PS2 Games on PSN

I just realized that perhaps the Mayans were right. The world will end in 2012. Why am I saying this? Well, because Sony had just announced that they will be selling 4 "rare" PlayStation 2 games on the PlayStation Network Store on the PlayStation 3 - God Hand, GRiMgRiMoiRe, Ring of Red, and Odin Sphere - and a majority of the responses I have seen around the web revolved around the curiosity of whether or not these releases will have trophy support. Are you kidding me? People are a lot crazier than we thought...

Don't get me wrong: If you never had these games before, getting them on the PSN
is mighty fine. It's just that without the return of backwards compatibility, Sony is doing us wrong.

What I really want to know is whether or not these releases signify the coming of a new patch that will enable the "newer" PS3 consoles to recognize PlayStation 2 discs and play those games properly since it is apparent now that the PS3 is of course more than capable of running PS2 games. There had been a rumor in the past that Sony was going to release a PS2 disc-drive add-on for the PS3 but that never became true but even if such a device would be needed, it would still be an appreciated gesture despite forcing those with PS2 games to shell out more money to play the PS2 games on the PS3. But that would be a lot better than what Sony is doing now, which is to resell digital versions of PS2 games on the PSN while blocking their users access to the console's capability of playing PS2 games unless you still have the early PS3 models - mine already passed away. I am still a little hopeful though. Maybe with tomorrow's release of these games come the announcement about PS3 being fully backwards compatible again. Still, Microsoft was able to get away with selling classics on the X-Box 360 instead of adding more games into the console's backwards compatibility list. And with the way that the general public is reacting to this news, Sony will be able to get away with it too, with a lot of cash in their pockets. I have been suspecting that Sony was going to capitalize on PS2 games on the PSN ever since they made the jerk move of ending the backwards compatibility support and I am bit surprised that it took them this long to start doing exactly that.

Update Note: 10/04/2011 - It has been confirmed that the PS2 games being released are just basic ports and will not feature improved graphics nor trophy support. No words yet on a firmware update to allow full backwards compatibility with PS2 discs - I suppose we shouldn't be holding our breaths on that one because selling PS2 games on the PSN will make Sony a hefty profit. Also, I failed to mention that Maximo: Ghosts to Glory will also be a part of today's launch.