Remember when the PlayStation 3 dropped in Europe? You might recall that once everyone stopped whining about the price, they found something else to complain about -- PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility. It seems the problem was the lack of the Emotion Engine chip (found in the PS2), a hardware solution found in North American models of the PS3. Europe had to fend for themselves, instead having to deal with a software solution that left them not being able to play some of their favorite titles without noticeable issues.
Gaming Bits has confirmed with SCEA that the upcoming 80GB PS3 will not include the Emotion Engine, instead relying on the same software solution PAL owners are familiar with. This makes sense -- producing Emotion Engine hardware is likely far more costly than a simple software solution. In adding a larger HDD, it only makes sense that Sony had to cut costs somewhere.
Whether or not the backwards compatability will be similar to what we're seeing in Europe is unknown, but just looking at the backwards compatability list has me skeptical. It's noted that Bad Boys II: Miami Takedown "should play on the PlayStation 3 with some issues," and that's just completely unacceptable. Get it together by August, Sony.
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Contest:
11:03 AM on 07.09.2007
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Seriously though, they should have just included a game with purchase. Pick from Sonic (kids), Motorstorm (teen), or Resistance (Adults) and drop it to 499$. Keep everything else the same or even take out the EE and more people will buy. I don't understand the extra 20GB though. I guess that's just one of those "Bigger number is better" things.
As far as the loss of the emotion chip, I don't think that will be a big deal. Sony still seems to have better BC than the 360 without it.
You can play by your own rules, but you're not above the law.
My inner goth is happy and is now triable dancing like Peter Murphy use to do on stage back in the band's early days.
40 bucks for 20 gb thats a pretty good deal actually =) At the same time the fact that the emotion engine is gone, I'm not sure how much of a deal it really is. I'm sure the emulation will get it right eventually?
It would be interesting to see an update analysis of the components in these two SKUs and see how it all shakes out. But no one really knows the bottom line except Sony. Have a feeling they won't tells us the truth either. *smirk*
I think I'll forgo the 20 gigs, get more backwards compatibility, buy Motorstorm separately and save 40 bucks, thank you.
Actually, I'm lying, I won't get PS3 til it breaks $349.
Jokes aside about there being no PS3 games, how important in the grand scheme of things is backwards compatibility anyways? It's certainly a feature I care about, but then, I *do* have a PS2. Don't you?
However, unless the software compatibility is solid, this makes the 80GB SKU a poor value in my eyes (not that it was a great value as it was before).
In the very least, I'd expect software emulation to lead to cheaper systems, not more expensive ones! I don't buy for one second that 80gb costs Sony more materially than 60gb, and at this point, Motorstorm might be a good pack-in idea at any price...