YABASIC Pack-in In Europe
November 8, 2000

As we reported earlier, Sony has been trying to get European governments to classify the Playstation 2 as a "computer" rather than a "videogame".  The reason is that, should it be classified as a computer, Sony won't have to pay a 2.2% tax on each system sold because it will put the PS2 in a lower import tariff category.  

Well, Sony has now announced that each system sold in Europe will come with a free disk that has the program YABASIC (Yet Another BASIC) on it.  Talented programmers will be able to code very simple games using the programming language, including some very simple 3D routines, and save their code to the PS2 memory card.  Since this disk is only being included with the system in Europe (and not Japan or North America), this is obviously a very smart attempt by Sony to strengthen its case that the PS2 is a computer and not a videogame system...thus avoiding the tax.  Consumers win because they now have a fun disk to play around with, and Sony (hopefully) wins because the PS2 can now function more like a computer.