I'm at a wait and see standpoint right now on all of this.
I stand by my belief that this is a bad move financially but it may help sales quite a bit. Most people probably aren't all that informed about the BC issues and the like so I don't think it will scare away tons of people or anything.
But if the $400 PS3 comes to the US this year I will be happy to be wrong from a consumer standpoint as it means next year if I decide to get a PS3 I will be spending less money. Honestly right now I don't know if I want this 40GB model though, the 40GB HD has nothing to do with it as it would likely get one of my extra laptop drives. The issue is with the backwards compatibility, I am an informed consumer and it does matter to me. I would greatly prefer to only have one console hooked and supposedly the games look a lot better too (no surprise). The SKU has other issues as well but thats the major one for me, I just can't see adding more crap to my TV area when its already crammed as it is. And considering I still use my PS2 on occasion just removing it isn't much of an option.
All in all, I think this is a risky move no matter how you look at it. There is risk that the lacking BC could become a rally point for complaints, risk they could lose lots of money, risk they could come off as desperate, and in general I don't see an outcome to this that doesn't generate some sort of actual negative impact on the PS3 and Sony as brand. Once again I must say I would be happy to be wrong, but I just don't see it.
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| To Each Man, Responsibility |
