Posted by SuburbanHell in PS2, PS3, Sony | 6 comments
Backwards Compatibility coming back to the PS3?
Sony Patents Emotion Engine Emulation Technology For Cell Processors
In an effort to reduce the cost of manufacturing a PS3 (and thusly reduce the price, Sony removed several elements of the original PlayStation 3. One of these was the Emption Engine, a chip Sony designed as the PS2’s CPU, the backbone of what makes the Original PS3 play PS2 games.
Sony’s new line of thinking? What if the PS3’s cell processor could emulate the Emotion Engine? Then, all PlayStation 3s would be able to play PS2 games even if a console didn’t have the proper hardware. Well, according to a recent patent filed by Sony Computer Entertainment in the US, Sony has the code and technology ready to do this.
There aren’t too many reasons why Sony would want the PS3’s Cell processor to emulate the PS2’s Emotion Engine, so the natural speculation is the return of backwards compatibility to the PS3 in either a firmware update, or future versions of the PS3.
Backwards Compatibility returning to the PS3 will definitely help Sony move some units, it was a major factor in selling the PS2 and the original PS3, and it’s something, in my mind, that Sony has to look back and regret removing as it likely cost them quite a few sales of former PS2 gamers.
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Man, if this was true, I’d pick up a PS3. There are just enough games, content, and features that I think I would have to.
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Yeah, it’s one of the main reasons I bought my PS3 at launch, the backwards compatibility, how else could I play my Atlus RPG collection?
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yeah seriously. They’d have be fully backward compatible though. no half-assing it and all I can play is guitar hero and rock band.
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Agreed. This is something Sony HAS to get right, there’s probably still a few folks that haven’t jumped to next gen yet that are waiting for this.
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Yeah, I mean, developers are still putting out loads of new games on the PS2, so there have got to be people who haven’t moved into the next-gen yet.
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