The HDD is necessary for game saves, downloading games and demos off of the network, etc..... You don't need memory cards anymore. The size of the HDD depends on what you are looking to do. If you are the type that wants to downlaod a bunch of games and movies off of the store,then you can go with the 250 GB. The good thing about the hard drive is that you can swap it out for a larger one at any time. That is what I did with my 1st generation PS3. It had a 60GB Hard drive at the time, but I swapped it out for a 250 a couple of years ago
I just hate how games expensive are. We had GTA and PES here for a bit over 100e.
I can't afford that.
I can't afford that.

PS3 was never pirated/chipped, no?
