European PS3 will play fewer old games?
A little bit off-topic, but I want to point out that Ken Kutaragi said at the PS2's (yes - PS2) launch that all future Playstations will be fully backwards compatible with old Playstations. I guess that PS3 really *did* cost too much - oh yeah, and there aren't any good games for the $600 system yet. Note that I said "games" - since there is a good "game" - Resistance Fall of Man. :-P -Auri
Here's the story from CNET:
Original link:
http://news.com.com/European+PS3+will+play+fewer+old+games/2100-1043_3-6161623.html?tag=nefd.top
European PS3 will play fewer old games
The European version of PlayStation 3 will play fewer PlayStation 2 video games compared with models launched earlier in Japan and America, Sony said Friday.
"The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models," a Sony representative said.
PlayStation 3 was launched in Japan and North America in November. The model that will be introduced in Europe on March 23 will be designed differently.
Software will take over some of the functionality that was originally taken care of by dedicated chips, which means far fewer PlayStation 2 games can be played on a European PS3 compared with the Japanese and American PS3 models that play 98 percent of old games.
"Sony is managing expectations by saying now that the new console will play fewer of the old games. And that's a good thing," said analyst Alex Kwiatowski at British market research group Vertical Market Technologies.
Kwiatowski said gamers with a PS2 will need to hold onto their device to play their current collection.
"I'm as disappointed as the next game player about the reduced backward compatibility, but even the most nostalgic, misty-eyed gamers will have their steely hearts impressed by the new features that PS3 games provide," Kwiatowski said.
The PS3's graphics and sound capabilities are much improved over the PS2.
"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," Sony Computer Entertainment said in a statement.
About 1 million units will be available at the European launch next month, as many as were made available in the United States during the first six weeks after the launch last year.