Sony's Harrison on Euro PS3: 1,000 PS2 games at launch

As you can probably imagine, the reaction to Sony's newly-spec'ed European PS3 hasn't been all that warm, so Three Speech decided to hit up big Phil Harrison himself to get responses to the criticism straight from the horse's mouth. Perhaps the biggest relief to nervous Eurogamers will be Harrison's claim that over 1,000 PS2 titles will be available on the PlayStation Network at launch fully software-backwards compatible (despite the Euro PS3's removal of PS2 hardware), a list of which will be made available online on the 23rd or perhaps even sooner. However, it's clear from the way Harrison dodged a question about the importance of backwards compatibility that Sony does not place a lot of weight on the feature, instead hoping that people will go out and spend loot on games and Blu-ray flicks. One possible positive revealed by Harrison was the fact that the PS2 Emotion Engine chips being omitted from European (and possibly all future) models are not the same ones mass-produced for the PS2 itself, but rather, are manufactured specifically for the PS3 -- meaning that Sony will indeed see a significant cost reduction which could theoretically be passed down to the consumer.

Want some more potentially good news? How'd you like all those legacy games to utilize the PS3's upscaling ability and add new life to your favorite classics? Well that's exactly what Sony plans to do with a firmware update this summer, claims "Rumor Reporter" Bruce Kelly, whose sources tell him that the company is looking to bring 1080i/720p support to its upcoming emulator. Kelly goes on to say that Sony will add compatibility for select games in batches of ten or so, but hopes to eventually offer support for almost every title on PSN. We'll believe this one when we see it, but if Kelly does turn out to be right, we don't think Sony will be hearing one more word about that discarded Emotion Engine.

Read - Harrison interview [Via Joystiq]
Read - Upscaling rumor [Via PS3 Fanboy]

[Veritas II @ Mar 1st 2007 6:00PM]

Bizarrely enough, there are only 1300 PS2 games in NA, so if they actually up the number by 300 (seems like a small task), Europe will have more BC than NA.

[Veritas II @ Mar 1st 2007 6:01PM]

Rather, published in, not total number in... sorry.

[sinjinn @ Mar 1st 2007 7:09PM]

well .. i 4 1 thinkdefinateley i am in a stateof confusion...causedfrom life itself.
we people, weman etc etc.i am just lost in thiswholeworldand the worldis a confusing place and well, the ps3 and the 1300games ,okfair enough ..hey i gave the same chance to the xbox ,they had backward compatibility its ok, but you know, last gen is last gen , and lets leave it there.
comign to this gen definately i think 360 is getting some good games. but more gam,es there 360.. u got a lot but we need more and great geats of war , thats a damn fine game and i give you maximum respect for that and sure you will deliver on halo and thats excellent , becos the face halo was excellent , and you are advanving the whole scene when you do that .

[Peter @ Mar 1st 2007 6:04PM]

Assuming this pans out, it only highlights the incredible incompetence of Sony's PR staff. Why was the information about the future availability of PS2 games on the Playstation Network not released concurrently with the news that Emotion Engine hardware was being omitted? Doing so would have greatly mitigated the level of disappointment. Instead, Sony gets battered for two weeks and this rumor smells more like damage control than coordinated buildup to Phil Harrison's speech at GDC. Working at Sony PR must be a blast; you can be totally unfit to do your job but you never get fired!

[Veritas II @ Mar 1st 2007 6:15PM]

Battered for 2 weeks? Several outlets (including Engadget) only reported this yesterday.

[Peter @ Mar 1st 2007 6:35PM]

The difference between Sony's comments when it announced the hardware omission and Harrison's latest remarks are remarkable. This is what Sony had to say last week:

"The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models," a Sony spokesman said.

"Rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3," Sony Computer Entertainment said in a statement.

Basically, the message was don't care about backward compatibility for Europeans, learn to live with it, and just buy new PS3 games and movies. Now, Harrison is talking about the 1,000 PS2 games available, future software emulation compatibility and more to come. The emphasis and tone has totally changed. And it was all COMPLETELY unnecessary. All Sony PR had to do was do its job and think about it for a second and realize Europeans weren't going to be happy. I own only a PS3 but I certainly didn't buy it because of the competence of Sony's marketing department.

[blot @ Mar 1st 2007 6:09PM]

It's not even worth speculating that Sony might pass down any savings to the consumer at this point. Sony needs to take less of a loss on the PS3, that is all.

[Peter @ Mar 1st 2007 6:25PM]

Two weeks was too long but it wasn't yesterday. The news about the omission of the hardware was reported about a week ago, Friday, February 23 and it was picked up by Euro-focused sites.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL2267625820070223

[Veritas II @ Mar 1st 2007 6:31PM]

Alright, it was 6 days then. Fair enough. Thanks for the link.

[Kev50027 @ Mar 1st 2007 6:48PM]

Upscaling for PS2 games!! That's the best thing I've heard in the past 3 months about the PS3. I'm waiting a bit to get one now, but if they let me upscale all of my PS2 games, I would pick one up now.

[PreGHz @ Mar 1st 2007 10:46PM]

My lord, what are you smoking?

If you think that you sound even remotely coherent, you're wrong.

[sinjinn @ Mar 1st 2007 7:17PM]

but 1330 games isnt bas for the ps3 either.. thats excellent too.

[tha @ Mar 2nd 2007 1:47AM]

I don't believe a word that comes from Sony after all the lines they have been feeding us. This latest news is just another promise that they will keep or not in my opinion. Im not going to be the first in line to buy PS3 when it arrives but wait for few more months and see what will happen.

[scott @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:26AM]

so basically instead of letting people use their existing library of ps2 games sony want you to buy them again from PSN?! they go take a flying leap. If I ever see a sony exec I plan to batter them senseless with my wiimote.

[Mark @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:24AM]

You misunderstand. You can use your existing PS2 game discs, OR buy them online from PSN. You don't have to buy the game again.. If it's on the supported list, and you own it, it will work and MAY upscale to 1080p (my understanding is, that not all of the 1000 or so titles will upscale, only selected ones).

[Leo Lee @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:47AM]

@sinjinn

wow... you best start typing with more than 2 fingers and trim them nails cause you fat fingered half that paragraph chock full of misspellings, grammar botches, and wtf-does-that-mean's...

What a retarded thing for Sony to announce in the fashion it did. Props to the lovely marketing department... they fit the Dilbert comic marketing dude bill...

[Gamer_X_89 @ Mar 4th 2007 12:17AM]

uh... you all realize that this article is wrong.

"Over 1,000 PS2 games to be COMPATIBLE with Euro PS3"
-http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/01/over-1-000-ps2-games-to-be-backwards-compatible-with-euro-ps3/

you can't download PS2 games.

[Info on Blind Auctions @ Mar 4th 2007 2:21PM]

Were they any PS3 consoles online auctions on eBay in Europe similar to the rush in the US? How many of them were blind auctions?

[Tarundeep Kalsi @ Apr 4th 2007 7:53AM]

Hello,
I want to say that please make that type of wwe game for PS2 in which Raw, SmackDown & ECW Players are easly available.
Please also send to me new games for PS2 in 2007.
Regards.
Tarundeep Kalsi.