Simon Byron, editor of Develop, the bi-monthly newsletter which is circulated to developers, gives his reaction to news of PlayStation 2.

I’ve seen the future, and I like it. The big issue was always going to be backwards-compatibility - and hats off to Sony for doing what everyone thought they wouldn’t.

Obviously the technical specifications are hugely impressive on paper - but, even more obviously, it’ll be the quality of the software that will convince people to upgrade. With that in mind, let’s hope Sony pick jaw-dropping launch titles; not cack like Tomb Raider 4. People need to see that the system offers more than their current one, and another Lara Croft game just won’t do it for me, especially considering that the series has lacked sparkle since the first sequel.

It’ll cost a fortune to develop for, though - which means software could be pricey, and publishers will need to know the game will succeed before they invest. Could be an unintentionally good method of quality control, though.

Good news about it using DVD, too. It’s using MPEG 2, so hopefully you’ll be able to play movies on it as well as games. And if that is the case then the elusive set-top box is just over a year away. Excellent.