Remember how the Sony hate bandwagon went all crazy when it was revealed that the PlayStation 3 would be a bit *ahem* different in Europe? Well, Phil Harrison has put some of those backwards compatibility concerns to rest by saying there would be over 1,000 PlayStation 2 titles available to play on March 23. Speaking with Sony blog Three Speech, he had this to say:
Harrison would not be drawn on specific PS2 titles which will be playable on PS3 on March 23, but it seems the only problem we will have is deciding which ones to play: “The situation is changing every day, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1,000 PS2 titles.” That enough for you? Even when you’ve played your way through MotorStorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Ridge Racer 7, Virtua Tennis 3, Call of Duty 3, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Formula One Championship Edition and so on?
Harrison adds: “It’s very easy to over-react. We’re working to introduce a resource on the Web to detail which titles will have backwards compatibility. And as we make firmware upgrades, we will be able to add to that list.” Having upgraded the firmware of our PS3 several times, we can confirm that it is a very easy process – and one which will become something that happens automatically when you are hooked up to the PlayStation Network.
More of the interview after the jump.
Q: What is Sony’s thinking behind leaving the Emotion Engine off the motherboards of PAL PS3s?
Phil Harrison: “Our thinking involves being able to bring the latest hardware specification of the PS3 to Europe, although that does mean an initial slight reduction in the number of PS2 components. But it’s important to put that into context: there will still be thousands of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles playable on the PS3 at launch. It’s very easy to over-react. We’re working to introduce a resource on the Web to detail which titles will have backwards compatibility. And as we make firmware upgrades, we will be able to add to that list.”
Q: Can you give us a ballpark figure for the number of PS2 titles which will be playable at launch on the PS3?
PH: “The situation is changing every day, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1,000 PS2 titles.”
Q: And presumably, you will be concentrating on the big titles?
PH: “We can’t give any information about specific titles but, clearly, that would be our policy.”
Q: It has been suggested that reducing the components on the PS3’s motherboard would pave the way for a reduction in its price to come about more quickly. Is that a fair analysis?
PH: “Price reductions are something that we wouldn’t comment on specifically. But you know the business model very well – we strive to get the cost of manufacturing down as soon as possible, and as soon as we can pass cost savings onto the consumers, we will.”
Q: Just how important is backwards-compatibility?
PH: “I think the reasons why people buy PS3s are the new games that it offers, and the HD content experiences provided by games and movies, the opportunity to access the PlayStation Network, and titles like MotorStorm and Resistance: Fall of Man – leading-edge examples of what next-generation games are all about.”
Q: The flaw in the argument that removing the Emotion Engine from PAL PS3s is that you’ve manufactured over 100 million Emotion Engines. So, surely the Emotion Engtine can’t possibly cost you more than a few pence to manufacture?
PH: “If only that was the case.”
Q: Are you shifting capacity in your wafer fabs from making PS2 components to PS3 ones, then?
PH: “It’s not as simple as that – we’re obviously continuing to make PS2s in huge volumes, so there’s no reduction in that. But the Emotion Engine that has previously gone into PS3s on sale elsewhere in the world is a custom component that we have now removed from the motherboard of PAL PS3s.”
