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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?
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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.
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.
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?
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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.
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