Sony is punishing UK PlayStation 2 buyers for the European Commission's decision to classify the console as a video game by withholding 100 of the machine's 128 bits of processing power.

At least that's the implication behind what's written on the PlayStation 2 specification chart on Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's UK Web site.

It says: "CPU: 28-bit 'Emotion Engine'", which technically puts the next-generation console between the 16-bit Nintendo Entertainment System and the 32-bit Sega Saturn. Apparently.

This is the third blow Sony has dealt to UK PlayStation fans. Having put back the console's UK debut by a month - it was originally slated for 26 October, but will now take place on 24 November - Sony last week cut the initial allocation of units for the territory to 165,000 from around 200,000 - despite promising in September that no such cut would be made.

One PlayStation gamer, interviewed on London's famous Oxford Street, said: "I'm gutted. I was really looking forward to that 128-bit gaming power, but now I'll have to put up with less than a quarter of that. I mean, what can you play with just 28 bits? 'eff all, that's what. If I that Ken Kutaragi was here right now, I'd tell him: 'Oy! Kutaragi, NO! I respect your game console constructing excellence, but bring back my bits, NOW'!" ®

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Sony UK's PlayStation 2 spec

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