Despite what rumors are suggesting, backwards compatibility will not be returning to the PS3 suggests John Koller, Director of Hardware at SCEA. “It’s not coming back, so let me put that on the table,” said Koller when asked about backwards compatibility. He also added that despite what people may think, backwards compatibility isn’t really that big of a draw for the PS3. “It’s not as big as a purchase intent driver as you may be hearing,” he claimed. Currently, only the early PS3 models are able to play PS2 games. The 60GB launch models have hardware emulation to play PS2 games – this hardware was removed in newer models.
Koller:
“We’ve got such a substantial lineup of titles on the PS3; most people are buying the PS3 for PS3 games. They’re buying it for PS3 games and Blu-ray movies.”
If you have a launch console, consider yourself lucky. While not all PS2 games will play, at least you have some backwards compatibility. While PSOne compatibility will be maintained, there are no plans of adding PS2 support to the newer consoles, and this includes the PS3 Slim.