The sales is dropping hard because there was no new releases (big titles) for a while in Japan.

I can see a huge boost when FF releases.

Devilstation said: BKK2 said: NJ5 said: BKK2 said: But isn't that the same half-assed software BC everyone criticized the Xbox 360 for, with which only some games will work 100% correctly? That's a bit of an exageration, the vast majority of games work fine. Sony has a website where you can check if your games are compatible or not. I read that some of those "compatible" games have problems during some stages or cutscenes, which is why I said "100% correctly". Apologies if I'm wrong.   They don't list games as compatible or non-compatible. They are listed as: No known issues to date Should play on PLAYSTATION®3 with some minor issues Should play on PLAYSTATION®3 with noticeable issues The vast majority come under the "No known issues to date" category. This is for the PAL PS3 which has the same BC as the US 80Gb. BC Games Compatibility PAL doesn't have any BC in it's PS3. They only offer the 40gb model (Same as Japan) That is the only reason I don't own a PS3. I even went out looking to buy a 60gb PS3 (same as US 80gb) last November, but i couldn't find one anywhere. The day Sony offers BC to PAL, is the day i buy my PS3. I am sure many other people feel the same way.

Sorry, I missed out 60Gb. PAL 60Gb has GS but no EE, same as US 80Gb model. 40Gb does have BC, but only for PSX games as it has neither EE or GS it cannot play PS2 games.

I can see were removing the BC compatibility on the PS3 harmed it in Japan. I bought the PS3 sooner than I really wanted to because of them dropping the 60GB. The reason why I wanted full BC is that I live in a college apartment and I really don't have that much room for a lot of video game consoles. Having a BC PS3 allowed me to leave the PS2 at my home and still play great games like Suikoden 5, Wild Arms 5, and Star Ocean 3 at School.

I also wander why Sony discontinued the model which was selling more than the their all other Model combined. really strange.. i think they need to either launch software backward compatibility or harware compatibility soon.

I don't know. I have a PS3 with (limited) BC and I gave away my PS2. And I used the PS3 for PS2 games for three playing sessions.
So to be honest I can see that people with big PS2 libraries are upset by the removal of BC in the 40Gb model. On the other hand it wouldn't bother me (I like having memory card readers and 4 USB ports though)

In fact, even Sony themselves haven't really been making that claim. See this interview from when the 40gb was first announced. According to Tretton, the real reason for dropping b/c was to "encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system." In other words, to force them to stop playing PS2 games. Which is just about the most ass-backwards reasoning I could possibly imagine, but there it is.


Are all new games automatically better than all old games? There's no reason to go back and play the classics?

Kasz216 said: Kyros said: statistics 1.1: correlation is no proof of causation. Still it's a fairly interesting correlation. I can't see any confounding variables really... and the PS3 stopping sales certaintly didn't stop PS3's from having backwrods compatability. Unless it's just the "Wii took hold as permanent leader, and as such the Japanese went into their usual "Support one console" mode. Then again don't sales go down around march?

I blame a complete lack of notable releases. Sales started to fall after DMC4 and Disgaea 3 released, with a small spike when Yakuza 3 released.

Valkyria Chronicles may spike sales some, but we probably won't see anything significant until MGS4 hits (MGS generally sells a few hundred thousand more copies than Yakuza in Japan).

Borkachev said: The costs is the biggest part of BS Sony can think off. The whole Emotion Chip is nothing more than a budget chip now and doesn't make the cost on a PS3. It has more to do with the fact that companies don't like it when people sell their PS2 for a PS3 when the PS2 is still in production. It has been nothing more than a smart sales talk. Sony mentions it will have BC then sell them for a few months then silently introduce a lighter model without all that stuff. In fact, even Sony themselves haven't really been making that claim. See this interview from when the 40gb was first announced. According to Tretton, the real reason for dropping b/c was to "encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system." In other words, to force them to stop playing PS2 games. Which is just about the most ass-backwards reasoning I could possibly imagine, but there it is. I really don't see what the big deal on BC is. Sure it was great back when the only good game was resistance, but now that theres many great PS3 titles, you don't need PS2/PS1 games. The only PS2 games I still own are too old to be traded in to blockbuster. Thats how little I cared about BC. Are all new games automatically better than all old games? There's no reason to go back and play the classics?

If they want people to stop buying ps2 games, they should stop allowing ps2 games to be released.  How would the ps3 have faired last year if God of War 2 had been a ps3 title?

makingmusic476 said: Borkachev said: The costs is the biggest part of BS Sony can think off. The whole Emotion Chip is nothing more than a budget chip now and doesn't make the cost on a PS3. It has more to do with the fact that companies don't like it when people sell their PS2 for a PS3 when the PS2 is still in production. It has been nothing more than a smart sales talk. Sony mentions it will have BC then sell them for a few months then silently introduce a lighter model without all that stuff. In fact, even Sony themselves haven't really been making that claim. See this interview from when the 40gb was first announced. According to Tretton, the real reason for dropping b/c was to "encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system." In other words, to force them to stop playing PS2 games. Which is just about the most ass-backwards reasoning I could possibly imagine, but there it is. I really don't see what the big deal on BC is. Sure it was great back when the only good game was resistance, but now that theres many great PS3 titles, you don't need PS2/PS1 games. The only PS2 games I still own are too old to be traded in to blockbuster. Thats how little I cared about BC. Are all new games automatically better than all old games? There's no reason to go back and play the classics? If they want people to stop buying ps2 games, they should stop allowing ps2 games to be released. How would the ps3 have faired last year if God of War 2 had been a ps3 title?

Seriously.  That's one thing I think Sony got tripped up on.  They should have focused on PS3 development a long time ago.  Their in-house developers have spent too much time on the PS2 and the PSP.  I mean, I'm glad that they didn't drop support for the PS2 like a rock (unlike Microsoft), but I can't help but wonder just how long it's going to take for them to pull out some of their heavy hitters.  The only first-party PS2 franchise that we've heard anything about is SOCOM: Confrontations, and that's not even a full game.  I really hope Sony has a lot of tricks to pull out of their sleeves come E3.

You cannot develop for a console that doesn't exist. The hardware only gets finalized shortly before a launch. Because of that First-year games generally look like hell. They are hastily put together.
Look at the first-year PS2 games and the first-year PS3 games. Wii was different because its essentially a beefed-up Gamecube. So this gave Nintendo a headstart.