Everyone's watching Gamespot pages regarding Sony's current business problems and pontificating as to how the planned reductions in personnel and functionality will affect their console divisions, especially the PS3 which is still sold at a loss and has not yet turned out a profit. Microsoft have not yet released such worrying announcements which is leading some people, particularly XBOX owners, to decide that this is proof that Microsoft make the better machine. True, XBL is more friendly and usable than PSN and XBOX programming is easier due to its PC legacy but the XBOX really is a repackaged PC at heart and not a new one. PS3 technology wins hands down.

However, Sony needs to limit the redundancies to one person: the guy who decided to drop the backwards compatibility. This was present in the UK 60GB PS3 as a software emulator, it being announced that developing the hardware to run PS2 titles would detract from the PS3's true potential and power. They then decided to stop putting it on machines when the UK 40GB model was released! In one foul swoop they divided their own market and gave the XBOX the advantage of appealling equally to PS2 owners looking to upgrade. Why buy a powerful, expensive PS3 when a cheaper XBOX which showed no apparent shortfall in performance game at the time, game for game, would do the trick? Why stick to the brand if you still had to keep your PS2 to play more than the two good games available on PS3 format back in 2006? Sony even rationaled that PS2 owners would "trade in their old console and titles to buy the PS3" as a reason to withdraw backwards compatibility.

Now with the financial vice growing tighter, is this not a perfect time to re-release the emulator software? PS2 titles, pre-owned are cheap as chips and I am lucky enough that my 60GB PS3 can play 95% of these. I wish other PS3 owners could do this too, when everyone still wants to play but nobody can afford to buy PS3 games.

If Sony repackaged the emulator as a PSN title this would envigorate PS3 sales. PS2 owners would see the PS3 as a logical progression instead of a quantum leap in price, the PS2 emulator would make a profit on PSN and current PS3 owners would have access to their favourite old games at bargain prices during the recession.