Early PS3s to include PS2 hardware

NewsPosted 05/06/2006 - 6:00pm GMT+1

Japan's Ultra One technology magazine is reporting that the early PS3 consoles will include PS2 hardware to enable backwards compatibility.

There's more inside the PS3 than we thought

The magazine reports that, contrary to earlier reports about software emulation, the PlayStation 3 will use a hardware solution in order to run PlayStation 2 games. It's believed that the PlayStation 3 hardware in its current form not only features the new PS3 technology, but also the core components from the PlayStation 2 (Emotion Engine and Graphic Synthesizer).

Ultra One also notes that this hardware based approach to backwards compatibility is not in Sony's long term plans for the console, with a software solution to be implemented in later iterations of the PlayStation 3 once such a PlayStation 2 emulator is up to scratch.

The accuracy of the Ultra One report is still unknown, but the inclusion of the PS2 hardware in early PlayStation 3s would raise the total cost of each PS3, and thus increase Sony's losses. We'll be sure to keep an eye on this story.

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Anonymous@ mike_mgoblue

got better

Posted 18:18 on 27 June 2006

Silly Solly@ mike_mgoblue

PS3 Will be very unreliable. You would not want one of the first two revisions - steer cleaer for 18 months at least.

I'll get a Wii and upgrade the PC.

Posted 15:41 on 07 June 2006

umar@ mike_mgoblue

Even if sony do release early ps3's with a ps2 chipset i would still wait for them to get rid of that and put in the emmulator because the emmulator will run faster on the ps3

Posted 12:28 on 06 June 2006

i think sony is gonna have trouble with this console only cause those prices are too much for that price us consumers can buy a wii and a xbox 360 for that price. sony is gonna bite it and they are gonna have a tough time gettin through the 7 year agreement. buy the time they are ready for their next console microsoft will be way ahead of the game. who knows maybe if sony would come out with the pos3 instead of stalling the whole damn thing then we would probably be able to compare the 360 to the pos3, anyways i think the 360 is having alot of problems but im happy with mine and i think microsoft is doing ok but hopefully sony will release their console this year and we actually stop speculating about it and we will experience it first hand.

Posted 06:58 on 06 June 2006

Dood@ mike_mgoblue

PS2 may go out of production pretty soon but Sony will try to keep its success alive and use it as a momentum for getting the PS3, at least initially for sure. I'd love to play my vast PS2 collection on the PS3. Besides, they only need to include the PS2 chip, which will take advantage of PS3's superior hardware.

By the time Sony figures out the perfect emulator to guarantee 100% b/c, it may be too late anyway, which is still okay considering emulator becoming a trend for playing old-skool games.

Whatever happens, at least Sony is doing better than M$.

Posted 05:44 on 06 June 2006

vandy @ mike_mgoblue

I think it's worth pointing out that this isn't a confirmed story. As far as we know it hasn't come from Sony so there's nothing concrete on this yet.

Posted 23:14 on 05 June 2006

mike_mgoblue

Sony just wants to deceive consumers into believing that they need to be one of the first people to get a PS3; that way demand will be increased. Sony just announced this because of all of the negative publicity the Playstation 3 has been receiving since it was officially shown at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo. The fact of the matter is that this feature will be included for the life of the product if Sony includes it in the first generation of technology. And if the hardware is taken out after a software emulator is put into place, it won't matter anyways. This does not add ANY value to the PS3 or increase the features offered in ANY way.

Posted 22:57 on 05 June 2006