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"Removal of 'Install Other OS' feature

The new PS3 system will focus on delivering games and other entertainment content, and users will not be able to install other Operating Systems to the new PS3 system."
http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=4842&NewsAreaID=2

Sony abandoning Linux on new skus means they are effectively doing the same for the old ones.

Epic failure.

I found the original press release where they mention it, the year estimate appears to be an opinion from wherever I first saw the reference originally, but they seem pretty adamant about not doing it for too long. http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.asp ?ReleaseID=4331&NewsAreaID=2

Last year, you (Phil Harrison) stated that regarding the Xbox 360's emulated back compatability, updated through firmware updates, you "don't believe that was backwards compatibility". Now the PS3 is being redesigned with emulated back compatability, which will be updated through firmware updates. What has changed Sony's attitude to software backwards compatability in the past year?

Geez. Live in denial much?
http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.asp ?ReleaseID=4331&NewsAreaID=2
" It also embodies a new combination of hardware and software emulation which will enable PS3 to be compatible with a broad range of original PlayStation® (PS) titles and a limited range of PlayStation®2 (PS2) titles."

Now why don't you go wait for the Great Pumpkin to show up while you're at it.

True, Sony never said anything about PS/2 support.

But if you meant the PS2, as in the Playstation 2, then U are the only Ass around here.

Linky to press release: http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.asp ?ReleaseID=4331&NewsAreaID=2

Selected relevent quotes:

"The European PS3 will feature the Cell Broadband Engine(TM), 60 GB hard disc drive, Blu-ray Disc player, built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, SIXAXIS(TM) wireless controller. It also embodies a new combination of hardware and software emulation which will enable PS3 to be compatible with a broad range of original PlayStation® (PS) titles and a limited range of PlayStation®2 (PS2) titles."

"Rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games..."

"Certain PlayStation 2 format software titles may not perform properly on this system."

And other references in the press release about future software patches to support more PS2 games, and a special list of compatible PS2 games for the EU version of the console (that isn't live yet).

Oh, and before you pull some blatant fanboi linguistic bullshit and say that Sony never literally said "reduced", then realize what everyone else does: They don't call the US/Japan PS3's support for the PS2 "limited", ergo being "limited" is a reduction. If it was the same level of support as the US/Japan version, they would have said words to that effect and let it drop. Instead they said words to the effect that the new PS3 is not designed with backward compatability as a major feature, new games are better, only a limited selection of old games will work. You'd have to be mental to not understand that this means a reduction. Maybe you are mental. We're not.

They may not play Pokemon, but they may play Madden, Zelda, Metroid Prime 3 and Red Steel ...

Yeah, but are they going to play Madden on the system that has Pokemon, or on the system that has Halo or Gran Turismo?

The fact is that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all in competition for the same gamer-dollar.

If Nintendo is targeting the same gamers as Microsoft and Sony, they're screwed. Good first-party titles alone weren't enough to make the Gamecube anything better than an also-ran. Nintendo needs third party support, and that's exactly what they are so very bad at getting.

Super Smash Bros Melee: 3,765,500
Super Mario Sunshine: 2,886,000
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker: 2,435,500
Metroid Prime: 1,492,500 (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: 758,000)
Pokemon Colosseum: 1,165,000
Total: 11,744,500

Where did you get those statistics? I highly doubt that they represent sales within the span of one year. Moreover, they represent a small fraction of the PS2's software sales. From the second article, software shipments for the PS2 for the year ending September 30 were 47m. Every single GTA3 game sold over 11m copies apiece, and Gran Turismo 3 is over 14m copies. As of September 2005, the PS1 + PS2 had a total of 1.87bn software units sold. According to Wikipedia, the PS2's share of that was a bit over 1 billion, which makes sense given that sales records put PS1 software shipments at 690m. In comparison, as of March 2005, Nintendo had sold 160m cumulative software units for the Gamecube.

Sony dropped a bombshell on it's partners when they stated that the 50gb discs wont be available at launch

WTF are you smoking?

http://www.tdk-europe.presscentre.com/corp/Release s/release.asp?ReleaseID=2355&NID=Press%20Releases

13 December 2005
TDK Starts Shipping "Bare" Type Mass-Production Blu-ray Disc Samples

TDK's Blu-ray Discs achieve a high capacity of 25GB on a single-layer and 50GB on a dual-layer at 2x recording speed and are protected by TDK's DURABIS 2 hard coating technology

TDK today announces that is has commenced shipping mass-production samples of its bare-type (cartridge-less) BD-R (write-once type) and BD-RE (rewritable type) Blu-ray Discs. The four new products include:

  BD-R25 (write once, single-side, single-layer, 25GB)
BD-R50 (write once, single-side, dual-layer, 50GB)
  BD-RE25 (rewritable, single-side, single-layer, 25GB)
BD-RE50 (rewritable, single-side, dual-layer, 50GB)