ive had it since christmas and no probs, i think the ps3 is fairly sturdy so i wouldnt worry too much about second hand. mine is one of the old 40GB models aswell so i wouldnt be surprised if it was bought at release. just go in and ask to have a play on it, just so you're satisfied before you leave the shop
I got my PS3 on the day it was released and i haven't regretted it since, it's been a reliable machine and it does everything I expect from it, but it didn't make that £425 any easier to hand over XD anyway, there are quite a few games that i can recommend to you : Heavenly Sword Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Resistance: Fall of Man Resistance 2 Metal Gear solid 4 Little big Planet Infamous Killzone 2 Ratchet and Clank Future : tools of destruction
they are good games though XD Plus he may have the cross platform games on PC or any other console he may have
i sometimes get some very good deals on ps3 games from ShoptoNet & The Hut who also do some great prices on blu-ray i sometimes get the odd voucher also having signed up to the newsletters ;-)