The European PS3 launch approaches

[frogbeastegg]

And the slow motion car crash continues.

Gah! (http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6166312.html)

It's been announced that the PAL PS3 won't have the Emotion Engine chip included like the Japanese and American crop of consoles. This means it does backwards compatability via software, not hardware, an inferior method. But wait - there's more. The number of PS2 games supported is going to be limited. Sony will provide regular updates to expand the list of playable games. This means there is a very great danger of less popular titles being ignored, and that owners will have to wait until Sony feel like letting them play a particular game on their PS3. While the Emotion Engine equipped PS3s play about 98% of PS2 titles out of the box, no similar stat has yet been given about the PAL PS3. That information will be released on launch day.

Sony say the chip is out to cut the costs of the console. Are they passing that saving along to their European fans? Course not; at £424 the console is still going to cost £115 more than it does in America, and £165 more than in Japan. And no word of if and when we can expect to see the cheaper 'regular' bundle that was available alongside the expensive 'ultra' bundle at launch in Japan and America; we're still limited to the most expensive edition only.

Disgraceful!

[Leet Eriksson]

Shakira is going to attend the european launch in the UAE ~;p

On a more serious note, as a proud owner of the ntsc ps3, let me be the first to say its an overpriced peice of crap with nothing special on it, its also collecting dust becuase all the games on it didn't last long. You might wanna wait till the end of 2007 so it gets a price cut and and probably a nice library of games.

[Mikeus Caesar]

In other news, Sony went into administration earlier today...

[Bijo]

I don't know whether to curse violently at them for messing things up, or to laugh in an evilish way due to the fact I don't like 'em. Any case, one could've speculated such a move they made if I properly recall certain figures and numbers once discussed somewhere, showing a not so good financial state, and certain predictions.

Personally, I don't like Sony and their PSs, but how they "dumb down" the European version.... it's unacceptable. It's unacceptable 'cause those who buy it will not have the same luxury as those who buy American or Japanese ones.

I'll say what I've said sometime before: let Nintendo and Microsoft handle consoles.

[Xiahou]

You'd think they'd cut those expensive blu-ray drives if anything....

[frogbeastegg]

You might wanna wait till the end of 2007 so it gets a price cut and and probably a nice library of games.
Agreed. In a year to a year 1/2 they may be worth looking at. I know I won't consider one until that insane price gets hacked down and down some more, and there's a host of good games to play on it. The side benefit is that this way Sony have time to sort out the hardware issues which famously plague its new machines, and should have sorted out the backwards compatability ... if they are ever going to bother doing that. The 'PS1 game onto PSP' feature might work then, too. There aught to be a cheaper bundle aimed at gamers who want to play games and nothing more around at some point too, or so you'd think. They might even have rumble back on the controller.

It amazes me that Sony have managed to make such a mess out of what should have been a guaranteed success. I know they are famous for copying other companies' ideas and passing them off as their own, but did they have to copy Nintendo's fall from grace with the N64?

[BDC]

It amazes me that Sony have managed to make such a mess out of what should have been a guaranteed success. I know they are famous for copying other companies' ideas and passing them off as their own, but did they have to copy Nintendo's fall from grace with the N64?

Maybe it's a cycle. NES and SNES went well, N64... PSX, PS2 then PS3. Doesn't bode well for Microsoft next gen.

[lars573]

I really don't think the same cercumstances that lead to Nintendo's fall is here now for the PS3 or could be there for the Xbox3.

[BDC]

I really don't think the same cercumstances that lead to Nintendo's fall is here now for the PS3 or could be there for the Xbox3.
Arrogance and stupidity? It's clearly there for the PS3.

We can compare:

N64: Overpriced, stupid cartridge-based system, in theory powerful but in practice actually no better than other systems because of shoddy design, hard and awkward to produce games for.
PS3: Overpriced, dubious Blue Ray system which isn't proved yet, in theory powerful but in practice no better than Xbox360, hard and expensive to produce games for.

[Fragony]

Had some time with resistance on usa ps3, great stuff, it seems somewhat sharper and less plastic(think gears of war) then 360 titles. But it's too much money, won't call it expensive because it is worth it's price because of the bluray player alone, but 600 euro, nah.