The PS2 Is No Computer Says UK Judge

[Zeus]

In a recent UK court hearing, a judge has ruled that the PS2 can not be classed as a computer - why is this of any significance ? Well Sony reps are touting the PS3 as being syoer a home computer, with what some believe an attempt to avoid certain EU duties as shown via the release of Linux for the PS2 also. The judge dismissed Sony's claims as a 'skeleton argument'.



As we've mentioned before, the reason Sony is claiming the PS3 is a computer is because they want to avoid an expensive EU import levy. This is also the reason they released Linux for the PS2. But the UK courts saw through Sony's case for the transparent, largely semantic ploy it was.

Dismissing Sony's entire argument as a joke, Lord Justicee Chadwick said Sony's "skeleton argument" went "beyond what can be regarded as acceptable written advocacy." He continued:

I am not protesting about [the Sony appeal's] inordinate length, nor about its discursive quality, nor about its frequent and unnecessary resort to hyperbole, although all those unappealing features are present...

My concern is with the repeated aspersions that are cast in that document on the intellectual honesty of the High Court Judge from whose decision this appeal is brought.


News Source: <a href="http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/sony/uk-court-of-appeals-says-ps2-is-not-a-computer-181997.php" target="_blank">Kotaku</a> via <a href="http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2006/772.html" target=_blank">Bailii.org</a>

[Osiris]

Owned so bad..

It seems the world is turning against Sony and it's Playstation franchise..

[The Bat]

What software was Sony hyping up for the PS3? First person shooting games, racing games, fighting games, card battle games, road warrior games, sports games, realtime strategy games...

Wait a sec, how about driver support for third party printers and storage devices? How did Sony announce their work of easing code written for Gentoo, Redhat, Ubuntu, Freespire, etc. for PS3 Linux development? What work was being done to see that popular utilities such as Firefox, Azureus, Filezilla, VirtualDub, JWPCE, and other popular programs available in other flavours of Linux get ported over to the PS3? None, right? Looks like Sony is trying the same tactic with the PS3 as they did with the PS2 anyways though, based on how they're currently trying to promote it.

It's nice to see the courts getting something right. I wonder if the judge is a gamer.

[rukow]

Well, in a view days S$ny will probably try to sell PSP as a "nextgen notebook" :D

[Retroboy]

????

sony putting linux on a ps2...erm pointless the console is old and this is bollocks, why would sony try and add something to make the import cost cheaper when the ps3 is comming and nearly everyone who wants a ps2 has one.

[The Bat]

????

sony putting linux on a ps2...erm pointless the console is old and this is bollocks, why would sony try and add something to make the import cost cheaper when the ps3 is comming and nearly everyone who wants a ps2 has one.

Actually, Linux was hyped for the PS2 around the same time the the PS2 HDD came out in Japan, with Final Fantasy 11. Despite Sony's claim that the PS2 could be turned into a home PC with the HDD, Linux was never supported after the one kit for it was turned out.

I only included the PS3 side because Sony was making nearly similar claims for the PS2, although talking about outside parties assembling "built to order" systems supporting special versions of the Windows O/S is new. Then again, the PS3 HDD will be released outside of Japan, where I believe most of Sony's first party development takes place.

[rukow]

The boys at S$ny hoped to recieve some retroactive payment. They would more likely sell their mothers then to forgo some 30-50 mil.

PS2 is a mega seller - so it's easy to forecast they will sell millions more devices even years after PS3 launch.