Okay. So about a year ago, I was watching a DVD with my older sister (West World -wonderful film, by the way) in my room on my PlayStation3. First you should note: My PlayStation3 was a launch PS3, 60 GB harddrive that had been gutted out and replaced with a 500GB harddrive. All together, making it nearly a $800 dollar investment on my part. Anyway, let's move on.

So, I go to get us some root beers, then I hear my sister call my name. I come back and she said: "Um... your Playstation just shut off." "Did you sit on the blu-ray remote again?" "No, it's on your desk over there." 'The hell?" I went over to it. There was no activity on the screen, but there was a single yellow light lit up on the lip of the device near the disc holder.

I turned it off, thinkking it was just a fluke... and then turned it on again. It didn't work, and the yellow light was back. I started to get a little nervous, so I plug-pulled.

Same damn thing.

I looked it up a game forum I frequent, and discovered a term for describing a dead PS3 with a burnt out mother board called the yellow light of death.

The gamer inside me went into a coma at that moment, and the fan-girl within me started drifting away like that horribly written **** in the Twiligjt series. Belle, Bella? (not worth looking up on wikipedia... let's proceed) In the midst of this, my consumer self went into a panic.

Naturally, when my father came home (he was on a cruise with my mother in Alaska) I told him about what happened. First note, he is a retired cheif Raytheon engineer--yes, the company that deals in weapons, technology, aerospace etc... basically as close as you will get in real life to Stark Industries. (but sorry, Ironman doesn't exist you silly little fanboy) He looked up a few tutorials online and cracked it open very carefully. He then replaced some of the material (that was black and falling appart) with some sticky goo he purchased at radio shack and a self-made circuit store) and tried to replace them. But no matter what he did, the yellow light was always there.

So, after a four months or so of slaving with numerous housework jobs for my parents, I secured a new slim PS3. But after I hooked it up, etc... I discovered something that REALLY pissed me off!

No backwards compatibility. None. Zip. Completely devoid of all that made the PS3 initially wonderful. I hit my own head with the controller on purpose. Because my collection, is mostly PS2 and PSone games of the most legendary calibur; some of them incredibly RARE! I had a black rimmed Final Fantasy VII for god's sake that I lucked out with on an ebay bid! Seriously, now I couldn't play my favorite games, such as Final Fantasy X, XII, Kingdom Hearts, Devil May Cry, Jak and Daxter, etc. If I could, I would smash the device, but it wasn't worth it after slaving away for it for so long.

I send off some of them to my dearest friends, while selling the rest. I was fortunate that Final Fantasy VII & VIII and Resident Evil were available via PSN. But I was still very angry. I paid a fortune for these games, only to sell them off for an insignicant sum at Gamestop, and to play them again I had to pay ten bucks for each one? It made me sick.

Add now woop-dee-doo. PSN has finally launched PlayStation2 games for the PSN network. Which makes me think. Seriously? You didn't include backwards compatibility, but now you are selling us digital copies of these games for ten to twenty bucks a piece? SONY? I never thought I would say in 2006, having waited for your brilliance only to be broken apart four years later, put back together again by a tiny bit oof hope and only to be betrayed again-- but it's over! I am buying only the games I am presently tracking, and then I am leaving you and every game company I have ever been affiliated. Because rebuilding my childhood is NOT worth spending a thousand dollars to replace every piece of the puzzle you bestowed to me and took away in a flash thanks to poor manufacturing and the horrible hope in exploiting the consumer.

Tah-tah.