How will the PS3 cater to PS2 games? Well, recent rumours suggest that the new console will have a PS2 chipset included for backwards compatibility. Compatibility is therefore provided in hardware, rather than through software emulation as was previously believed.
According to rumours, the PS3 will include the combined Emotion Engine and Graphic Synthesizer chip found within the slimline PlayStation 2. This would mean that the old games would look pretty much the same when run on the PS3, but hardware emulation more or less ensures that every single PS2 game would also run on the PS3. Currently, though, this is just speculation, and Sony has no official comment at this time.
If the magazine's report holds true, the inclusion of PlayStation 2 hardware within the PlayStation 3 would seem to guarantee 100 percent backwards compatibility from day one. In addition, the report also indicated that unlike the PlayStation 2, which experienced some backwards compatibility issues with original PlayStation software due to later hardware revisions, the PlayStation 3 will be able to connect to Sony's online infrastructure in order to download any necessary updates to ensure that original games remain playable as well.