Sony PlayStation 3 to include a real PS2 core
Sony values greatly the PlayStation legacy, and according to the source they are making sure that the PS3 really is backwards compatible with PS2. While Microsoft Xbox 360 has an emulator software with very limited support for original Xbox titles, Sony is going to include the real PS2 core in PS3, until they have developed a fully compatible emulator. Great commitment from Sony!
When Sony announced that its PlayStation 3 would be backwards compatible with both PS2 and the PSone, it was thought (and Sony indicated) that the next-gen console would provide this functionality through emulation. However, a new report in the Japanese technology magazine Ultra One (partially translated by IGN) suggests that backwards compatibility with the PS2 is actually achieved through physical hardware, not emulation.According to the magazine, the PS3 hardware is currently designed to include the PS2 chipset, meaning the Emotion Engine CPU and Graphic Synthesizer combo chip that is found in the slim model PS2. The PS3 is already quite expensive to manufacture, and incorporating yet another chipset certainly can’t help the situation. That said, the report goes on to say that Sony plans to remove the PS2 chipset from the PS3 once their engineers complete work on an efficient PS2 emulator.
Of course, if the PS3 is playing PS2 games directly on PS2 hardware, it’s hard to say if there will be any visual upgrade when playing PS2 titles on the PS3.
Source: GameDaily
