The full list will we available from March 23 onwards at the Playstation website, with the interview saying that ‘Harrison would not be drawn on specific PS2 titles which will be playable on PS3 on March 23’, with Harrison specifically saying that “The situation is changing every day, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1,000 PS2 titles.”

When asked if the PS3 would play the big titles, Harrison responded that: “We can’t give any information about specific titles but, clearly, that would be our policy.”

Harrison also said to Three Speech that: “It’s very easy to over-react. We’re working to introduce a resource on the Web to detail which titles will have backwards compatibility. And as we make firmware upgrades, we will be able to add to that list.”

Interestingly, original Playstation (PS1) games are all expected to work on the PS3, with Harrison saying that “There will still be thousands of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles playable on the PS3 at launch.”, although there probably aren’t that many PS1 games played these days.

So, the PS3 will play at least 1000 PS2 games after all, or around 40% of the PS2’s software Euro software library at launch. Wikipedia tells us that "by the end of September 2006, there were 8,181 PS2 titles released worldwide (4,554 in Asia, 1,319 in North America, and 2,308 in Europe", and going on the assumption that Wikipedia can be trusted, over 40% at launch is not bad at all. Why didn’t Sony tell us this earlier when they told us all that the PS2’s ‘Emotion Engine’ chipset was being removed from the PS3? It would have softened the reaction somewhat, as people would at least have had a figure to focus on, instead of a vague ‘reduced compatibility’.

Of course, 1000 games certainly is a reduced compatibility, but at least we now know the number, and can expect ‘big titles’ to work on the PS3. We also seem to have a commitment from Sony that firmware updates will ensure that more titles work.

There’s no question that this revelation will not shut up the critics – very little ever does, as ‘more’ is always expected, and often (but now always) rightly so. But finally we have an official sign from Sony that they recognize their lack of transparency and information on the reduced PS2 compatibility has indeed generated a storm in a PS3 cup, one that could, and should, have been much better handled.

All Sony needs to do now is launch the PS3 in the rest of the world, and do everything they can to ensure people buy it. That, more PS2 backwards compatibility, the quick introduction of the movie and TV show download store, more movies on Blu-ray disc and a steady stream of new PS3 titles and Sony might just get what they want: the next-gen games console crown. So, Sony – stop playing with your station, and get back to work! :-p
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