Thursday, September 23, 2004 - Two days ago, when SCEA issued the press release about the new version of the PlayStation 2 to be launched this November, we immediately contacted the company's PR office to have more information about the lack of support for the HDD (Hard Disk Drive); in fact, by looking at the new system specs, it was easy to notice there was no mention to the presence of the good old Expansion Bay.

SCEA today confirmed that the new version of the PlayStation 2 will not have HDD support.

"The new PlayStation 2 was designed to be slimmer and more lightweight, and the current manufacturing, as well as capacity and design of the internal Hard Disk Drive would not allow for inclusion in the new hardware model"

"The design of the new hardware is NOT a sign of Sony Computer Entertainment's change in philosophy regarding the Hard Disk Drive. The internal Hard Disk Drive will continue to be sold in North America and Sony Computer Entertainment America will offer related services and customer support."

"Consumers who want and use the Hard Disk Drive are typically the more 'hard core' gamers, and with more than 27 million PlayStation 2 units already sold in North America, we feel that a majority of those HDD interested consumers already have their PlayStation 2 units."

The lack of support for the HDD in the new PlayStation 2 model is a bit disappointing, and it's actually difficult to understand the reasons of such a move considering that part of the good success of the Xbox is due to the inclusion of the Hard Disk Drive in the console. While the HDD will never be a key device for this generation of PlayStations, its inclusion in the new model could have been a confirmation of Sony Computer Entertainment's new philosophy. A PlayStation 2 with a built-in HDD would have helped changing the way many look at the console.

Anyhow SCEA adds at the end of the press release that the company is looking into "other memory options" for the new PlayStation 2.

Stay tuned on Ps2Fantasy.com for more updates.