SCEE seems to be trying to cut its manufacturing costs on the soon-to-be-released PAL PS3. Sony has removed some chips from European PS3 and reduced its PS2 Backwards Compatibility. The press release tries to put a bit of spin on this one.

"The European PS3 will feature the Cell Broadband Engine™, 60 GB hard disc drive, Blu-ray Disc player, built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, SIXAXIS™ 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."

How important is backward compatibility? No one knows which or how many games will be supported, but that word “limited” doesn't look very encouraging.

Here's a thought, and it's way out there conspiracy theory type stuff but just an idea; what if Sony is trying to steer gamers towards playing only Sony titles? By limited perhaps it is meant that only developers that pay a hefty nominal fee to Sony will have their games supported. PS2 is still a viable market with many games being produced for it. Heck I'd even go so far as to say it's keeping Sony afloat.

In any case, I'm sure this issue has something to do with money; either saving it or making it. To reduce backward compatibility is in no way in the interest of the consumer. But whatever the case, I feel bad for our PAL buddies that have to deal with that.

And yes, that is some spin in that article. They're boasting about the PS3's features and then offers one line denoting a limitation in backwards compatibility. Sneaky :)

Backwards compatibility is always a huge concern for me. The less clutter I have around my TV the better, my PS1 has been in the closet for years because my PS2 does a decent job representing the games. My Wii has become a complete GC replacement and the uses of my GBA hardware are extremely limited with my DS in hand.

Ok, but lets look at this. The PS3 is doing far more poorly than Sony anticipated. Cost cutting needed, etc. Removing the EE+GS and supporting circuitry simplifies the design and makes the unit cheaper - for them. Consumers will not see any price drop, they will pay the same price for a crippled unit. Actually, the PS3 is more expensive in Europe. fun! It won't be long before the NTSC territories burn through their warehouses and these stripped down PS3s start hitting North American and Japanese shelves.

However, its all about money. The PS2 was the second best selling system for the month of january. If you remove the PS2 hardware from the PS3, you a) reduce costs and there is a chance that b) you might sell a few extra PS2s. If Sony were to market the PS3 as a replacement for the PS2 in the same way the Wii replaced the GameCube, it might prematurely kill the PS2. Since thats Sony's primary sources of income right now, I would avoid it like the plague if I were them.

In the end, this just hurts the customers. I was once a huge Sony fan, not these days. Although I am tempted to pick up a PS3 before all the units are stripped of their EE+GS hardware, I still can't justify the price. Let alone complete lack of desirable software. boooo.

very well said, I agree 100%

Yes, good point here. I totally agree with it!

Yes, that simply sucks. I live in Europe but never buy European consoles or games. Main reasons are high price, poor availability and crippled PAL games.

However removing PS2 circuitry is old news:

Nov 08, 2006 15:57 Rocky Eda, Nikkei Electronics

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20061108/123308/

"The company, however, said the EE and GS will be "removed before long" (Kutaragi), indicating its will to comprehensively shift toward the compatibility secured by the emulator in a relatively short period of time."

Costs more, comes five months later and then is crippled.

Nice going.

Yeah Sony has really bonked this one.