Sony Flips The Bird To PS2 Gamers February 24, 2007
Read more Consoles , Entertainment , Gadgets , Games , Gizmodo UK , Home Entertainment , Movies , PS3 , Software , Technology
Let’s see. If the typical European PS3 buyer was a character in a movie it’s safe to say that he wouldn’t be the lead. Not even the amply proportioned love interest nor the bad guy’s third henchman from the left. No, he’d be the blind, disfigured, legless, lice-ridden leper begging for alms in some rat-infested warren of alleys. You know, a blink-and-you-miss-him role.
Not only have we had to wait significantly longer than the rest of the planet for the PS3 launch but we’ll be paying a lot more too. Even worse, gamers in the UK will be paying more than those in other European nations. And now, if that wasn’t enough crap to swallow, Sony has announced that the PS3 will be unable to play as many older PS2 games as the PS3s launched in the US and Japan. Why? In a cost-cutting effort, the PS2 chip has been removed and emulation software will take over the job of backwards compatibility. We covered the original news that said the PS3 would have some problems with older games but this will be a lot, lot worse.
David Reeves, president of SCEE, gushed: “Games designed for PS3 offer incredible graphics quality, stunning gameplay and massively improved audio and video fidelity that is simply not achievable with PS and PS2 games. Rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, truly taking advantage of this exciting technology.”
Don’t worry though, you can check if your old catalogue of PS2 titles will run on your PS3 here, but not until launch day, March 23rd. Gizmodo would appreciate any and all feedback on this.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
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Comments
I am frankly disgusted and outraged by this and will be cancelling my pre-order post haste.
Is this legal? We get an inferior product than everyone else and have to pay out of the nose for it?!?!
Boo to Sony... the Wii60 here I come.
OK, let's just take a step back and think about this Sony.
You put prices UP in Europe, and take PS2 backwards compatibility OUT. So we're paying MORE for a LESS enabled machine. It just doesn't add up. Especially when you consider the fact that the machine is doing absolutly crap in the first place - they take a good point out of the machine.Ok, I'm confused.
Didn't Sony say that one of the benefits of the PS3 over the 360 was that it had an extensive back collection of games which worked as standard on the console whereas only a few xbox1 games worked on the 360!
Yet another case where the difference between the 2 rival consoles has been eliminated but ironically it was the one that M$ couldn't do, well done Sony, you have eliminated one of the only distinctive selling points left about your console.
Sucks to be a UK gamer, glad I took the plunge a few months back and got a 360.
I've been boycotting Sony since the disgusting rootkit fiasco. Sadly this news about the PS3 comes as no surprise.
I despise Sony as much as Sony despise their customers.
Guess what finger I'm holding up.
In a world of XBox 360 fanboys I've always defended the PS3 - but I really think this is the last straw. I cancelled my preorder this morning and will rather reluctantly be handing yet more cash to M$ in order to fulfil my HD gaming desires. Given that Sony has so much invested in the PS3 can they really afford to keep treating the European market in such a horrible way? Especially given the mediocre performance in the other two territories...
Ahh well its just making my decision to buy the xbox 360 earlier on this year more worth while, I'll now even consider a Wii for the wife as she seems keen on having one of those too.
When will Slowny realise that it will eventually hurt shooting themselves in the foot.
Not alot i can say thats already been said, disgrace tbh.
I have also canceled my preorder
I had been holding out buying a 360 as I have owned pretty much every console since the original Playstation.
I was already severely cheesed off with the ongoing delay and ridiculous price hike we would have to contend with over the rest of the planet (cost of developing further languages, taxes due in EU member states?!). Sony stamping on the grey market incensed me even more - making it almost impossible to purchase a PS3 from Japan or the US.
M$ has since resolved a lot of the backwards compatibility issues with original Xbox games, and has secured previously exclusive titles (GTA?) that would have made a PS3 purchase more compelling.
As stated by many others on here I will not be buying a PS3 after this and will definitely be buying a 360 instead.
Seems backwards when the PS3 is Sony's great white hope for establishing a user base for blu-ray?
I really hope the PS3 bombs now. Sony don't deserve our money. Not only do they charge us the earth, but now we don't even get the same console as the rest of the world - what a joke!!
I'd been hopking that the PS3 would be the ultimate machine, but now I'm going to have to keep my PS2 I might as well go for the 360 and benefit from it's lower price and larger selection of games.
RIP Sony