Sony removing hardware emulation from PS3?

[ReNo]

http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=23003

Well...that kinda sucks. I'm not exactly devastated - I do have a PS2 I can use after all - but there are still quite a few PS2 games I mean to play and I would rather have done it on the PS3 and hid my PS2 away in the cupboard somewhere. On the plus side, maybe by using software emulation we can expect similar benefits to the 360's backwards compatibility with upscaling, AA, etc... Not such great news if, like the 360, it doesn't work on the games you really want it to though (let me play Otogi, JSRF, Panzer Dragoon Orta and all the other awesome exclusives MS!)

The whole PS3 thing is becoming such a farce now. I keep thinking "surely this is the last fuck up Sony can make for a while" and then end up being proven totally wrong. I'll still end up buying one eventually, but come on Sony, try releasing some GOOD news once in a while would you?

[Mazy]

Though it definitely isn't cool that Europe get a less equal product than other territories, then I've come to terms with backwards compatibility and accepted the fact that its rather something which is nice to have rather than something you really need on a new console. I mean I was really angry about the 360's BC in the beginning, but in the end I never really play old Xbox games on it (That is even though most of my Xbox games are supported now).

So yeah it sucks, and yet another bit of poor PS3 related news, but hardly anything that'll make a huge impact on it for me (especially since my PS2 is actually still working, as opposed to the old Xbox ).

[Taylor]

The only possible explanation for the actions of SCEE and, for that matter, SOE are Sony hate people.

[MJ]

ps3 is expensive to make so they had to cut cost somehow

sorry news for you euros...

[Ginger Lord]

I doubt their cost cutting, as its still like $900USD in the UK.

[ReNo]

Their press release put it down to cost cutting, and of course tried to put some ridiculous positive spin on it about "focusing on creating exciting new PS3 content rather than backwards compatibility". TomsHardware and a few other sites reported that they were also removing the motion sensing feature from the controllers, but I've not found any legitimate source on that and it sounds completely unbelievable, so most people are putting it down to those sites wrongly interpreting "emotion engine" as "motion engine".

[Ginger Lord]

Well if its down to cost cutting, then why hasn't the price changed?

Not that I ever contemplated getting a PS3, if I was the amount of bullshit sony has done would put me off their products for life.

[Fletch]

To quote Jamie Foxx: "You're fuckin' up."

[ReNo]

Well if its down to cost cutting, then why hasn't the price changed?

Because by cutting costs yet retaining the same price at retail they aren't making the same level of losses on each console as they used to be.

[Minion]

Well if its down to cost cutting, then why hasn't the price changed?

If you charge the same price for a unit that now takes less money to build you make more money, except in the PS3's case it is not that they make more money but rather that they lose less.

Supposedly they're losing $200+ for every retail unit sold in North America. The $900 UK price tag still isn't enough to compensate for their losses in NA/Japan.

Edit: Just to clarify, hardware losses aren't uncommon because they recoup a lot of the cost on software sales. Microsoft was originally manufacturing the 360 at a $75-150 loss.

[Taylor]

I find that hard to stomach as an excuse, when they release consoles over here they don’t convert the prices they just swap the signs! They didn’t "have" to do it, they saw they could make a fair bit of money.

[Zacker]

A software emulation can be continuely updated, which is significantly harder with a hardware solution. I don't really see a problem here if they have just managed to finally get their PS2 emulator working, so that they don't have to include it in the hardware.

[ReNo]

I see a problem if their use of the term "limited range" with regards to the PS2 game compatibility means it doesn't play the majority of games. If it had been this way from the start I wouldn't really have minded, but people's expectations from the PS3 are that it will play all their PS2 games (either through assumption - most of my mates figure that is the case because "it's playstation" - or through Sony actively touting it as a feature), and now just a month prior to release they change that.

If they pump out updates frequently to improve game support then that will go some way to righting the wrong, but most of my mates don't link up their systems to the internet, which makes things harder for them. Hopefully like MS they will offer downloadable updates from their website to burn to CD, or offer mailed out CDs, for people in that position. Also, Sony's press release spiel about "Focusing on new content, not backwards compatibility" doesn't exactly inspire confidence in their intentions to put out frequent updates. Microsoft have been shit in this department - bi-yearly updates with 1 or 2 noteable games each time isn't really worth getting too excited about - and I'm not sure whether to expect Sony to be any better.