why cant i have both... dose that make me a greedy bastard..... the core was a good publicity stunt thats it, screwing the poor is all thats acomplished, same how i feel about the new 40 gig.

niether should hav ever been released. if you put a feature such as bw compatability or a harddrvie it should be across the whole line, creats nice uniformity for programing and lowers confusion for consumers. all thats happening right now is a nickle and diming like in the computer industry where the real price is hidden.

I don't get the point of removing backwards compatibility?

First of all hardware backwards compatibility has been removed already due to costs. Now they emulate the PS2 on the PS3 by using software that turned into long long lists of games that don't work 100% right, but are kind of 'playable'.

So now they removed BC because of costs: i don't get it? How can you remove a feature that doesn't even costs you anything? It is just emulation software, it comes with the firmware.

This is just Sony being desperate and probably we'll have capped availability (like the 20GB version) in the hope that people will go for a 400$ PS3, and none will be available 'but we still have lots 80GB versions that are much better ... and cost 200$ more...

If you look at the 20GB version last year that did had hardware BC that lets you play PS2 games whitout problems, imagine that the Blue-Ray drive alone dropped 100$ in price and you'll see that Sony is just ripping people off in the hope that people will prefer a PS3 instead of a blue-ray player: 'because it plays games'.

Sony should not only learn to make games, they should also learn how to play it. And those 4.6 million teenagers screaming how good it is and let their parents buy one (of two if you fight enough with your brother) may fall for that but the rest won't.

Backwards Compatibility. Harddrive is okay, but I already have a computer and don't want to give free liscence to developers to make sloppy games that need patches.

@Caey

The predominant theory is that Sony has removed legacy hardware from the device. There were physical chips on the board that allowed for software emulation. Once those chips were removed the software ceased to actually work. Like having gasoline and no car to put it in. Without that hardware the software is useless. Sony probably saved themselves something on the order of twenty dollars on the legacy chips.

I remember awhile ago I said that I think that PS3 should just drop the support of PS2 and try to show people that it belongs to the future. At the time I said it was the only thing that made sense, nobody would buy a PS3 to play PS2 games. And I remember how many of the Sony fans here and also Xbox360 fans said I was wrong.
It is nice to see that after awhile all the same Sony fans say the same thing I said before.

I'd argue that for the playstation 3's purposes, a hard drive is a necessity. Without a hard drive this would send the wrong signal to certain developers who have previously applauded sony's initative to have a hard drive in every ps3 out there. Perhaps games made today could get away with no hard drive but through the life cycle of the ps3 it would be foolish to have even a small contingent without them. Furthermore, including a 40gb hard drive (twice as big as the x360's premium HD) sends the right message to consumers.

with that said, it seems to me that if someone such as yourself were to be truly and honestly interested in a playstation 3 (correct me if i'm wrong) you are savvy enough to be able to find the models with HW BC and purchase accordingly.

At the end of the day, something needed to be cut out. until there are zero options out there brand new in regards to PS2 BC in a PS3, don't get ahead of yourself in make the mistake of making unfounded generalizations based on what we do know, which is:

- the 40gb will not ship with PS2 BC

- there is no GS or EE in the 40gb ps3

to somehow infer that no future ps3s will ever play ps2 games or that existing ps3s with HW BC will somehow lose the functionality that is built in is very unlikely. the reality is we don't have a lot of data in regards to sony's plan here, but i would speculate that removing BC is a cost saving issue to remain competitive for the holidays and it may very well be reintroduced at some point for the same price.

 I can understand that they removed some hardware, but i can't believe they save up 20$. If you look at the PS2, you can get one in your home for 129$ and they make profit out of it. Several sources suggest to lower the price to 99$. Beside, you can buy a lot of 'old' hardware with 20$.

i think it is relevant to this thread so i'll post this.

40GB PS3 STILL WORKS WITH PS1 GAMES!!
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=17683