

News reports say that Sony's game unit is estimated to have had a loss of $1.7 billion for the year ended March 31, meaning that the PS3 is the biggest risk factor for Sony's earnings growth.