New PS3 model (with a tiny catch)

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=84824

Starting 12.10 Sony is releasing the 40 GB PS3 in Europe (Yes, just for us Europeans!) for 399€. With just 2 USB Ports and no multi-card reader. And no backwards compatibility.

The price for the 60GB Starter Pack is also going to be lowered, taking effect next Friday. Grab an uncrippled PS3 for 499€.

Is that a tiny catch?

Sony like to brag about ps2 sales and how good their library is,and now it wont work with the ps3?

WTF.

sony are retarded.

Even if you break 2 legs from a crab it still runs!
What you gotta do is find its weak spot and do massive damage at it.

Hell id consider buying one, i dont care for PS2 games as it is!

Is that a tiny catch?

Sony like to bribe about ps2 sales and how good their library is,and now it wont work with the ps3?

WTF.

sony are retarded.

Limited to no backwards compatability hasn' t seemed to effect MS much, so it makes good business sense to offer such a model. The type of consumer desiring a cheap console is going to have limited desire for all the extra features the ps3 has. At least it still has wireless and bluetooth.

Limited to no backwards compatability hasn' t seemed to effect MS much, so it makes good business sense to offer such a model. The type of consumer desiring a cheap console is going to have limited desire for all the extra features the ps3 has. At least it still has wireless and bluetooth.

I agree with you. This begs the question then. Why didn' t Sony do this exact same thing for the launch of the PS3? If you ask me it would have made a whole lot more sense, and probably would also see a hell of a lot more sales of the console itself.

I have a PS2... multiple in fact. Backwards compatibility is overrated.

the 100 off the normal ps3 is being overshadowed by the 400, If i was buying I would spend the extra dosh on the extras [bc, 4 usb, card reader [wifi card?]

But it is very nice to have a system drop 200 in price more or less!

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

With just 2 USB Ports and no multi-card reader. And no backwards compatibility.

No BC? Right now, that would be the only reason I would buy a PS3(So I could play GOW)

I' ve been keeping tabs on this news for a while now....

Limited to no backwards compatability hasn' t seemed to effect MS much, so it makes good business sense to offer such a model. The type of consumer desiring a cheap console is going to have limited desire for all the extra features the ps3 has. At least it still has wireless and bluetooth.

I agree that backwards compatiblility is useless, but the 360 has better than " limited to no backwards compatibility" . Observe:


http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

Next time you want to make a point, Agent, link to the Xbox bc site.

Yes the list is quite long now, but on launch it was much more limited, and people didn' t seem to care. I personally have yet to play any xbox games on my 360, and don' t see myself doing it any time soon. Though I do like the option of it.

I cared. That' s one reason I waited a year and a half to buy one! I wanted to make sure it was gonna be BC with quite a few games that it wasn' t initially.

BC is much more appealing when the graphics get better. If my original xbox didn' t break and 360 didn' t improve the graphics I would have just used my original xbox instead. But 640x480 to 1280x720 with AA and a sometimes even higher framerate along with a better controller makes a game much more enjoyable.

That bad part is you don' t get to keep your saves, and some games don' t play as well as on the original (like fuzion frenzy).

You can use PS2 memory cards on PS3 though right?

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

You can use PS2 memory cards on PS3 though right?

You can buy a memory card adapter (stupid as hell I know). Then it saves on the ps3 and you can make as many copies/memory cards on the HD as you want. If you have a friend with the card reader then you can just borrow it once, or do what I did and go buy one, use it, and return it an hour later. Call me cheap but I won' t pay $40 to get my ps2 saves onto my ps3.

does the 360 scale the bc games?

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

Yeah the games run in 720p with AA added.

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

Here is my opinion: I think BC is a very useful bonus, for example I never owned an xbox, but now I own a 360 and so I get to play games that I didn' t get to play before. The people who could afford all three or even two of the last gen consoles won' t really find this that appealing. As the majority of the gamers out there they are working on a budget BC makes a console just that much more appealing. I believe in some ways this could make or break a console, I mean like the ps3 right now has a limited selection of games but the ps2 library is chock full of awesome games that could easily tide you over(and at half the price of ps3 games). I am wondering how many people will not notice this and buy it thinking it is just some awesome sale. How they advertise it will be very interesting to see.

I wouldn' t get it without BC, and no just playing it on PS2 isn' t as good, PS2 games on a PS2 look like shit on an HDTV, practically unplayable, PS3 does a very good job at upscaling and smoothing them out so its the only real way to play PS2 on an HDTV without having your eyes bleed.

I still need to beat FFXII, Okami, Odin Sphere, Valkyrie Profile 2 and a few others.

I wouldn' t get it without BC, and no just playing it on PS2 isn' t as good, PS2 games on a PS2 look like shit on an HDTV, practically unplayable, PS3 does a very good job at upscaling and smoothing them out so its the only real way to play PS2 on an HDTV without having your eyes bleed.

I was wondering, is it the same result to have it done with the 20GB, 60GB on hardware as it is in emulation for the 80GB model in terms of scaling?

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

in fairness the 40gb is only for those who already have a ps2, if your new to Playstation this deal is going too bite you in the ass sometime.

But I am sure Bc will be added, I cannot see why not since it is software..

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

I was wondering, is it the same result to have it done with the 20GB, 60GB on hardware as it is in emulation for the 80GB model in terms of scaling?

People with hardware bc claim that the software bc is crippled as it dosent play 100% of ps2 games [in fairness it does play like 98%], but personally I never had a problem with it, I even played burnout3 online with it. without the hardware the ps3 runs cooler anyway.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

some very interesting information:

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe spokesperson Nick Sharples has given word that the 40 GB PlayStation 3 slated for an October 9 launch will still be compatible with PlayStation 1 titles. While that will make most players very happy, some have been asking for the reasons behind the lack of PS2 backwards compatibility in the new console.

Sharples stressed that Sony has always focused on " developing innovative new features and services for the PS3 and not backward compatibility." If that' s the case, where does this leave players who do want backward compatibility to play their legacy games? The SCEE representative answered that question in his following statement:

For those who consider backwards compatibility important, the 60GB Starter Pack with extra SIXAXIS controller, two first party titles and extensive backwards compatibility remains available until stocks run out. With a 100 Euro price reduction from 10th October, this model is a real bargain.

While it' s understandable that Sony has chosen not to include backward compatibility, it should be remembered that one of the biggest factors of the PlayStation 2' s dominance in the console market was the fact that users could also play their PS1 games on it. Let' s all wait and see how this move pans out for Sony.

Source

Just out of curiosity, does it take alot of time and/or money to give a console BC?

When the 80GB model was made they removed the Emotion Engine but kept the RDRAM and possibly the Graphic Sythesizer. I' m not sure which it is, maybe both. With the 40GB model they' ve decided to further cut back and streamline manufacturing by removing the RDRAM and/or GS. PS1 gamers were done entirely by emulation so they won' t be affected.

If you don' t need PS2 BC, memory card readers, and two more USB slots or 40GB more space then the 40GB model is a good deal. Otherwise the 80GB with PS2 BC is still there and it' s cheaper than it used to be. There' s no reason to complain.

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

Just out of curiosity, does it take alot of time and/or money to give a console BC?

Well, in a case like PS2 to PS1 BC, they actually had a physical chipset inside the PS2 that was essentially identical to the PS1. In the case of the Xbox 360 to Xbox BC, it' s running entirely on software emulation. So, the costs in the former case are based on physical components that they have to include in the box. In the latter, they are spending money for programmers to reverse engineer a bunch of games and emulate them. I think in the case of the Playstation, it' s taking money but not much time. In the case of the Xbox it' s costing them both time and money.

Don' t forget that MS still has to pay small royalities to Nvidia to support backwards compatibility with the original Xbox. It' s because they have to emulate a Nvidia design on an ATI GPU.

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments