Ouch!

Wonder what it feels like to be a PlayStation fanboy in Japan right now? Just look at the picture. The PS3 launched November 11th in Japan and as you would expect, quickly sold out.

Unfortunately for Japanese gamers, it was quickly discovered that the system was having major problems playing PS1 and PS2 games. In each PS3 there is PS1 and PS2 hardware that is supposed to allow gamers to be able to play games from all three systems. Oops.

When the 360 was launced gamers faced a similar problem but were at least aware of it ahead of time. Initially only the best selling Xbox games (Halo, GTA, etc.) were available for play on the 360. Microsoft periodically updates the backwards compatability list and is currently at a few hundred but they took a lot of heat for it at the time.

This case is a little bit different. The PS3 was supposed to be able to play all PlayStation games right out of the box. Don't think that the U.S. versions will be immune either. According to news organization Reuters, Sony is expecting the same thing to happen to consoles in the States with the number of games being effected in the hundreds. Yikes! I guess I won't be playing Metal Gear Solid or Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories any time soon.

Combine this bad news with the frightening stories I've been hearing about the PS3 being harder to find then a Kevin Federline concert-goer and it all spells bad news for Sony and PlayStation fans (unless you're crazy enough to buy one on ebay for $3K). While a software update is expected to solve the problem at somepoint, suddenly that 360/Wii Christmas gift is looking a little more enticing.

And finally... - Here are some Guitar Hero II cheats because I'm a nice guy (sorry Ryan, couldn't find any Sleeve of Wizard cheats for you). Enter these at the title menu.

Orange, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Orange, Yellow - Hyper Speed De/Activate
O,B,Y,Y,O,B,Y,Y - Crowd has Monkey Heads
Y,Y,B,O,Y,B - Air Guitar
O,Y,O,O,Y,O,Y,Y - Flaming Head
B,O,O,B,O,O,BO,O,B - Horse Head
B,O,Y,O,Y,O,B - Crowd has Eyeball Heads
Yellow, Yellow, Blue, Yellow, Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Yellow - Performance mode

terry.terrones@gazette.com