Some pretty big news recently is the fact that Sony is releasing the first two PS2 God of War titles in a bundle on one BluRay disc, for play on the PS3. I was thinking for a bit that this was a pretty sweet idea. Although I'm not a fan of that particular franchise, it still opened up the idea that more titles from various developers could follow. Even though I already own all three games, it would be likely I'd re-purchase a Final Fantasy X/X-2/XII bundle, especially if they threw in a few new things or graphical upgrades during the process.

Then, I was suddenly fed a horrible idea that I hadn't thought of. I was talking with a friend the other day about this very subject, and he burst my bubble with this outrageous thought: Sony has no intention of ever adding backwards compatibility to the PS3 because they're going to make us re-purchase everything we want for the system in the form of these PS2 game bundles. At first, I started to disagree…but I stopped myself. Slowly, the realization came that I wouldn't put it past Sony to pull something like that.

I assume when Sony "rebuilds" these games for the PS3 they will not require emulation software or hardware to run - thus their firm stance recently that we will never again see backwards compatibility for PS2 titles on that console. To be honest, its not that huge of a deal for me - I still have my old PS2 slim and it works just fine. The PS2 is such an RPG powerhouse that I have a feeling I'll keep it around for years to come, just to be able to play my large collection of RPGs for the system whenever I want. However, it would have been nice just to need one piece of hardware to do that instead of two. I had hoped that, with the PS3 Slim models, they would add backwards compatibility back to the system, but those hopes are now shattered. Thanks Sony.

If they start mass releasing PS2 game bundles in PS3 format, I really can't say I would be inclined to buy them, whether I own the game or not. I'd be more likely to go out and find the original PS2 version of the game if I want to play it that bad and don't already own it. The more bundles they release, the more I would be sure that it’s the reason they are now staunchly opposed to backwards compatibility on the PS3. Not that I'm against Sony making money, but it’s the principle of the matter that will cause me to avoid these bundles.