Not total sales, initial sales.

None!

If I have the previous console, it is basically a worthless feature.

Backwards compatibility has to be done completely right.

I wasn't talking about that. Every console I've getten this gen broke on me, yet I have a busted up, abused N64 that works without fail. They don't make them like they used to.

Only for digital content.

When I buy a new console and its still early in its life span, the handful of new games will only last me so long. Yet I still want to continue gaming on the new machine; cue backwards compatibility.

The ability to carry my favorite experiences over to the new console helps me accept the change. The analogy I would make is like I'm meeting a friend, but we haven't hung out in years. Sure he's cooler and better dressed, but I also need to know he has kept that old school charm.

Let me make a point here: with handhelds backward compatibility is important, even if you have the previous console. Are you going to carry around a GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, and Nintendo 3DS around with you?

That's pretty bad. Did you shot-put your Xbox or PS like 20 feet? Haha. Just kidding... But seriously, I don't know how everyones' stuff breaks all the time. My N64 actually seems to have aged the worst out of all the consoles. Another note, is that I had a GCN for 7 years, then I gave it to a friend and it broke within months. They by default thought it was the consoles fault, even though they were smoking in the same room, dropping it, touching the lens, etc. I know for a fact they just didn't take care of it. This is the durability list in order from my experience:
1. GCN
2. Wii U
3. Wii
4. NES 2
5. SNES
6. NES
?. Virtual Boy(never played or had)

I take very good care of my consoles. That's why all my other consoles still work. The N64 was my bro's until he gave it to me. Believe me, it has nothing to do with what I've been doing that caused these things to malfunction.

i like the idea of selling my original console, but still being able to play all my games on the newer console. if i can't do that, i need to spend more money, and the economy's rough, so i can't imagine myself going out and buying a $500-$1000 dollar system without selling my system. granted, i'd earn more money if i sold my games along w/the console, but i might still want to play them!
i bought a wiiU late last year, and since i hadn't owned a wii before, the BC was a big deal to me, because i wanted to play the games of the last generation without paying even more!
BC is a BIG deal to me, and is a large piece of the pie on whether or not i buy a game or not.

For digital content, I'm bothered about it. For retail discs, I'm not.

Reason being that I kept a stack of old Xbox titles when the 360 came out, and never touched them. I kept the likes of Ico and Shadow of The Colossus and then bought a back-compat PS3, only to find that I didn't load them up once. Then they brought out HD remakes of those titles and I bought them instead.

I would like to know that my £400 worth of Rock Band 3 DLC is playable in the next generation, or that the £400 of PSN and £1,000+ of Xbox Live Arcade stuff I have will make the transition, though!

I was all about it when moving onto the DS and Wii, but now, I'd much rather play games on their original system rather than the new system. I currently play all my Wii games on my Wii and prefer playing on an original DS for my DS games rather than my 3DS. Still though, I do think it's a feature that should be on offer as it's a nice bonus.

His point still stands.

You must be treating them pretty rough. I've only had one break and that was my 1st Saturn but it didnt break till like 2005. The CD drive went out.

I really want it but it wont cause me not to buy the console but it helps

I'm not certain Sony will release any games for the PS4 that I like, so being backwards compatible with the PS3 is absolutely necessary. Without backwards compatability, I'd have to repurchase all of the HD re-releases I've bought, repurchase all of the PS3 games I've bought, repurchase all of the PS1 games I already repurchased for the PSN, repurchase all of the Pixeljunk and other PSN games. I don't think it's realistic to just have everything hooked up at once either, as my TV stand only has so much space for consoles, and I'm not going to go digging through my closet and move furniture to get behind the TV to hook everything back up again just to play an old game. At this point, I don't even think I'll get a PS4 at all.

Nintendo does it right. They make the current system backwards compatible with the last generation only, and then offer everything before that digitally. They've only had to deal with retail releases before though. Although there really wasn't anything worth buying through wii-ware for me, I appreciate that I can take everything I bought on that and virtual console and still be able to play them on the WiiU by transferring the data.

I sure as hell am not, and I will fight you over that.

Let's hope backwards compatibility isn't important, for Sony's sake.

@Neoproteus why buy PS4 if you don't think Sony will release games you like?