The folks over in Europe are no doubt not feeling the love today as Sony has made another disappointing announcement in regard to the Euroepean version of the PlayStation 3.

No, there’s no delay this time, but gamers might want to pack away some of their old PlayStation 2 titles.

Sony has announced it will eliminate a microchip from the European PS3. In doing so, it will cut costs of production, but it will also lessen the console’s backward compatibility greatly.

“Unlike the PS3 being sold in the United States and Japan, the upcoming European version will not carry the microchip that offers graphic- and data-processing functions for PS2 games, cutting production costs,” a Sony spokesman has been quoted as saying.

Instead, it will have a different, less expensive chip, that won’t offer the backwards compatibility the other one did (not that it was all that great either). It doesn’t look like the cost-savings will be passed on to gamers either.

With losses in its game unit up to more than $1.71 billion, there’s no doubt Sony needs to do something, but this seems like a slap in the face of European gamers who have already endured a delay.

A big question this brings up is whether Sony will continue to work on the backwards compatibility issues on North American and Japanese consoles, or will try and dust the problems under the carpet?

The consoles rolls out in Europe March 23.

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Labels: backwards compatibility, PlayStation 3, ps3, sony

In wake of reports that Sony’s backwards compatibility on the PS3 will be less than desirable on the European launch day, March 23, Phil Harrison is setting the record straight. It seems the console will support more than 100 PS2 titles coming out of the gate.

"The situation is changing everyday, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1000 PS2 titles," Harrison has been quoted as saying.

As the folks at Games Industry point out, Sony has been sending out some mixed reports about backwards compatibility. “While it has noted that consumers expect backwards compatibility as a standard feature, the company has also stated it believes that early adopters will buy the console for the next-gen gaming experience,” they write.

Harrison is now saying Sony is working on firmware upgrades to add to the list and plans on introducing a Web page to detail titles that are backwards compatible, much like the Xbox 360 list.

Whether Sony intends to do something or even can about how bad the PS2 titles look on the PS3 has not been stated. I speak from experience in saying some of the old titles look absolutely horrible with graphics pixilated and distorted.

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Labels: backwards compatibility, PlayStation 3, ps2, ps3, sony

With the European launch of the PlayStation 3 looming on the horizon, Sony has dropped a bomb fans might not have been expecting.

“The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models,” a Sony spokesperson was quoted as saying.

This little tidbit means that many PlayStation 2 titles gamers might be holding onto to play on the PS3 won’t work. It also sounds like Sony doesn’t intend to fix the problem any time soon.

According to X-bit Labs, a Sony statement has made it pretty clear: “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.”

While that’s all fine and well, and new games should be developed for the PS3, gamers were told the console would be backwards compatible. And for the price Sony’s charging for the PS3, they have every right to expect it to be so.

Sony intends to only roll out the 60 GB version at first in Europe. This means the pricing falls in at €599 ($777) in the most of the markets and for pricing close to that in a variety of countries (UK – £425 ($837), Ireland – €629 ($816), Australia – AUD 999.95 ($777), New Zealand – NZ 1199.95 ($840)), according to X-Bit.

If gamers have been banking on having the old titles work, this news might not bode well for Sony.

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Labels: backwards compatibility, PlayStation 3, ps3, sony