Agreed. As someone once very well said, if Sony wants their customers to be brand loyal, they better start being loyal to their own brands beforehand.

I stopped reading when you said everyone agrees that removing BC was a bad idea.

Sony Corps Bad ideas this gen

1. 600 $ console
2. Removes BC
3. Doesnt counter M$ price cutting at every turn
4. Losing third party exclusives
5. Home
6. Timing a console release so its big second and third year coincide with the worst economic downturn the world has ever known

I appreciate number 6 is not really something Sony have much control over but when your lucks out, your luck really is out.

Tit for tat pricing IMO would hurt Sony much more than the original $600 price tag and I don't think they or anyone else expected the economy to go tits up, I don't think they should be blamed for that so that shouldn't be in the list.

But the others I can see the fuss.

This isn't rubbish, but more of the opinion of a fan who got burned and I totally feel where you are coming from. HOWEVER,...

1. BC was already a hard sell because rumors abounded that all the BEST games were not supported. I can conjure up several links to this message being spread across the nets, and from the things I hear the public say about video games, this would have been equal to not having BC at all.

2. BC saved them money, and allowed the price drop to 400$, possibly the best move this entire gen.

3. Increased PS2 sales, which are huge margin profits, another win for Sony. If you think about it; If someone buys a PS3 AND a PS2, like a lot of people did, then Sony is pretty much making profit on hardware overall. PS2 sales would definitely not be as huge if PS3 had BC

4. None of the other consoles have BC

5. And the most important reason; The PS3 would have already failed, even if they included BC at 400$ because simply, there were and are still better games based on PS2 hardware. Imagine a world where everyone bought PS3's and a lot of those current ps3 game purchases were ps2 game purchases. Removing BC was a great way to push gamers into buying PS3 games. I'm sure someone can agree that a lot of people had ps3's ad were still buying ps2 games. Dev's would have pulled out because of sales, and we wouldn't be enjoying the large amount of unique and exclusive games we have today.

There are plenty of idiotic choices to choose them and while I think the price tag at launch was the worst the lack of PS2 compatibility is the most devastating thing for me personally. If the PS3 had PS2 compatibility I would go and buy one right now.

Of topic, but I'm playing Metal Gear Solid 3 on my PS3, and the battle with "The Fury" is unplayable! It's like playing in "bullet time" from the Matrix. The backwards compatibility isn't flawless. I guess I need to turn off the smoothing graphics option.

I said "since the release of the ps3."  :P

Yes, $599 USD!! was a worse move.  :P

I own a 60gb launch ps3 with full hardware BC.  I definitely haven't been burned.  :P

But if my ps3 dies, however...