US and European PS3 rumors set straight
Just in case you hadn't already caught wind, our pals over at Joystiq shed some light on Europe's backwards compatibility crux and the 20GB PS3 "shortage" here in the States -- two bubbles of drama that have now been popped by Dave Karraker, Senior Director of Communications at SCEA. Let's start with the Engadget readers' of the woods: screw you Sony, for holding out on those 20GBs, right? Karraker deflates that accusation, pointing the finger at retailers who have requested more 60GB stock -- averaging at 80 percent 60GB and 20 percent 20GB, to be exact. And you can't really argue with that, can you? Now let's hop across the ocean where PS3s will make their (fashionably?) late first appearance in Europe come next Friday. Despite all the setbacks, backwards compatibility might not be a disaster after all. Karraker says that Euro PS3s just need a launch firmware upgrade, which will arrive on March 23rd, along with a legit compatibility list -- essentially what we thought would be the case. Simple as that (we hope).
