After their questionable decision to drop full hardware support for PS2 titles in the Euro PS3, it looks like SONY is trying to make up for it. The Euro PS3 will now use a non-SONY Hardware Chip to provide backwards compatibility for older PS2 titles. The downside is that this chip will further lessen PS3’s already somewhat dismal backwards compatibility with older titles over the American Version of the Machine. I guess the only upside is for SONY as this move will cost them less to produce each unit.

Unlike the PS3 being sold in the United States and Japan, the European version will not carry a Sony-made microchip that offers graphic- and data-processing functions for PS2 games, cutting production costs, said a spokesman for game unit Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE).

The console will still be equipped with a different chip that processes graphics for PS2 games, but the backward compatibility of the machine will be lessened, the spokesman said.

Source: Financial Post