Hardcore and casual gamers in Europe will be incensed all the more when it comes to way Sony handles their European customers. Everyone knows that after the Japanese and North American markets, the European market is also vital for both hardware developers and game publishers worldwide. Unfortunately, at the rate Sony is going by alienating the European gamers, the PlayStation 3 might be a failure long before the current generation console race is over. What makes us say that? For starters, the PS3 will be launched at the end of March, which is more than a quarter later than the U.S. and Japanese markets. In addition, European gamers won’t be able to purchase the lower end 20GB version, instead having to settle for the 60GB model which retails for approximately £100 more than its equivalent across the Atlantic.

That is not the only bad news to come from Sony. David Reeves, president of SCEE, says that the European PS3 will offer a lower amount of backwards compatibility with PS2 games compared to the NTSC version of the console. He claims that this is due to the fact Sony are currently concentrating its resources to developing new games and exclusive entertainment features on the PS3 instead of attending making the PS3 have a decent level of backwards compatibility. This is due to the fact that the European PS3 will feature a different chassis that lowers manufacturing costs, removing the PS2 chip (also known as the Emotion Engine) in the process.

How are our European readers coping with the kind of marketing moves thrown by Sony? Will you be rushing out to pick up a PS3 when it is finally released, or will you skip Sony in favor of Microsoft and Nintendo for this round?

Source: Game Addicts