Sony Denies Splicing PS2 Into PS3

Some people may be telling you that the PlayStation 3 will have a PlayStation 2 on the inside. Sony says, Uh uh.

Backward compatibility is a hot topic at the moment, what with Microsoft announcing that it would slow down the number of new Xbox games the Xbox 360 can play through hardware emulation and then taking it back and reconfirming continued support. Now it's Sony's turn, which is going quite the other way in its bid to support PlayStation 2 games already out there.

Rather than using emulation, the PlayStation 3 will at first include PlayStation 2 chips to take care of playing older games, or so says an unconfirmed report by Japanese magazine Ultra One, by way of a partial translation at IGN.

Going for the hardware solution has the major bonus of all PlayStation 2 games being supported immediately, thereby sidestepping problems of the sort Microsoft has had to deal with in getting more games supported through emulation software.

When approached for comment on the story, Sony told Kikizo that it would not comment on the rumours, but it did confirm that the PlayStation 3 "won't contain the entire PS2 architecture, as some of the online stories have alleged."

Sony's comments suggest that perhaps some PlayStation 2 hardware could find its way into the PlayStation 3. Even if that is the case, don't expect it to last long.

The prohibitive cost of including PlayStation 2 chips in the already expensive PlayStation 3 suggests the company would probably instead use this as a stopgap measure while it perfects its own software emulation tools.