Crippled PlayStation 3s for Everyone: Investors Pleased, Power Gamers…Not So Much

GigaGamez has already reported that the European region is set to receive PlayStation 3 (PS3) systems with inferior backwards-compatibility solutions. Well it looks like Europe’s going to get lots more company: the rest of the world! That’s right, the crippled PS3s that are invading Europe on March 23 will soon be the worldwide standard.

According to the Nikkei Business Daily, eschewing the Emotion Engine (PlayStation 2) chipset in PS3 systems in favor of a hybrid hardware-software solution will help move Sony towards profitability some time between September 2007 and March 2008.

 Reuters has sourced the Japanese daily, saying, “Starting with the European version of the PS3 that is set to debut on March 23, the paper said Sony plans to use a chip that can handle only the graphics of predecessor PlayStation 2 instead of the current chips that can handle both the computing and graphics functions for the PS2.”

While there’s sure to be a tremendous uproar among gaming enthusiasts, analysts are bound to love this move. The PlayStation 3 is an extremely expensive machine to make, Sony currently takes a loss on each unit sold, and many experts feel that backwards compatibility is a marketing tool that’s only important during a console’s first year. The news appears to be well received by the stock market, with Reuters reporting that “Sony shares rose 3.2 percent to 6,180 yen by 0030 GMT.”

From a business standpoint it’s a great move for Sony; anything that inches the company towards profitability is a good thing. From a PR/Marketing standpoint, it’s another giant, rotten tomato for the enthusiast press to hurl at the company. Way before the PS3 hit store shelves, Sony executives boasted about their system’s full backwards compatibility via hardware over Microsoft’s piecemeal software solution for the Xbox 360. In retrospect, Sony must be thinking the immortal words of Beavis, who once said, “Oops. Sorry about that!”

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