PS3 Backwards Compatibility A Little Different?

The PS3 speculation train continues to roll on, the latest addition you ask? How about downloading PS1 and PS2 games to your PS3 similarly to how Xbox Live Arcade and Nintendo Revolution are going to handle older games. According to a Gamesindustry.biz article, “one source from the development arm of a major third-party publisher claiming that Sony has been discussing the technical feasibility of providing PSOne and PS2 titles over digital distribution with them.”

Quite frankly this all makes a lot of sense. First, Broadband adoption rates around the world have spiked, and many would be able to take advantage of such feature. Secondly, Microsoft has already had 2 million downloads from their Xbox Live Arcade, and Nintendo will probably make a killing selling old Mario games to Revolution owners. Thirdly this would fall into line with the supposed Playstation HUB online service that would be similar to Xbox Live.

However, there are a few technical hurdles that Sony needs to clear. The biggest one being, where is all this going to be stored? With reports flying earlier that the PS3 would not ship with a hard drive, this seems to fly in the face of that, maybe Sony has reversed their position? We don’t really know yet, as the official word from Sony still remains “No Comment.” We do know that Sony said the PS3 would be backwards compatible, so that issue has been addressed. However, when mentioned before, everyone took it to mean that the PS3 would read the old discs. Now does that mean gamers will be stuck with their old discs and have to pay to play their old games on the PS3? This could anger some consumers, especially those still with dial-up.

All in all, we still don’t really know much and Sony’s silence has only furthered speculation, and in some cases doubt. All will eventually be revealed to the masses, but now the most nagging question remains, when?