Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

To date, backwards compatibility has been Sony’s calling card, what with the PS2 running nearly every PS1 game and with the PS3 running nearly every PS1 and PS2 game. Going forward? Not so much. Sony has announced that the PS3′s that will debut in Europe in March will not be as backwards compatible as the ones that launched in North America and Japan due to replacing some of the hardware in the unit with software. Software updates will restore compatibility for some titles going forward, mimicking Microsoft’s backwards compatibility efforts on the 360, but this change in the PS3 itself is a startling development to say the least. It’s assumed that the EU hardware will be rolled out to NA and JP as well.

ArsTechnica speculates that this could have big repercussions for the business, from turning the suddenly-first-generation PS3′s into collector’s items (and impossible-to-replace systems if they fail years from now) to causing a slowdown in the flow of used PS2 trade-in systems. What about folks like me who were considering a PS3 as a replacement PS2 until the library fills out? My own psychotic, game-scratching 6-months-post-launch PS2 is chained to a chair in my basement while James’ well-mannered launch-day model gets some attention in my living room.

This opens negative questions for Sony when they need absolutely no more negative open questions. Cost reduction is important, but if Microsoft has proven anything to the world, it’s that marketing a product to build market share in many circumstances needs to outweigh actually making money on a product.

Maybe Sony is hoping to push the hardcore gamers off the fence sooner rather than later with this admission. To me that would mean validating the message that it is OK for a vendor to abuse us because they know what’s best for us.

Via ArsTechnica.