Well I don't know how many people out there on here that know about or care about video games, but this peeved me and I wanted to rant about it a little bit. My friend just got her job back and we are all kind of into video games and she has been saving money and she has an older (like original model) PS2 (PlayStation 2) that really has become a pain in her arse and stopped reading disks right since her brother did something to it.

So she decided she wanted to go and invest in the PlayStation 3 that was backwards compatible so she could play her PS1 and PS2 games still without having to get another PS2. We plan to meet up at another friend's house and have him come with so we make sure and get the right one because he is far more of a gamer than I am of she is. We start calling around all the stores to see if they have one of the 80GB ones in because they are the best and backwards compatible.

Turns out no one has them anymore because guess what? Sony DISCONTINUED them! They don't sell or make any more PS3 systems that will play old games! There is one coming out June 12 at midnight (the one woman at Target was quite adamant about this fact) but it is coming out with a game my one friend doesn't want and is going to be limited quanities and to get one you are basically going to have to be waiting in like by 8pm or earlier on the 11^th and fight a crazy mob to even have a chance at it. And then once all the Metal Gear Solid 80GB ones are gone they are gone forever.

That means PS3 systems will no longer be sold that can play old games. This is beyond stupid in my opinion and has also probably guaranteed I won't be shelling out the $400+ for one for I see no point right now. There aren't many games for PS3 yet and I'm not as dedicated of a gamer anyway. Of course before today I still wasn't thinking about getting one anytime soon since I have no money.

It is all scam to get more money out of us I think. My friend still wanted something and she still needed a new PS2 anyway since her's isn't reading disks right anymore anyway. So my gamer friend looked it up and found out that buying a new PS2 and a 40GB PS3 (which won't play old games) cost about $30 more than the 80GB ones did. My friend with the broken PS2 ended up getting that combo, so she ended up having to spend more money and get two machines.

I guess it really isn't that bad of a deal when you come down to it but I still find the decision to discontinue the 80GB PS3 a bad one and I had to get that out.

Why didn't she just buy one from Amazon? I think Amazon is the one you have in the US? If it was me I'd TradeMe it and bam! Get me what I'm looking for.

I hate non-PCs so I can't really sympathise about that (waste of money to get a PS at all!) but it sucks when no one stocks the things you need or you just miss them. I'm having that problem with coloured skinny jeans - and I might just look on TradeMe I think.

she looked on Amazon actually and it would have ended up costing her about the same with Taxes and shipping and insurance and all that loverly stuff and truthfully she (and her parents) are kind of paranoid about the internet and to my knowledge have never bought anything online. But that definitely could be another option for someone!

Yeah like I said I don't really play games much anymore (mostly time issues for me) but it just peeves me that they did something like that, hahaha. It just doesn't make sense why they would make a system that plays old games and one that doesn't and then stop making the one that will play the old games... Oh and thinking back to it reading the box of the one she got it will play some PS1 games but will NOT play any PS2 games. Now how does that make sense?

*shakes head* it just seems really strange to me, but I'll just stick to my warm glowing screen of my lappy and spend most of my time online RPing, since I'm not a big one on PC games and for some reason have a lot on my hard drive.

For what it's worth, it's the 60GB model that has the best backwards compatibility, because it's hardware based (it's software based on the 80GB) and so will upconvert an older game to high def playback. Excellent investment (FF12 alone on my Hugey McPrecious TV was worth the money for me), but good luck finding one! They sell on eBay for anywhere from $600-$1000 new (don't, and here I repeat DO NOT, buy a used one).

If it helps you feel better, future models of the PS3 will be backwards compatible.... if you pay for each game individually. Whether they'll be available for download in the online store or it will be a separate peripheral attachment I have no idea; I've heard both. No, I do not understand Sony's business model here at all. My theory is that they no longer receive royalties for prior system games and yet there are few new games that people want to purchase for the system (Squeenix, always a giant moneymaker for Sony, has jumped ship to Wii and X360 exclusivity), so they're forcing people to spend money on games they already own. It's retarded. But it's capitalism.

Sony has a history of screwing themselves over.

Me, I miss the absolute classics. Tetris, and Mario Kart before they went and made it 3D. The greatest PC game in existence was Civilisation II... but good luck finding a copy these days!

No. I don't like Civ III and Civ IIII.

As for skinny jeans, the ultimate source of any fashion awesomeness is Jay Jays. Twenty dollar jeans AHOY! I'm wearing my fav pair now.. had them like, four years. I also got some awesome electric blue skinny jeans a few months ago. I don't particularly like skinny jeans... but the colour was too awesome, and they were only ten bucks.

Try eBay though... the .au has quite a few pairs from the quick look I've given it.

I found orange ones on TradeMe! But they were $150 and there's no way I'm spending that much on skinny jeans. There were green and blue ones too but now I really want orange ones. They were so bright! -sighs- Jay Jays only has blue ones now Mousie.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Bandit.

Oh I love the classics too, not too huge with PC games but if I remember right Age of Empires was one of my favorites. (I know not the same as Civilization II but in the same genre right?) I still have all the old gaming systems too. The classic Nintendo, the Super Nintendo, the Sega Genesis (still the best one ever IMO), and then we jumped to the PS1 and PS2. Actually before we went off to go find the PS3 for my friend we were playing Primal Rage on the Genesis which was a blast!

Yeah I knew about the 60GB one too and from what the stores were saying the only ones that are being sold right now are the 40GB ones. But yeah it just doesn't seem like a good business plan to me. In a way I guess its just another way for them to make even more money off of us if they are going to require people to re-buy all their old games, but that is just something that makes me even less likely top buy the thing.

In all honesty there are a few good looking games for the PS3 that I would love to have but for the most part and at least for now not that many new games have come out for the PS3 that don't have a PS2 counterpart so I'm still fine. I know eventually this will be different but maybe by then the system won't cost me an arm and a leg. That's what I've done with the others I've bought actually.

hahaha not a problem with the hijacking, it has a relation to it in a round about way =P

Bandit, this has nothing to do with anything in this topic, but I laughed hysterically at your icon. And then my boyfriend looked at me funny...

*laughs* glad it amused you showbreadluvr it makes me laugh every time I look at it

i think the ps3 is the beginning of the end for sony. i'll move when final fantasy does, hahah. and about the skinny jeans, urban outfitters might not have bright ones all the time, but theirs fit the best of anything i've ever experienced in my life. and also, what's with america moving away from womenswear skinnies? all my friends complain about not being able to find a pair in the womens section, and then complaining that "us boys get all the good jeans." maybe it's just wear i live.

and yeah, this thread has been officially hijacked. xD

Cal - Final Fantasy XIII is also being released to PS3. I'm not sure if they're only going to deal with Nintendo and Microshit. I could be wrong, though.

Carbohydrated, you've stated my sentiments exactly when it comes to Squeenix. I'm one of their faithful people, even though I feel that their games have gone to crap in the past few years, but that's another rant altogether.

I'm so done with Sony. When you burn bridges with your customers by making a system that is worse than the PS2, your company is not worth it to me. I'm in it to buy a console that also has backwards compatibility, not a freaking all-in-one DVD player/Blu-Ray player, etc.

They've lost focus. And that's not good at all. I'm a hardcore gamer, not a person interested in all this other irrelevant shit. Hopefully capitalism will do a Darwinism on Sony. Their business model is not very strong, so they'll hopefully fail if they can't get their crap together.

I believe that FF13 is their final installment for Sony -- though since the gaming industry is by definition fluid, this can totally change at any time. XD

The reception for MGS4 has been pretty amazing, so that may revitalize the console. It really is an amazing machine -- I just wish the business practices were better, and they didn't keep chasing away good developers.

Personally, I'm looking forward to Fatal Frame 4 on the Wii. Talk about terrifying immersion! <3

I HAVE AN AMAZING CLUE FOR ALL OF YOU.

It's called "patience".

You see, after a few years of waiting around, you'll find that you can't buy certain games anymore because their systems are outdated.

These games and their systems are both considered abandonware.

In other words, it is recognized that these games can no longer be obtained, and the original creators no longer can profit from their sale.

This may seem like the end at first, but you have to remember something vital.

You can literally download any file that exists from the internet.

Yes, that means that, if I wanted to, I could download, say, Devil May Cry 4. I couldn't play it, but I could download it.

There is another thing to remember:

There are fans of abandonware games who just so happen to specialize in programming. A few of these dudes are inevitably going to set out to make a program that emulates the systems for which abandonware games may be played.

So, as an example, in a few years, I will be able to play Devil May Cry 4 on my computer. Even though Devil May Cry 4 was never released for the computer.

The only problem is when you get into systems like the wii in which case you may have to purchase the system in some way anyways because of the unique controllers. It might be hard to do so in a few years though, because things like this become pretty rare as time passes.

Abandonware requires a specific period of time and even then is also still illegal. Some of us prefer to not break the law.

I'm not entirely sure why you're so defensive and abrasive about this?

I was wondering why my brother was so mad about this. He explained it in terms I could not understand, though. LOL. It makes sense now.

@ Arakis: What is this "patience" you speak of - a new kind of gaming system?

Here is the issue I have with your "abandonware" crap.

I have all these games. That I've pretty much invested hundreds of dollars for. Not only is my laptop primarily there for the sole purpose of school, not all of us want to screw over our computer space, possibly open ourselves up to malware on computer, and, at the absolute worst, get busted.

By the time these games are abandonware, your computers should be more than powerful enough to not notice the missed computer space.

And to be honest, downloaders don't get busted, providers do.

It's more fun to write in a defensive and abrasive tone.

First point: only software is ever considered abandonware, and this thread is specifically about consoles. If you're downloading console games, ever, then it is a) not abandonware and b) not just illegal but VERY, VERY illegal.

Second point: I can't believe you're seriously advocating illegal software in a public, open forum with 6500+ members. Wow. This is so much the work of Bad Decision Dinosaur I have no words.

It's not illegal if you own the games and consoles, which the topic starter clearly has anyways.

Or at least had owned but lost.

Also we're not talking consoles at all. We'd be discussing the BIOS of the consoles, which is software.

And to your second point, I'm mostly a PC gamer, and anything else that I play, I either beat ten years ago or there isn't an emulator for it yet.

I disagree with the standing view on abandonware, because seeing as the profits are gone anyways, the companies have nothing to lose.

Unless, of course, they plan on releasing their own emulated computer downloads of old games, which I would pay for.