Sony saves money on inferior European PS3
Published by on March 1st, 2007 1 Comment »
Due to other, more important, distractions, I’ve not been following the PS3 (Playstation 3) development until last week. Seems in the EU, we are being shafted by Sony.
What was the one key strength and persuasive element to upgrade to the PS2 when it came out? Backwards compatibiliy of course – the ability to continue to play all your old PS1 original games in the usual gameless near-void of the first few months of a new console. The PS3 will, of course, also handle pretty much all old PS2 and most PS1 games… unless you are in Europe that is.
It seems us Brits (and EUs) are not getting the hard-wired legacy compatibility that the rest of the world will enjoy. Instead, we are getting the retarded cousin: software emulation of the PS2 – which is quoted to be compatible with only a few games initially (no complete list currently available). Future firmware updates will, apparently, offer broader compatibility over time, but we all know that software emulation is always going to be inferior to a hardware installation.
This is a particularly dirty deal by Sony in that this specification change was not announced until a few days ago. I wonder how pre-order users feel about no longer receiving a console with the anticipated capability.
Good job I neither have a spare £500 (inc. a game or two), nor the time for a new – partly disfunctional – console right now.
If you’re interested, links to stories on the subject:
http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2007/02/sony_rethinks_p.php
http://computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=158696
http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6161638.html
[tags]sony,playstation,ps3[/tags]
One Response to “Sony saves money on inferior European PS3”
[...] Reports from the US suggest sales of the PS3 have been poor, and something tells me March isn’t going to be prime console-buying season in Europe either. The fact that Sony have made last minute changes to the spec of the European PS3 has angered consumers, and adds to the ever-growing tide of bad publicity for Sony. [...]