A couple of days ago, a story broke out about a new PS3 model being brought out later this year. The CECH-3000 model will be a lighter, more power efficient slim PS3 with a 320GB HDD. However since this announcement, something interesting has surfaced - namely, that this new PS3 model will have PS2 backwards compatibility.
As with all rumours, take it with a huge pinch of salt, however it appears as though that on Sony Japan"s own site, there is mention of being compatible with PS2 software:
"This product, "PlayStation 2" are having a compatibility with proprietary software."
This wouldn"t be the first time that backwards compatibility was rumored to be returning to the PS3, however what makes this slightly more credible is that the new model is a CHECH-3000, not just another variant of the CECH-2000"s which all PS3 Slims have been up until now. Considering that the chassis isn"t that different, you do have to wonder what it is that makes this particular model so special. If it truly does have backwards compatibility, there"s no mention if it is purely software based (and thus likely to filter down to older PS3 models), or if this model has some additional components inside.
However, it should also be noted that it could simply be a mistranslation or a typo. On the same site, the translation also reads that this model will have "3 × 1 HDMI output", which suggests 3 HDMI outputs. This seems very doubtful, which is why we"ve pegged this as a rumour until we hear from Sony themselves.
If a new PS3 model were to come out that had full compatibility with PS2 titles, would consider upgrading to play 10 year old games?
Update: This looks to be a mistake with the translation, after all.
Member anemone states that the correct translation is as follows:
" This product is not compabile with "PlayStation 2" proprietary software."
Furthermore, different translation tools give similar results to the above.
Bing gives "This product compatible with PlayStation 2-only software has not." and Yahoo"s BabelFish gives "This product “play station 2” has not had the compatibility of the private software.".
There you have it, nothing to see here. Move along.