PlayStation 3 will be fully backwards compatible with its predecessor PlayStation 2, which is great of course, the problem is how do you solve such a thing in the simplest manner possible? Since PS3 has a radically new architecture it’s not easy letting it handle games developed for the PS2 architecture, just ask Microsoft. Now information has surfaced that sounds just as astonishing as interesting, namely that Sony’s answer to the backwards compatibility would be to integrate large portions of the PS2’s hardware into the new PS3. You would more or less get a PS2 for free when buying a new PS3.
Its actually not as farfetched as one might think at first as Sony has earlier shown that there is no problem with fitting PS2 hardware onto a small surface when it launched the PS2 Slim version. This time it will most likely be just the combined circuit with Emotion Engine (CPU) and Graphics Synthesizer (GPU), which makes the amount of space needed quite small. The cost of this circuit is also relatively low, especially considering the recommended price for PS3. This would be quite an interesting solution to the problem with backwards compatibility but whether this unconfirmed information is correct remains to be seen.
