Geek Babble – Farewell to Backwards Capability

A few months ago I was adamant on eventually getting a PS3 with
backwards capability even if I had to pay a slight premium. When the
PS3 slim was announced and information began to circulate on the
internet I quickly began to change my mind. It turns out a smaller
console that consumes one third less power, and costs about $300 easily
change the mind of a budget conscious gamer. Still the loss of
backwards capability is hard to accept given the feature was once
available. On one hand the move makes financial sense for Sony, on the
other hand it’s just frustrating to see the company turn its back on a
feature it touted so proudly a few years ago.

When rumors of a
new PS3 model were leaked many fans had hoped for the return of
backwards capability with the PS2. Instead Sony insisted that backwards capability will never return in current and future PS3 models. We’ve all come
to except baffling moves from Sony but a few years ago such a prospect
would have been unthinkable. In 2007 Sony assuaged fears about rumors of the PS2 backwards capability being removed from future PS3 consoles.
A few months later backwards capability was removed in newer consoles
and Sony gave fans half-baked reasons as to why the move was made. Was it to spur consumers to purchase more PS3 games? Or was it to save costs? It turned out to be a bit of both, and then some. It became clear that the older PS2 outsold the PS3 by
considerable margins. With such a profitable previous generation
console and the prospect of cutting production costs with a more
expensive current console Sony took the obvious route. Sure including backwards capability would entice a few hold outs to take a look at the PS3 again. Or maybe not, according to Sony.

With
the price of the PS2 now at $99 and the new PS3 at $299 consumers are in fact getting a great deal over the original $599 launch price of 2006. In fact, the gaming community itself is torn on
the issue. Many gamers and industry officials have stated if people
want to play PS2 games again they should just play them on a PS2. Why bother buying an expensive PS3 if you only plan to
play PS2 games on it? In addition to that, there’s a decent line of PS3
games and lots of Blu-ray movies to choose from. But if you enjoy playing
older games as much as newer games, this argument doesn’t sit well.

Sony
set a precedent with the PS2 having PS1 backwards capability. If the
electronics giant removed backwards capability a generation ago
everyone would have cried foul. When my PS1 finally broke years ago I decided to buy a new PS2 over a
PS1. It was a year or more before I started playing PS2 games but the
decision to upgrade was well worth it. Had Sony not removed the feature from newer PS3 consoles I probably would have followed the same route. The convenience of being able to play a PS1, PS2 or PS3 disc on the same machine is amazing,
and the ability to upscale PS2 games on an HDTV is also pretty nice.
Not having your gaming cabinets cluttered with consoles and wires is
always a plus.

Finally, and this is big, the PS3 lacks a
strong lineup of exclusive games in the RPG genre. In fact, many RPG
gamers rushed out to buy a PS3 in anticipation of titles to hold them
over until Final Fantasy XIII arrived only to have a serious dearth of
games almost three years into the console’s life. The sheer amount of
exclusive RPGs available on the PS3 isn’t even a fraction of what’s
available on the PS2, so why not play an abundance of older games on
the latest and greatest system while waiting on those new games? Valkryia
Chronicles, Demon’s Souls, Disgaea 3, Cross Edge, Final Fantasy versus
XII, White Knight Chronicles, and Final Fantasy XIV (which will
probably see a 360 release in 2011) simply aren’t enough as far as
exclusives go. Ironically, I find it is this very argument that compels
me to hold on to my PS2 rather than spend $330 on a backwards capable
PS3. Why bother with the latest and greatest console if the games
aren’t there, and the newest iteration offers a few advantages over
the original?

First
of all, a lower price point of $299 is huge. Even though I have no
interest in Blu-ray or having a graphics powerhouse (yet), I’ll be able to
follow my favorite franchises and my favorite genre to the
newest generation when I’m ready to. Between my large PS2 game backlog and the lack of backwards capability I can really take my time in getting a PS3. However, the biggest
factor is the new PS3’s reduction in size, power consumption and heat
output. All of those factors with the original PS3 were a major turn
off for me, but a smaller, cooler PS3 is suddenly very appealing. I actually
prefer Sony’s slimmed down electronics over their bulky originals. If
the console itself had not been overhauled and the price was simply
dropped, I probably would have hunted down an increasingly rare
backwards capable 60GB PS3. Though many who insist on backwards
capability may feel differently, anyone who wants a PS3 slim will
probably come to a similar conclusion. If high pre-order sales on
Amazon.com are any indication, fans prefer a price drop over having the
ability to play all PlayStation games on the same console.

In
the end removing backwards capability was a good move in terms of
profitability for Sony– public relations is another matter entirely.
Consumers have shown again and again they were willing to purchase the
PS2 over a PS3 capable of playing PS2 games. In other words, if the
majority of consumers are willing to pay for a PS2 and a PS3, or trade
in their PS2 for a PS3 knowing it wouldn’t play their old games, why
stop them? In addition to that, many consumers were driven by the
prospect of having an affordable Blu-ray player capable of also playing
video games. If the PS3 did as well as the PS2 (which Sony arrogantly
expected in the early days), PS2 capability would most likely still be
present in new consoles. If gamers and the gaming industry were united in
the insistence of backwards capability, much like Dualshock 3 and a
lower price, backwards capability would still be around. But as far as
the PS3 goes backwards capability is dead. Nothing changes for current
PS3 owners who bought the console while backwards capability was widely
available. And perhaps not much will change for the gamers determined
to find an older backwards capable PS3 even if it costs slightly more.
For those of us who decided to wait, hoping we’d get the best of a
redesigned PS3 with PS2 capability for half the original price, we’re
just out of luck. Maybe the next console generation won’t be as
confusing and frustrating. In the meantime, my old PS2 still works
quite well.

PS3 and PS3 Commercial images courtesy of Engadget and Industry Gamers.