Dear Future Gamer,

I think backwards compatibility can only be a good thing for the PS2. It can certainly only be a good thing for Sony. Only recently has the phenomenon of upgrading existing consoles come about. I'll also wager that most PS owners are playing on their first gaming console (for years, at least).

I was still happily playing on my SNES when the PlayStation came out. I eventually upgraded to the PS when the price had dropped somewhat and there was a decent back catalogue of games. I had fond dreams of keeping my faithful SNES next to the Station and enjoying both sets of games as the mood took me. After all, I reasoned, why should I no longer enjoy the old games at the expense of the new?

The SNES quickly found its way into a box as it all became a mite too cluttered. While I still play it occasionally, the hassle of setting it up means that the PlayStation has become the console of choice for quick-fix gaming. The upshot of this is that a collection of truly classic games carefully honed over about five years is now gathering dust, unless I have a really strong desire to play Super Metroid or Mario Kart.

The point is that I have a large collection of PlayStation games now and I hate the thought of them going the same way. The point about the past never being as good as you think is indeed a valid one; I have loads of emulated Speccy titles and they mostly stink when the nostalgia is stripped away. This is inevitable as time passes, but the option to run both collections side-by-side until this takes effect is nice to have. Also, when a current game becomes a crusty old retro title is different for each person, and to have the option of when to put the Station out to grass is good.

On a lighter note, keep us informed about the PS2 and I hope all the info turns out to be correct. I, for one, won't be rushing out to buy a Dreamcast.

Anon

FG: It’s human nature to want the biggest, shiniest toys and as you point out, the desire to play a game on a ‘dead’ machine has got to be very strong before it’s acted on. I think the difference these days, though, is that the games on PlayStation now are not the sad, tired old games that you’d previously expect to be on a dead machine. Gran Turismo 2, Ridge Racer 4? These are still going to be valid games to play on the PlayStation 2 and for that reason, backwards compatibility is indeed a good thing.