New 80GB "Core" PS3 in September for 399 - No BC

[Andir]

Gnizmo said:

superchunk said:
First off sony already stated previously that they are working on full software emulation. In fact the current 80gb $500 model used software as it is.

They are dropping production costs again. Basically reduce the hardware connections on the PS3 to only that of the 40gb level.

This will give Sony a standard PS3 to produce, thus reducing costs even more. They have thrown in the 80gb vs the 40gb to soften the blow when the 80gb w/ software emulation goes bye bye permanently.

Once all of the other 40/80gb models are completely gone from retail and the new 80gb is profitable they will put out a firmware update that will allow software BC that is at least as good as the current emulation found on the 80gb now.

Then they will either do as I say above and also offer a larger storage PS3 or since you can easily just put your own HDD on the PS3 they may just continue with the one sku. Which should be good enough for *most* players.

Its really not that big of a deal and makes a lot of business sense.

 How does holding back this magical patch to make the systems BC make any business sense? Is there even a decent working PS2 emulater for the PC yet? The system is ridiculously hard to emulate, and there has been a host of very intelligent people trying to make it work for a long time. I don't think Sony is going to suddenly have the secret break through that makes it all possible in less than a quarter the time others have been working on it.

There's a HUGE difference between working with reverse engineering hardware and actually having the spec sheets, commands, and layout of commands readily available.  Also, the consoles are very similar (PS2/PS3) in architecture as opposed to the PC which has a completely different architecture using multiple memory controllers, I/O controllers, and other things that cannot easily be genericed into one set of code and run as efficiently as a console could.