Gamers are already raising a stink over the removal of backwards compatibility in the upcoming lower priced 40GB PS3 model we just found out about. Ray Maguire from Sony UK thinks that the money and effort spent on backwards compatibility could be better spent at this time.
"As we come to our first Christmas with the PlayStation 3 there's going to be about 65 games in the marketplace," says Maguire, "so we feel now that there's sufficient choice in the marketplace and that we're still better off using that money that we'd put into backwards compatibility in either investing in new games or using that money to help support bringing the price down so that people can get into the franchise."
Maguire also feels that while backwards compatibility was important in the beginning due to lack of games, "few really use it," and that effort would now better be used to support hardware price cuts to actually get PS3s in homes.
The Eurogamer article makes no mention of Sony throwing down the "everyone already has a PS2" card, which would have been a fairly strong play.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
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Contest:
3:40 PM on 10.05.2007
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While getting a unit with BC was important to me (I got the 60 GB model) the number of PS2 games I've even considered playing has been pretty small. In fact, I only played DMC3:SE to see if the sound glitch happened and a little Soul Calibur 3 to see how it liked upscaling. Other than that, it's been all PS3 exclusives and multi-platform next-gen titles.
If you have a bunch of PS2 games already, you have a PS2, and if you don't but you want a bunch of PS2 games, you can either spend some of the money you save over the more expensive models and buy a PS2, or buy the more expensive 60/80GB model.
I understand the argument that we all already have PS2s, but the whole point is that you don't have to switch because you have a new console that doesn't force you to switch between yet another piece of technology.
That's all.
this isn't a very smooth move sony, but you are suppose to know better than me.
isn't progress about improving?
In conclusion, fuck you, Sony!
I remember a certain PR man saying the same thing a while back, and he and his company got so much backlash for it he started backpedalling like there was no tomorrow.
By Sony
I know im in the minority.
I dont understand why the cost was so much, really i thought it was a software thing.
Part of the appeal of the PS2 for me was that it was backwards compatible with PS1 games. That and the DVD player, which at the time was cheap compared to other DVD players. We weren't debating over a format then.
I wonder how many consumers will buy the "cheap" PS3 and are unpleasantly surprised when they try to play their PS2 games. My guess is that not everyone will be in the know, and that will be an unpleasant site
Fcuk off Sony. If MS and Nintendo can manage their BC, you have no excuses to hide behind.
Take away the BC, that leaves DLC which is minimal now and PS3 games which there are few. Guess we'll have to settle for Talladega Nights and stuff it then. Yeah, right. That's a lot of PS3s gathering dust again.
I'm gonna keep my PS2 anyway, but that still in no way makes this right. You guys are again alienating you fans, don't expect PS3 sales to go anywhere once people know what they aren't getting. Lets hope they explain it clearly on the PS3 boxes.
1. MS never cited BC as some must-have feature that makes their system better than the competition, a la Sony
2. The 360 library has enough good(relatively speaking) game now to where people don't seem to care. Remember, they caught a shitstorm for their BC, and they even had a legitimate reason for not having BC(MS didn't own all the compnenets of the Xbox).
The only system with proper back compat is the Wii (for obvious reasons), and is the only system where if I upgraded I would get rid of the old one.
Price Cut = No Backwards Compatability.
Epic Fail. Keeping it in would be the wiser of the two choices seeing as how not being backwards compatable is taking a step in the wrong direction of technological prowess.
Then again, I'm just a dude in his basement. =/
"Here's a more-affordable 40GB PS3, but you can't play your old games on it."
"Son, here's a Happy Meal. Oh, your hamster died."
Thinking about it i would rather have the money invested in a lower price tag and more games; it's better in the long run... If i want to play PS1 and PS2 games i will hook up my PS2 to play them... Hell if you don't mind a slight loss in quality, you can hook up your PS2 using an RCA adapter while hooking up the PS3 the regular way so you wouldn't need to unhook up anything... only poeple that get hurt by the lack of BC are poeple who do not have a PS2, most of whome proabably have little interest in the PS2 game anyway(since they would have gotten a cheap ps2 by now anyway)... Hell, if the price were to drop by $100, then you could use that $100 to get a slim PS2 if it's really THAT important to you...
Sounds more like internal politics to me.
Oh well. Maybe when the 45nm chips come out, the PS3 will get a smaller case. Oh yeah, better games would be nice, too, so we wouldn't have to dip into our PS2 library in the first place.
I was planning on MAYBE buying a ps3 when it reached a price of around $350, if it had any good games for it and depending on how blu ray is doing on the market, but now... i just don't see myself buying one, really, why would i? when the ps3 reaches a pricepoint of 350 dollars the 360 should be like at $250 or something and, this is whats funny, it'll have better BC than PS3, so i could at least play to the old xbox games i also missed.
Sony just HATES my money, it does!
heck i still play my tony hawk underground and DoA3 on my 360...it'd be a shame that I couldnt play FFX and Disgaea on my PS3 (when i choose to buy one)
Incidentally, this doesn't effect me right now. Or ever. It's stupidity like this that turns me off to Sony products.