Sony provided backwards compatability coming back into focus?

Chances are that most individuals with a PS3 have at least one PS2 game floating around their house. If they don’t own one, they’ve at least played one on the next gen console before. While the Xbox 360 has more or less buried its predecesor, negating it to but a mere thought that crosses our minds every now and then, the PS3 has yet to decimate the PS2. Heck, the PS2 is having some of the best sales numbers of its life. Still, the push to next gen hardware won’t go away. Sony knows this. The original PS3′s had hardware based backwards compatability from the start. Over time that support was dropped to reduce building costs. Still, after several years on the market, the PS3 is now overpriced and going nowhere.

Sony has long resisted rumors and pleas for a price drop. Instead the gleefully continue on their merry way oblivious to consumer requests and demand. However, we may at least be getting one more reason to love the PS3 again — software based backwards compatability.

Now hold on a second, I thought the PS3 already featured software based backwards compatability. Well, if that’s you though, you’d only be partially correct. The software based backwards compatability isn’t a blanket gaurantee as it is only for specific games via patches and downloads. A new patent by Sony reveals that they are cooking up something different. Something that will really test out the Cell processors muscle.

Filed in December of 2008, this new method Sony is testing involves fully emulating the PS2′s Emotion Engine on the Cell processor thereby making every past game instantly playable on the PS3. Cheers all around! Allowing such compatability would mean Sony could offer gamers the chance to purchase legacy PS1 and 2 games on the Playstation Network (PSN) for play on PS3 consoles and maybe, just finally push the PS3 up the popularity ladder. Will this functionality launch before years end with the PS3 slim? How about another price drop Sony? All things we desperately want yet still have to wait for. Are you getting tired of waiting?

Source: Ars Technica, Siliconera, Image Source