PS3 - not backwards compatible?

[Demon Cleaner]

The problem is, many people have "traded" in their PS2 to get the PS3

That was the main thing we talked about in the topic of trashing, destroying or selling his old stuff. As I collect consoles and computers, I never have problems with backwards compatibility. F.ex. if I want to play a PSX game, I take my PSX and don't play it on a PS2. I just think that it feels more real.

[Submeg]

Fair enough, but I know that they guy I get my games from has told them that they are, so he is a bit pissed off right about now

[Harrison]

The compatibility issues with the PS3 are not as bad as you seem to be making out. A large proportion of PS2 games will still run perfectly well with no problems.

And most of the games with problems don't stop you playing the games. For Example Gran Turismo 4 only crashes if you leave it looping the games into movie for 4 times or more. Not something you will probably be doing if you have loaded it up to play. Others have minor graphical or audio glitches such as a few vertical strips appearing at a certain point in a game. All are a bit annoying but you can still play the games.

[Submeg]

I didnt know how bad it was going to be but at least that sounds ok. What about PS1 games?

[Harrison]

99% of PS1 games should work perfectly on the PS3 from the start. I have yet to see any reported as not working, or that have problems.

[Submeg]

Then why was everyone going so mental on the net?

[Harrison]

That is because you will find most of them are under 16 years old and throw a hissy fit at the slightest thing (especially on sites such as GameFAQs). They get up in arms just because it isn't 100% compatible with everything.

[Teho]

Right. Anyone with half a brain could see that this hysteria was unfounded. But just to put the final nail into this, threespeech.com posted an interview with Phil Harrison earlier today, where he says:

Q: What is Sony’s thinking behind leaving the Emotion Engine off the motherboards of PAL PS3s?

Phil Harrison: “Our thinking involves being able to bring the latest hardware specification of the PS3 to Europe, although that does mean an initial slight reduction in the number of PS2 components. But it’s important to put that into context: there will still be thousands of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles playable on the PS3 at launch. It’s very easy to over-react. We’re working to introduce a resource on the Web to detail which titles will have backwards compatibility. And as we make firmware upgrades, we will be able to add to that list.”

Q: Can you give us a ballpark figure for the number of PS2 titles which will be playable at launch on the PS3?

PH: “The situation is changing every day, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1,000 PS2 titles.”

So no cause for worry then. 1000 PS2 titles is still less than 50% of the PS2 games released in europe (2,300+), but as he said they'll keep improving on that. Like most level-headed people had allready guessed.

[Harrison]

Plus it is a sure bet that those 1000 odd games that will initially work properly will be the more popular best selling titles, and they will then start fixing the compatibility of more games based on their popularity and users requirements. After all, there is little point in wasting time getting a game to work if only 3 people in the world will ever take advantage of it's PS3 compatibility.

[Demon Cleaner]

I definitely hope my Barbie Horse Adventure game will work.