When Sony announced a Slim version of of its Playstation 3 a little over a week ago, there was a lot of speculation as to the return of a once popular feature.  As the info regarding the new system piled up so, too, did the evidence against a case for the reinstatement of backwards compatibility.  The collective internet threw a hissy fit, accusing Sony of essentially taking their ball and going home.

   Jumping on the anti-Sony bandwagon, though, does zero real good in reality.  As we've seen from various petitions and boycotts. In lieu of rhetoric of hate speech, let's take a reasonable look as to why Sony might have left out the ability to play older games on their shiny new console.

A Trip in the Wayback Machine!

   When the Playstation 2 launched gamers were able to bring their system home to a built-in library of Playstation One games. This ensured that they would have something to play after dropping several hundred dollars on the brand new system. It also served as a way to allow them to play any games for the Playstation One that released after the Playstation 2's launch. It's a perfect way to entice consumers to part with their hard earned dollars without feeling like they are getting the shaft by adopting new technology early. This same practice was used in the launch of the Playstation 3 just two years ago. The difference here is that as the Playstation 3's library grew the technology contained inside the console changed. After the first disappointing year, Sony was desperately searching for ways to cut costs. This is why full-fledged hardware emulation took a back seat to software emulation when it came to backwards compatibility in their system. This lead to an Xbox 360-like situation where only some of the titles from the previous generation would work.

   Fast forward a year and here we are in August 2009. We've just seen the announcement of a new design on the Playstation 3, and despite hoping and praying on the part of the Sony faithful, the system remains unable to play the last generation's titles. But that's not such a terrible thing, after some reflection.

Two Really is Better Than One

   Along with Sony's redesign came the news of the long-awaited $100 price cut for their flagship gaming hardware.  This acted as the first blow to the hope of backwards compatibility being brought back.  But the Playstation 3 isn't the only thing that's cheaper than it used to be.  Remember last year's GDC?  If one was so inclined, one could pick up a new Playstation 3 Slim and a Playstation 2 for the price of the former system was just last week.  This would get you a Playstation 3 with a larger hard drive and a system that can play 100% of the two previous console's games.  This is a better deal than the old backwards compatible $399 80 GB system Sony was offering when you consider the fact that that system only played about 60-70% of the Playstation 2's and none of the Playstation One's games.  You can even shave a few dollars off of that by purchasing a used Playstation 2 for $59 or $69 dollars, depending on the size you want. 

   So the lack of backwards compatibility isn't the end of the world nor is it a reason to send death threats to Kaz Hirai.  It's actually turning out to be a great time to be a Sony fan  Now while you're waiting for those manditory installs or Playstation Network updates you can just switch to the Playstation 2 and enjoy one of the many fine games only available for that system.  I'm lookin' at you Persona...