New Australian 40GB PS3 model details

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by tiger roach

It's surprising to me that it isn't backwards-compatible with PS2 games.

I need Guitar Hero.

As far as I can tell, there is enough hardware without the legacy PS3 chips to support full software emulation of PS2 titles on any PS3 - even the 80 and 40GB units. It's just a matter of how much effort Sony wants to throw at the problem, and how much of a marketing issue it is for them.

Right now, my personal theory is that the backward compatibility is being deliberately restrained by Sony so that they can flush the rest of the 60GB units from the retail pipeline. The BC feature is what's causing people to buy that version, and will continue to do so until it is out of stock.

I will wager that Sony will quietly (or maybe even not-so-quietly) announce that firmware 2.0 will produce 90%+ backward compatibility on all units, even the 40GBs, but they won't release it until the 60GBs are gone for good from the retail pipeline.