Slashdot Mirror
European PS3 To Play Fewer PS2 Games
Mondrian_was_a_square writes "When Sony launches the PS3 in Europe, consumers there won't be getting the same thing that US and Japanese buyers picked up at launch—they'll be getting less. Sony has just announced that the new revision of the PS3 will be less backwards compatible with PS2 games. 'Sony is looking to decrease the production cost of the Playstation 3, and they have opted to replace dedicated hardware with software that will replace its functionality. The hardware had been providing full backwards compatibility of PS2 games, but Sony makes it clear that the new configuration will not offer the same level of support. Certain PlayStation 2 format software titles may not perform properly on this system, the statement reads.'"
Not only are we in the UK paying (or not in my case) £425 per unit (approx $850), we are getting an inferior machine to boot? Jesus wept.
Is the the first time in console gaming history a launch system may be 'better' than the revisions of the same product?
Caffeine is my anti-drug!
Duranin - A NWN2 Roleplaying Persistent World
Yeah, less hardware means it will be cheaper!!!
Oh, wait, it's £425. That's $835, sure that includes 17.5% VAT, but it's still ridiculous.
Fuck you Sony. Fuck you for ripping us off, and doubly fuck you for selling us substandard hardware compared to other countries. Fuck you for being Sony to boot.
Europeans will be playing less PS3 games too... on the plus side, they will be playing a lot of Wii games.
Right now, their biggest danger is developers changing their focus to the fast growing installed user base of Wii (and 360 though not growing as fast as the Wii). That sales potential is the main performance figure developers sweat about.
Actually, I remember once when Sony made great products and had savvy marketing. Of late, watching their tactics has been like watching a drunk fall down a long staircase.
Anything else is blowing smoke. It may be inferior to US/JAP PS3, how HOW inferior, the US machine plays close to 100% (it was 98% but many things were fixed in the 1.5 firmware). If the compatability initially drops to say 80%, and improves over time to say 90%, i don't think thats too bad. It's certainly offset by the fact I am getting a rev2 model, with for sure other hardware tweaks to improve reliability, based on the US beta test programe.. As for the price, people forget, the US price does not include any sales taxes or local taxes, the UK, and EU prices do include all taxes... Whilst it's still more expensive, it's 17.5% less than it was... Plus, EU gets 1Yr warranty minimum on all new purchases, I think the US is 90 days.. I would imagine this also has a bearing...
...that the software emulation will allow to scale the PS2-games to 720p high def resolution.
It doesn't mention that Sony want's to bring the backward compatbility to an level almost
as high as the hardware emulation in the US/Japan PS3 is too. See http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/85781
(in German). Not so bad as ist sounds.
This is exactly what I, as a UK gamer, have done. My PS3 arrived a couple of weeks ago and I've got a fairly extensive comparison of it with the other two "new gen" consoles up in my journal. The tipping point for me was when I saw the UK launch price. All told, if I were to buy the PS3 package I'd wanted in the UK, it would cost me the equivalent of about $1100. I got the same thing on import from the US for a shade over $800. What's really handy is that the PS3 just has a standard PC-style power input, meaning that I can use a standard kettle power-cable, rather than needing to buy a new step-down converter. Of course, pretty much any UK TV purchased in the last 8 or so years, barring some really, really low-end portables, is perfectly happy with either PAL or NTSC.
Sony have promised before that the PS3 would be region-free for games. I'm now picking up some worrying rumbles that this might not be the case as far as the UK goes and frankly, this latest news doesn't bode well either. However, while it would be nice to be able to walk into a UK shop and just buy a game when I want one, I'm willing and able to import. Sad to say, the US still does get more games and get them earlier than the UK. Still, I'm also hearing that US machines may be getting an update to allow them to play European/Australian games. If this is indeed true, then my decision to buy a US machine really does seem to have been the right one.
The only drawback right now is that I can't sign up to the online store with a UK credit card. However, once the European region is enabled on launch-day, I understand that I'll be able to sign up for the EU store from my US console.
There are no overwhelming reasons not to get an American PS3 in Europe, but there are enough hassles not to make it worthwhile for anyone but the most dedicated. Even though the machine itself might be cheaper the games won't be. After all you're going to have to import them for as long as you want to keep playing. If you import region 1 DVDs you can still watch the ones you buy locally on the same player, and even if you couldn't DVD players aren't exactly a big investment.
Then there is the problem of different voltages. European mains run somewhere around 240 compared to the American 110(ish). I don't know if the PS3 has an international power-supply, but if it doesn't you're going to need another accessory. Depending on how the online functionality of the PS3 pans out you might be restricted to playing on American servers against American opponents, which might put you at a disadvantage.
Importing is worthwhile if you are into the kind of games that are not getting released in your market. I always thought that that meant the kind of wacky Japanese game that lacks mass-appeal in the west. American games that don't see releases in Europe? The only thing that immediately comes to mind is Baseball. And even then the Mario Baseball for the GameCube is available over here.
But you're right--the TVs aren't a problem anymore these days. Seems to me that all sets made relatively recently speak PAL and NTSC. It's easier to sell one model around the world, after all.
Hank! White!
I read this story this morning too on a number of sites but the one thing I could not find were numbers.
All I've read is that the Euro PS3 will play fewer PS2. Exactly what does that mean?
1 less than the US version is fewer. But so is 2, 3 or even 10.
Does anyone know what the severity of the "issue" is and what games are likely to be affected? If it means God of War 2, FF12 and Manhunter 2 won't work now then that's pretty bad. But if it means that Red Faction or Fantavision now won't work then who honestly gives a shit?
THE HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS - CC Licensed Sci-Fi Novel
When exactly is Sony going to tell the europeans what exactly the capabilities are of this new system? Right now, still a month away from launch? No.
3 weeks before launch? No.
Two weeks? One week? 5 days? 2 days? 1 day? No.
They say they will (no actuall guarantee) announce it on launch day. So that gives customers how much time to cancel their pre-order incase they don't find the list to satisfaction?
That is right. NO TIME.
Honesty? No, sorry, not this time.
Oh but they said it now right? Well yeah, their lawyer told them too, if people had found out AFTER launch date they would have gotten their ass sued off.
Lets not forget that this is the EU, NOT the US or japan were big money rules. Holland is the EU country that forced Sony to exchange EVERY PSP with ANY defective pixels. (A rule that by the way goes for ALL LCD's, under dutch, and EU law, a product has to be fully functional and defective (sub)pixels are not part of it)
So they announce it now, in a queit way, hope people forget and then claim, well we had a list up on launch day to cover themselves out of deceptive sales lawsuits.
Sony and honesty? Yeah right.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
True, Sony never said anything about PS/2 support.
p ?ReleaseID=4331&NewsAreaID=2
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.as
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.
The enemies of Democracy are