Sony has now released some more information about the coming launch in Europe (March 23) and, alas, this is not the good kind of news. It namely seems that the version of PlayStation 3 that will be launched in Europe will use software instead of dedicated chips to emulate PlayStation 2 games. This means that the number of PS2 games that will work with the new console has been reduced. Sony says that it wants to put more focus on the new consoles and that gamers instead should consider what the PS3 has to offer and perhaps forget the promises about full backwards compatibility. We should point out though that the American/Asian PS3 plays up to 98% of all PS2 games, with varying performance and quality, and exactly how many games less we’re talking about the article doesn’t say.
Perhaps we could hope that a software solution means that there are future updates coming, but that doesn’t seem to interest Sony all that much, even if we certainly hope that it change its mind.
“Rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3,”
