European Gamers: Don't Get Rid of Your PS2

So there you sit, eagerly awaiting the PS3's release on March 23rd. Cash in hand (copious amounts), bated breath, the whole bit. Just be sure to bring along enough cash to buy a few games for your newly-acquired PS3, as well. Oh, you figured you'd get a single game, and just play your old PS2 titles alongside it until you could afford more next(new?)-gen-only games? Good luck, because Sony's cutting newly-mended corners. Sony's decided to replace some of the chips in the console with software "components", specifically those dealing with PS2 backwards-compatibility functions. This decision was caused by a desperate need to cut production costs, since Sony loses money on every new console it sells. Said a Sony spokesman,

"The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models."

With buyers in the UK (for example) paying £425 (about $830USD vs. our $599USD price) for the console, that's going to hurt. Yes, we're all very excited about the pretty new games, but a lot of people are going to be unhappy that they have to use their old console to play the games they already own. Especially those gamers who are helping fund their venture into the new-gen gaming world by, say, selling their PS2 on eBay. I doubt that enough people are stuck in that scenario to seriously hurt PS3 sales, but it's not going to help them.

Analyst Alex Kwiatowski from British market research group Vertical Market Technologies says that those "nostalgic" gamers concerned with backwards-compatibility have "steely hearts", and just need to learn to enjoy the latest games, because they are exceedingly pretty. Well, not exactly, but that's the gist of it. It's not that any of us have cardiovascular organs comprised of iron-based alloys...it's that we are even more broke than Sony is. Bookmark this page and check it on March 23 or later to see which of your old games will be compatible with the new Playstation.

- Glock