A trade-in program would be smart ... but I doubt that it will ever happen ... mayeb if you give in your PS2 youl gte a free PS3 game ...

the reality is ps2 owners will go own to become ps3, x360 and wii owners or they might just squeeze every last ounce of gaming out of their ps2 over the next couple years and skip this generation all together. i'm really curious to see how they intend to retain people going to competitors.

For the 382,237,947th time people, the 40GB can NOT be given backwards compatability via a firmware update. It's missing absolutely necessary hardware components to run PS2 software. It's impossible.

And obviously there aren't 40 million PS2 owners sitting on their asses going "Can't wait to buy that PS3."  At least half of those have already upgraded to a Wii, 360, or PS3, and probably more than that.   

The reason there are so many PS2's out there is because it was a cheap DVD player and later in its life it was a cheap console with a huge and popular library.

Now there are cheaper DVD players than $400, people on a budget aren't looking for BluRay players yet, it doesn't have the huge and popular library yet, the budget PS3 can't play PS2 games, and the PS3 isn't cheap yet.

As soon as the PS3 actually becomes affordable, the budget model plays PS2 games, and gets the huge and popular library then it can start converting PS2 owners that haven't already moved on to something else.

I completely missed that part first time I read this thread. That changes everything... I wonder what they plan on doing. I see competitive price and BC.

The best way to target those ps2 owners is to bring them the games they fell in love with.

For the first year of the ps3, it's software line-up was riddled with unproven new IP's--Lair, Heavenly Sword, Resistance, Motorstorm, NGS (ps fanbase), Uncharted, etc. Almost every big, hyped game was unproven.

This year, it's the exact opposite. PS2 fans are getting ps2 franchises they know and love: GTAIV, MGS4, SOCOM, FFXIII (probably 09'), Gran Turismo, God of War 3 (probably 09'), Tekken 6, etc.

The majorly hyped titles for 08' are aimed not just at hardcore gamers, but ALSO ps2 gamers, unlike the games from last year.

Couple all that with a price drop AND blu-ray's victory--and the ps3 is quite a bit more appealing this year than last year.

Trying to draw in the remaining PS2-only users is a largely futile effort on Sony's behalf. For the most part, those who got a PS2 and can afford a console at over a $200 price tag have gotten a current-gen system. Those that remain mostly either don't want to spend over $200 for a game system (a sentiment I can understand; I found it hard enough to invest that additional $50 over the $200 mark into my Wii, given my budget constraints at the time), or aren't interested in "moving up" at all. The only way they can hope to draw those people in is by dropping the PS3 to $200 or less.

Just because they didn't emulate the GS in the 80 GB doesn't mean it is impossible.

GTAIV is on a much cheaper platform as well, FFXIII is 09, and Gran Turismo 5 is 2009 also (Q4 2008 is actually in the year 2009). The only SOCOM game announced is a spinoff by an unknown developer, and its screens are extremely sub-par for PS3 graphics.

So have they stopped assuming "6 million will buy it even with no games at double the price"