I'm convinced that the removal of backwards compatibility is to sell more PS3 games which Sony needs to make up for the loss they are selling the PS3 for. It has nothing to do with cost reduction to produce.

Ok good stuff. Now make the PS3 more desirable by adding in:

- Divx and Xvid codec support.
- Skype support.

This is a "multimedia" system right? Come on SONY....get with the program already. You want sales right?

i wonder when they'll update the "parts cost" list for the ps3
surely the amount they're losing would have reduced by now

overall ps3 is faltering
sony are extending the life of ps2 to something like 2010 when they'll final stop producing them
the ps2 is a pretty big killer of ps3 sales but in the end i guess it helps sony more than it hurts them
given that ps2 is a money maker right now and is still selling decently

why don't they just put a ps3 elite model out there for $25-50 bux more w/ BC? Give users the option instead of makin 'em buy an actual ps2.

loss of ps2 functionality is really a bad thing when theres a total oh what... 4 good PS3 games ?

This system, like the Wii, suffers from lack of a library.

( Wii has some great games, but to a "hardcore" gamer, theres almost nothing )

I read somewhere else that removing PS2 compatibility from the design didn't reduce the cost of the unit. It's probably just to make people buy the more expensive set.

So....who wants to buy a 20gb PS3? :)

Sony now forecasts they're going to sell more PS2s than PS3s again this year (12 million PS2s, 2 million more than they planned; they also claim they're going to sell 11 million PS3s by the end of March, but given they're sitting at about half that right now they're going to have to have one heck of a holiday season to make that happen). I realize people want to simplify their AV stacks and may not have enough inputs on their TV or receiver, but most people who have PS2 games already have a PS2 they can hang on to -- or can go buy one. Given that PS2s turn a profit at this point and PS3s do not, it would actually make Sony's financials look better in the short run to drive potential PS3 purchasers back to the PS2 ;)

Go check the compatibility list -- not all games are great with the emulation.

The lack of "PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility" would be a shame. The wife and I still play some old PS2 games from time to time.