George Bain, the development relations manager for Sony Europe, released some groundbreaking news about the Playstation 2 console and the development of the games for it.

For the first time ever, Sony is allowing anyone in Europe to make games for the Playstation 2, with no approval required by Sony. This is the first time ever that a console has taken this route.

In the past, Sony had to approve all content that was made for the console, charging a development fee as well, but all of that will be a thing of the past. You can expect this to extend the life of the system because it makes development affordable for smaller developers, especially those in smaller territories such as Russia and India. Sony can still make money from this arrangement by selling development kits for the console.

Bain told audiences at Creative Connect in Kiev, Ukraine that this provides the chance for people to "create low-development cost titles and release them in their market”.

"This has never been done before," he said. "This is something we’re actively promoting."

GameDaily, which reported Bain’s comments, didn’t say whether the open platform model would reach North American shores.