Italian PS3 owners want their PS2 soccer
by Kyle Orland 
{ Mar 28th 2007 at 12:25PM }
While Sony may boast that over 1,000 PS2 games work on the modified European PS3, statistics don't matter much if your favorite game doesn't work correctly. Case in point, an editorial in Italy's Corriere Della Sera with the translated headline "Yesterday I bought a PS3. Today, I'm selling it." Apparently, at least one journalist is so mad about the PS3's lack of full support for Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series (Eurogamer points out that the online matches don't work) that he is willing to sell the system at a discount just days after buying it. He's not alone, either. An Italian consumer association is reportedly demanding that Sony address the compatibility issues or offer PS3 owners a free game. Hell hath no fury like an Italian footie fan scorned.
[Via GameSetWatch]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
silkylove @ Mar 28th 2007 12:33PM
Not making footie fully compatible on the Euro PS3 is a bad move by sony. That would be like Microsoft not making Halo compatible on the 360.
jaysins @ Mar 28th 2007 12:40PM
Knowing many people from Europe I know better than to mess with them and their football. That's a beating just waiting to happen.
WamBAm @ Mar 28th 2007 12:42PM
Still, whenever you buy tech that's still in it's infancy, to demand that every little thing work properly is kind of silly. Every console needs time to work out the kinks. So, to go crazy because Pro Evo Soccer doesn't work and act like this is some afront to Italians (the state of Italian soccer is an afront to Italians) is over reaction. Early adopters have always had this problem.
And why the heck would you buy a PS3 is your sole interest is a PS2 game anyway? Did this writer really need to buy one at launch if he intended to focus on a PS2 game?
Zamfir @ Mar 28th 2007 12:42PM
Maybe these folks should have searched the compatibility list *before* purchasing a PS3 if was *that* important to them. Can we find anymore "case in point" PS3 FUD to post today?
JesseJames @ Mar 28th 2007 12:49PM
Yeah; he aint alone; there's like 2 other people screaming about it!
Savok @ Mar 28th 2007 12:50PM
No #1's right, this is basically the 360 not being able to play Halo 2 for Europe. Europe already hates Sony, this just runs it deeper. Europeans can hold grudges for centuries as well, another crap move by Sony.
JesseJames @ Mar 28th 2007 12:50PM
And somehow they'd be better off with the Wii or 360 right?
shase @ Mar 28th 2007 12:51PM
Yeah the story is ridiculous. True one can be pissed if his/her favorite game isnt working on PS3 but demanding free game or anything is ridiculous. And buying a brand new console AT LAUNCH to PS2 games is not a smart move either....
J.Goodwin @ Mar 28th 2007 1:54PM
Well, hey, it's alright because it's not like Xbox360 has defacto next-gen soccer exclusivity until fall right?
Willozap @ Mar 28th 2007 1:51PM
Surely this was an opportunity to put up a picture of Zidane's head butt. Surely! What a waste of a post. I need to see that headbutt again.
Jon @ Mar 28th 2007 12:56PM
Idiots. Why didn't they just keep their PS2 consoles if they want to play PS2 games? Whenever I make my move to next-gen, I will surely be keeping my old consoles.
Tush @ Mar 28th 2007 12:57PM
JesseJames and shase are missing the point.
Read post number 1 a few more times.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 28th 2007 12:58PM
I'd demand a free game, too. Consoles are supposed to just work. No firmware updates needed. If Sony wants to call the PS3 backwards compatible and something doesn't work, then we're talking about false advertising and they should be nailed with every sanction they can for it. If it wasn't ready to do everything as advertised and perfectly, don't release it. 600 euros for an incomplete product is absolute bull. Paying anything for an incomplete product is absolute bull. Especially game consoles. This is the first generation we have to sit around and regularly patch the things. Bad move Sony, coulda one-upped Microsoft by saying, "Hey, OURS works right out of the box, no need to update your firmware for necessity. WE (caps intentional) update ours to give you stuff we didn't promise you." Nope, didn't happen. They couldn't wait for it to be done.
shase @ Mar 28th 2007 1:00PM
@10
I read that. You cant really compare soccer with halo because there are reiterations every year... anyway, he's a fool if he started playing a ps2 game on a system bought AT LAUNCH
J.Goodwin @ Mar 28th 2007 1:56PM
For the record...
Xbox 360 has an awful lot to offer soccer fans already:
FIFA Road to the World Cup 2006
FiFA World Cup 2006
FIFA 2007
UEFA Champions League 2006-2007
Pro Evolution Soccer 6 / Winning Eleven 2007
Worldwide Soccer Manager 2007
LMA Manager 2007
and that's not mentioning Love Football in Japan.
Plus FIFA 2003, FIFA 2004, FIFA Street, Pro Evolution Soccer 5/Winning Eleven 9, Soccer Slam, and Urban Freestyle Soccer are all BC.
Todd @ Mar 28th 2007 1:09PM
Since Europe is so gung-ho with Soccer, I think this slight oversight is a big one on Sony.
BPM @ Mar 28th 2007 1:15PM
"Still, whenever you buy tech that's still in it's infancy, to demand that every little thing work properly is kind of silly."
Yeah, except PS3 ISN'T in its infacy. It's been around since November (North America and Japan, at least), so that's quite a bit of development time to get a PS2 emulator working properly.
Even before the console was released in NA and JP, a statement was made that they would eventually be switching from hardware to software emulation (I think it was just shocking they'd make the change so soon, for Europe), so they've had development time for the PS2 emulator even before the November launches.
But, yeah, keep a PS2 until the PS3 is completely backwards compatable (if ever).
Admiral @ Mar 28th 2007 1:18PM
@11: Sony never claimed complete backwards compatibility. The few problems with the US compatibility list were well documented (and proclaimed gleefully by anti-Sony factions everywhere). The EU compatibility issues were even more well documented, due to the exclusion of the Emotion chip in that version of the unit.
Claiming false advertising here is just silly...the 'journalist' in questions should have checked the list before buying, just like the rest of the world.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 28th 2007 1:22PM
Just one more mark against this "infancy" argument.
By a show of hands, how many people had to update the firmware on their PS2 to get it working right?
*counts*
None.
By a show of hands, how many people had to update the firmware on their Gamecube to get it working right?
*counts*
None
By a show of hands, how many people had to update the firmware on their Xbox to get it working right?
*counts*
Put your hands down, you did it for extra features.
*counts again*
None
I could do the same thing with the PS1, N64, SNES, Master System, NES, Atari ####, Gameboy, Gameboy Advanse, DS, Coleco, etc.
So, the question is, why are the 360 and PS3 having such a tough time doing this? This "infancy" argument is lame. The PSP, 360, Wii and PS3 are the ONLY consoles that require firmware updates to give us promised features and to get them working as advertised. This is not acceptable and we should not patron these companies until they give us the same hassle-free experience we've had for the past 30 years.
We expect this stuff from PCs because they do so much more than a console that no one has even bothered to try to figure it out because the number is so massive. Consoles are uniform machines, so when an ADVERTISED FEATURE IS NOT WORKING RIGHT THIS MOMENT, we should be not be anything other than highly irate and demand compensation for BETA testing the new system. People get paid to test these things so we shouldn't have to. If we are expected to test, us early adpoters should be getting huge discounts to put up with all these stupid updates, not the other way around.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 28th 2007 1:25PM
Admiral -
It says PS2 and PS1 backward compatibility right on the box. How is that not advertising? The only disclaimer I can find is on the Playstation site and consumers should not have to go to the internet and read fine print for something written right on the box.
BPM @ Mar 28th 2007 1:46PM
To back up LaughingTarget, Sony had promised full backwards compatability. One speaker from Sony even took a jab at Microsoft's and Nintendo's backwards compatability offerings.
Something to the line of "one having partial backwards compatability, and the other having none." Which, didn't really make any sense, since the 360 IS partially Xbox-compatable (and at least upscales the games), and the Wii is fully compatable with GameCube games*, and older systems can be played via Virtual Console.
*NOTE: Excluding games that needed the network adapters... All two of them for online play, and the small handful of LAN games.
Admiral @ Mar 28th 2007 2:19PM
@21:
And the PS3 will NEVER offer any soccer games.
Pfft.
PS FIFA 07 is supposed to be supported on the PS3 as well.
Wavebossa @ Mar 28th 2007 2:31PM
@21
Well said, well said.
Not having soccer in Europe (even if it's only one ps2 game) is not smart. I'm not a fanboy of any system, but sony continues to dissapoint me time and time again with this next gen. I love my ps2 as much as my snes, why can't sony just pull a repeat of the ps2 instead of bungling up everything?
Yeef @ Mar 28th 2007 2:49PM
@16
Let me get this straight, you're angry at the fact that consoles offer firmware updates now? In case you forgot, in the past instead of updating the firmware they would just remodel the system and all of the people who had the older models were SoL. Bought a launch PS2 that couldn't play DVDs properly? You either had to buy the remote and instlal the update onto your memory card (which took up a huge chunk of space) or buy a later revision. But wait, even with the update from the remote you you'd have trouble playing back burned discs, so you had to buy a later revision. Not to mention there were a few PS1 games that didn't play properly (or at allon PS2), but with no firmware updates that'll never be fixed.
"It says PS2 and PS1 backward compatibility right on the box."
I doubt it says BC with every PS1 and PS2 game on the box. It DOES have backwards compatibility, so it's not really false advertising at all.
"I could do the same thing with the PS1, N64, SNES, Master System, NES, Atari ####, Gameboy, Gameboy Advanse, DS, Coleco, etc."
Try sticking an NES game into your SNES and tell me how that works out. The reason older systems 'just work' is because they were very closed formats. Genesis played Genesis games and that was it. Same goes for every other past console. To my knowledge there have been no problems with needed to update firmware just to play a game on any of the three new systems. Any problems are with additional features or standards compliance.
"We expect this stuff from PCs because they do so much more than a console"
Such as? That argument might have worked last generation, but I can't think of too much a PC could do that atleast one of the consoles can't. Of course there are things you can do TO a PC that you can't really with a console, but as far as software is concerned there's not too much of a difference. Besides, with the exception of the Wii the architectures of the consoles is so different from their predecessors that BC is the equivalent of trying to get every windows program to work in wine, it's not going to come overnight.
Saneless @ Mar 28th 2007 4:02PM
"And why the heck would you buy a PS3 is your sole interest is a PS2 game anyway? Did this writer really need to buy one at launch if he intended to focus on a PS2 game?"
That really is the main point. Why buy a system if the game you play/want to play isn't on it? When we're talking about the PS3, that is very likely going to be the case. Looks like someone got a case of hypeochondria
Zamfir @ Mar 28th 2007 2:57PM
"By a show of hands, how many people had to update the firmware on their PS2 to get it working right?"
There were many PS2 firmware updates. Don't you remember from the boot-up screen... if you pressed triangle, you could see the versions of the different firmware modules installed? The thing with the PS2 is that these updates were included on the media you bought and were installed transparently.
Sima @ Mar 28th 2007 4:33PM
Thing is though, Pro Evolution Soccer is probably one of the top 5 games played in Europe on ANY system.
For Sony not to fully support it is going to cause a lot of anger.
BPM @ Mar 28th 2007 3:31PM
"Genesis played Genesis games and that was it."
Objection!
The Genesis had the Power Base Converter attachment, which allowed for Master System games to be played.
Granted, it is an attachment, but the point remains that it COULD play Master System games.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 28th 2007 6:13PM
Zamfir -
That falls in expanded capabilities beyond what was promised and not patches to activate/fix basic or existing features. We didn't have to patch the PS2 to play PS1 games. Most of them worked right out of the box (10 I think is the number that don't function, a far cry better than the PS3). We didn't have to patch to get the dashboard working. We didn't have to patch anything. It worked. We put games in, they worked. Not the case with the PS3. We put a game in, it doesn't work. We have to wait for a patch or, for those who can't get it online which will be the majority of the customers, go out and get an update disk from wherever they come from. Unacceptable.
Let me reitorate: don't defend this. Sony should have all features as promised and advertised working perfectly. There is no infancy argument. It shouldn't have shipped, period. Unfortunately, Sony backed itself into a financial corner with this thing and couldn't afford to keep it under wraps any longer, however, we shouldn't care about Sony's piss-poor project management. It doesn't matter if we get a PS3 or not. We should all punish them by refusing to buy a PS3 until everything works perfectly and without hassle like all other consoles have before it. Same with Wiis and 360s.
Don't pay for potential, pay for results.
Biphster @ Mar 29th 2007 3:20AM
I'm a bit peshed that Rez and Vib Ribbon don't work on the PS3, Those games often come out when the booze and weed are flowing around friends. But to be honest i've been having too much fun with the PS3 specific stuff to be toooo bothered right now. I've not even transferred my Memory cards over yet. So these guys had to be super nuts about their football.. I wonder, don't they have a spare PS2 lying around? Seems a bit extreme.. Propaganda anyone?
BTW, i'm "European" but don't give a rats ass for football. Its not the be all and end all for everyone here. If GoW didn't work out the gate THAT would be a BIGGER problem, and more comparable to Halo. This is like saying Madden '07 doesnt work for you American folks.