Updated: Global Hardware and software UP! (28th July '12) - 3DS dominates, Vita falters

[Chandler]

Jay520 said:

Chandler said:
. I would argue that there won't be a lot of countries that can't afford PS2's right now will be able to afford them in the next years. Or are you expecting that central africa will be a viable target market for the ps2 in the coming years? There really aren't a lot of countries left who are below the threshold of PS2 entertainment and those who are will not emerge in the coming years due to wars, genocide and extreme poverty. The countries that are viable markets right now on the other hand will gradually move on and emerge into more sophisticated markets. The PS2 might be cheaper and easier to hack, but that didn't prevent us from moving on, or did it? 99% of the stuff we buy today is not efficient or even reasonably priced but it's a matter of self-affirmation and a status symbol to show off their developement. The one thing that will not change is the fact that you need a PS2 to play PS2 games. Oh and hacking a PS2 increases the replacement rate drastically, from personal experience.

Perhaps I should have worded my post better. I'm not talking about dirt poor countries. I mean countries where the PS2 is already selling. The gaming market in these countries will continue to grow so the PS2 will have new owners to sell to. I'm not expecting the PS2 to see a sudden boost in sales, but it should stay steady until the Wii drops below it. Also, I highly doubt the PS3 will become wide recieved in these countries within the next few years though of course I cannot prove what will happen in the future. You're right, companies that are viable markets now will gradually move on. The key word being 'gradually'. It's going to be a while before the PS3 does become affordable there.

Like I said, the PS3's lack of BC is a factor, but it is an insignificant one and it will be for the next few years at least.

I can agree with that, in the end it's all just opinions here. Insignificance can be a pretty wide area depending on how you interprete it or where exactly you draw the line. Maybe for you it's insignificant and for me it's already in the area where it is a significant contributing factor. But one thing should be clear: It is a factor that Nintendos consoles generally do not have working in their favor because they are always at least one generation backwards compatible. So there is choice. With the PS2, there is none.