Sony starting transition to software BC already..

[Titanio]

Saw this on GAF. Starting at the European launch, there will be a 'redesigned' PS3 model that relies more on software for BC. The article is not clear on how much hardware is being taken out, but evidently some at least will be. The flipside of this is that for now at least, this new model will be less backwards compatible than those released to date:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070223...n_europe_dc;_ylt=AjDbmlPU326p52vsCHQ.Qye9IxIF

The European version of PlayStation 3 will play fewerPlayStation 2 video games when it launches on March 23 compared with models launched earlier in Japan and America, Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (6758.T) said on Friday.

"The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models," a Sony spokesman said.

PlayStation 3 (PS3) was first launched in Japan and North America in November and the model that will be introduced in Europe will be designed differently.

Software will take over some of the functionality that was originally taken care of by dedicated chips, which means far fewer PlayStation 2 (PS2) games can be played on a European PS3 compared with the Japanese and American PS3 models which play 98 percent of old games.

"Sony is managing expectations by saying now that the new console will play fewer of the old games, and that's a good thing," said analyst Alex Kwiatowski at British market research group Vertical Market Technologies.

"Rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3," Sony Computer Entertainment said in a statement.

Hopefully they'll keep improving their software solution over time, though. But I'm quietly happy that I have an early model if it allows me the choice between software emulation (and any perks that might bring), or more complete hardware support.

 

[Arwin]

And there's thread number 3. Obviously a big topic, this.

 

[Titanio]

Oops...I was actually thread #2 though, I think Sorry!