DO NOT WANT.

Sony is hoping to give irresolute PS2 users something to be excited about.

Such as the ability to keep their vast library of older games relevant, no matter which PS3 model they choose?

Nah... that'd be silly.

man i wish they would just sell it with no hard drive. i mean it would be dirt cheap with no hard drive included and i could go out and get a SATA HDD myself for it for like 50 bucks

Ha...Yea...it's the HD making the PS3 so expensive...the price of the BD player has nothing to do with it...It's that damn expensive HD that's driving up the cost! LOL.

Well obviously they think it's the most expensive thing in the world b/c they're lacking in games completely and are still the most expensive console out there.

"Oh hey we'll just um double the capacity and leave it at the same price. That way they think they're getting a deal!" ... "BRILLIANT!"

I still haven't any reason to do an upgrade. I made a point of browsing the $50 and $60 games at my local big box store this past weekend and saw nothing that really floats my boat. I still love my old PS1 Crash Bandicoot games (as well as my PS2 ones...except the latest since it was bought out suck) and have a couple of hundred other PS2 games that I continue to happily play. Without backward compatibility and better PS3 games I have no reason to upgrade.

Sony has it's head up it's ass, once again.

ya know, i'm REAL tempted to go get a 360, even though i'm down on microsoft and big on sony and never play the thing just so i could say f-you sony.

they just.
don't.
get it.

the benefits of upgrading from psx to ps2 was backward compatibilty until a library of ps2 games was built up. tell me, what benefit does the end user get for upgrading to a ps3 from a ps2 when they are just starting out with the system? i'm sure that there are very many people in my situation. i have a lot of ps2 games. i have no hd television or any blu-ray movies. why should i buy a ps3 when the ps2s we have, first gen and thin models, still work flawlessly?

i thought i would never say this as a sony loyalist, but with microsoft's backward compatibility as well as price drop with no extra bells and whistles they are going to destroy sony over the next calendar year despite exclusive titles such as mgs4 and gt5 (and i'm a gran turismo fan but spending $520 for that and the latest nhl game is not worth that money), sony's insistance of including features nobody wants or needs and ignoring the american economic situation plus no price drop of their basic system 2-3 years after launch is going to kill them. could sony become the next sega? time will tell, but it's looking likely.

Sony is nothing if not stubborn. It’s been proven that the biggest stumbling blocks for the PS3 have been the price and backward compatibility. Sony is offering more things nobody asked for at full regular price. Drop the price $150 and add backward compatibility and your console will take off. I’m not empathetic about the cost of manufacturing the PS3 – most of the cost came from (again) stuff nobody asked for. On the bright side – by the time Sony figures this out the PS3 should have a nice library to complement the PS2. I got a 360 from a friend that wanted to upgrade to an Elite for the price of my Wii. Nintendo will have a good game come out now and again but I’ve playing PC games 90% of the time. I should have stat this round out. At least Sony isn’t trying to charge for online play…

i would rather play madden nfl 09 and ncaa football 09 @ 60fps on my xbox 360

I had a ps1, then gave up on video games for hardcore drugs... so i ignored the ps2, good news is I stopped the drugs just in time for the ps3!!

thank god i didnt waiste the money on the ps2 when it launched, i love graphics! and tons of great games for the ps3..

hey "humph" did u get to play MGS4 yet? probably not since they didnt make a ps2 version

dont be cheap! upgrade!!! lol

Your right...I might just upgrade to a xbox 360 elite!!!!

Before the PS3, the PS2 had the best standard definition graphics of any game console ever created. You really missed out.

i have an elite, its ok. I play my ps3 more lately

Meh, the Dreamcast was better. It failed though because you didn't even need a chip to hack it.

The Dreamcast was the only console I always wanted but never purchased. It was arguably Sega's best console, with the most potential. Sadly, their poor marketing was their Achilles Heel... yet again.

I was a huge Sega fan, but I started losing faith in them after the Saturn, and never took my chances on the Dreamcast when it was available. Looking back, I believe that was a mistake... oh well. :(

"But for Sony, it's time that PS2 players upgrade."

Well, tough luck. Blu-Ray, PSN, increased hard drive space, and the hyper-realistic graphics of current-gen games do not bring me to the table. I have over a thousand dollars invested in perfectly replayable PS2 games, and I wouldn't even spend $300 for a console that rendered that shelf of games obsolete. And it's even possible that I'd prefer a Wii if I did decide that my current library isn't important to me.

The day will probably come when there are enough interesting PS3 titles for me to justify spending the extra money for a console whose games are also more expensive. BC is the crucial element that determines if that day is in 2009 or 2013.

Why couldn't you just continue to play your PS2 games on your PS3?

Sounds like a good time to give the Xbox 360 a try.

Simply not interested in that black box spoiling the lounge. The PS2 is just fine for the casual gamer (we dig it out once every couple of weeks to months). There is no other system with more games.

The only way to get us to upgrade to PS3 would be (a) PS2 compatibility and (b) a subdued elegant design.

'"Year Two" was anticipated as the time when PS2 users begin the widespread switch to the newest hardware.'

Well, there's always next year.

I'm not upgrading. I don't see a reason to. My PS2 works just fine. It's still got a plethora of games available that I have yet to try. It's got my PS1 games covered. There's just no incentive for me to upgrade that particular unit at this time.

Just means Sony doesn't get my money this round. I'll keep investing in another console or just keep upgrading my PC.

"But for Sony, it's time that PS2 players upgrade."

Sure it would help, but like with Blu-Ray versus upscaled DVD, the prohibitive price of entry plus almost double the price media for incremental improvements is not a compelling reason to move - or for many non-PS2 folks to invest.

Being able to see the pores and sweat on a monster or bad guy is a nice technological feature, but its hardly necessary to play a CGI game, and its simply not a compelling reason to invest $400 in a console that you then get to feed $60+ games or $25-$30 a pop movies. In fact, at that price for many movies that you would only view once, the theater is CHEAPER (and that's a scary thought!)

With so many alternatives competing for the same market space and so many alternative entertainment option, it is hard to build a compelling reason to buy at this price.

And All of the high powered high priced platforms need to be cognizant of this.

My thinking is the first one to drop their price low enough is going to take the lion's share of the market. ...As Wii and PS2(still!) continue to do.

Agreed

"But for Sony, it's time that PS2 players upgrade."

I'll give Sony the three-finger salute instead.

i don't have any of the modern consoles -- i'm still playing with my PS2. all my friends have xbox360s and they've been pressuring me to get one. instead, i've been waiting for Sony to aggressively drop the price of the backwards compatible PS3. but instead they announce a more expensive 40gb upgrade?! -- come'on...

Sony just doesn't get it.

and it pains me to say this but "hello Microsoft".

I was in the same boat. I was refusing to upgrade my consoles. I had a PS2 and a gamecube, that was it. I knew I wouldn't get my hands on a Wii anytime soon, and I wasn't too impressed with the original Xbox as all the games I wanted were on the PS2 as well.

I bought my 360 about a year ago. My wife, already an active nut on Gaia and a fan of Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, was introduced to Viva Pinata. I thought, "Okay, this will amuse her". So we went out and bought the core system.

Then I actually started to notice the line of games they had available exclusive to the 360, and online, that I didn't have available on the PS2. After giving it some time to let the library grow, the 360 was quite appealing. I now have a reasonable collection of titles that, at the systems launch, I thought I would never be purchasing.

I anticipate a PS3, but not right now. Eventually. Right now there's nothing in the line that encourages me to run out and buy one. The product needs time to mature and come into its own. I think it will, but it will need at least another year.

Many think along the same lines. Sony has the problem of losing money on production vs. sales price. Now they must recover by selling PS3 games. Maybe they are counting on consumers being confused about compatibility, getting the low end model and biting the sour apple once it's in the house? Anyway, their pockets are deep - in time all will be good...

Hello Sony??? Are any one of your brilliant marketing exec's in touch with today's economy?

Hmmmm...gas and food or an upgraded PS3 that will be used every few weeks or so?

That's a no brainer!!

Morons!

I have the 60g fully backwards compatible PS3. With all the upgrade patches it has gotten so much better. I have to admit that I didn't use it much right out of the box almost two years ago. Now with the up grades, Blu-ray is fantastic, the playstation internet browser is pretty good. I watch youtube and southpark videos on my 50" plasma all the time now. One of the patches was to upconvert standard DVDs and it makes it better but not the quality of Blu-ray.

I only have three games. Madden 08 - which was/is pretty bad. I anticipate Madden 09 for PS3 to kick ass. I also have Assassin's Creed and GTA IV. I have no problem playing any of my old PS2 games. There is an adaptor you can buy to same your place using PS 2 games but I don't want to make my entertainment center look sloppy.

I also use the controller to use the browser on the internet. As I said earlier I don't use it to do work or send serious emails. I use it for facebook or kodak picture gallery. And I can say from experience that the women think it is pretty cool to see their picture on the big screen.

My ps3 accepts usb and SD cards.

I don't get the point of your post...do you want a cookie or something?

I don't know about you...but I bet I'm speaking for the vast majority of people when I say...I MUCH rather do all that casual web browsing you're talking about from my trusty PC...which does it so much more quickly and efficiently. I don't need to see youtube videos on a 60" plasma TV...most of those videos look bad enough on my 21" monitor, I can only imagine how bad it will look on the 60".

Web browsing on the TV just does not appeal to me, and it does not appeal to most people if you look at all the failed tv web devices.

I used to feel the same about web browsing and typically still don't browse from my PS3, but there was one night when I wanted to show my wife a few you tube videos and we watched from the PS3. It really was a great way to view them and they actually looked decent.

I also use it to view pictures from my camera and HD video from my camcorder.

who needs a backward ps3 when u have a ps2? lol come on dude

so you wanted it for free? maybe next year.

Both my camera and my HD camcorder have video outs that I just plug right into the front of my tv. My xbox does a good job streaming video from my PC if I want to do it that way...and I much rather be viewing netflix movies on my 360 then youtube videos on my PS3...:)

Well, with a PS2, naturally he doesn't need backward compatibility with a PS3... at least as long as the PS2 continues to function properly (or at all).

With Sony's previous track record of reliability with their PS and PS2 consoles, he will need backward compatibility eventually in a PS3.

After all, if the PS3 is so reliable as many suggest, why would anyone not want that feature to keep the older games relevant?

Also, with the models that offer backward compatibility, one of the nicer features to take advantage of is the ability to upscale the older games for higher resolution displays.

Yea...because everybody has all the shelf space in the world to keep all their old consoles around even after they upgrade to the new ones...

not to mention the short lifetime of the PS2 (which the guy below me just brought up).

For some of the very same reasons you mention, I keep a dedicated custom-built media/gaming PC in the living room.

I understand that most will offer the argument that they simply don't have that kind of money to invest in something like that. It can be as expensive as you want it to be (like any other PC), but it doesn't have to be.

In my particular case, it was an older PC that used to be my main, but as I upgraded, it became available for the HTPC role. My only real expense was for a better main PC that I get much more use out of anyway. :)

The original Playstation and the original thick PS2 are the most reliable optical disc game consoles ever created. I've had both and never had any problems whatsoever. I'm surprised that there's been a large number of people who have had major problems with the two consoles considering the extremely high quality hardware that was used.

Really? Is that why people had to run their PS2's upside down so they would actually read disks? Is that why Sony got hit by a class action lawsuit (which they LOST) for their poorly designed, failing PS2's??

God...I really hope that was a joke. I almost fell off my chair when I read that post...LOL thanks for the morning comedy relief though! :)

"I don't get the point of your post...do you want a cookie or something?"

Don't know why but this is really amusing :)

You are right they were so reliable that Sony lost a class action lawsuit about said realiability.

What a pile google at see for yourself. I guess if it didn't happen to me it isn't true is once again the story.

Can't be any worse than the 360 with its myriad of problemws. its sad when you have to replace a system for the 4th time in as many months because it keeps killing itself with a RRoD. and dont forget the still current issue of it chewing up game discs.

I'm on my 1st 360...and MS is actually paying and replacing the faulty xboxes...unlike Sony, they didn't need to get sued to do something about it.

You are gonna reboot Sony?

SWEET!

LOL!

I have to smack my Dreamcast for it to boot games anymore, it's a riot when there are people over.

"umm it's not booting"

PHWACK!!!!!!!

"ahh, there we go."

hah

it's been how long since the psx and ps2 have been released and they still work. i'm in the same boat as the other guy. i'd say they are pretty reliable. as long as it doesn't fail right away, it's a reliable system.

he also didn't say the disc read failures didn't not happen.

/justsayin

I have similar problems with my Panasonic FZ-1 3DO. I've left the screws out of the console to allow quick removal of the top cover. Every time I try to boot the console, the discs will not spin... I have to manually "kick start" the disc to spin up with my fingers, put the cover back on, and then everything's fine for that gaming session. :)

Also, I have a Marantz Laserdisc player that needs the exact same treatment as your Dreamcast.

Man, I need to get my hands on a 3DO, it's been YEARS since I've played one.

They're pretty rare now, from what I've seen. Occasionally I'll see them pop up on eBay, usually going for well over $100 (US)... even the Goldstar models, still.

Aside from my severe disdain for the choice of the original gamepad (not just the feel of it and the button layout, but the daisy-chaining multiplayer connectivity), the 3DO was one of my all-time favorite consoles. It had extremely accurate and faithful ports of several arcade games such as Super Street Fighter II and Dragons Lair, as well as some very fun and creative originals.

I still need to find another copy of Road Rash. :)

My PS 2 read optical discs perfectly. It didn't matter if it was sitting on its side or if it was horizontal. None of the articles I found on Google (when searching for "PS2 disc read error") proved that the problem was Sony's error. Frankly I'm surprised that the lawsuit managed to obtain class action status considering only three irritated people sued Sony. Sony didn't lose the lawsuit by the way. They chose to settle instead of possibly winning the frivolous lawsuit. It's possible that a very small number of consoles experiencing this problem may have had a manufacturer defect which is normal with any optical disc hardware, but most of the consoles experiencing the disc read error were due either to normal wear and tear or to damage caused by the owner.