SWEET

I wanna play DC games on PS2!!!

How would PS2 games be downloadable from PSN when there is no way to then play them on a PS2. Given that the PS3 has lost it's backward compatibility that seems like a nonsense statement to me. This whole thing sounds more like the random droolings of a marketing meeting, where practicality and possibility are left at the door and those dreaded "Just say what comes into your head" statements get used.

Having said that. Microsoft! Get on the bloody phone and secure HOTD1,2,3 and 4, Zombie Revenge, Skies of Arcadia Next and have those made for the 360 asap!

Sony....er continue what you were doing....

Peter, I believe it's been determined that they do a soft port of the game so it runs natively on the PS3 without the need for backward compatibility. I'm not clear on how they intend on doing this for all PS2 games however.

Dreamcast games on PS3 would be a major boon to the platform. The Dreamcast had many of the best in genre games to date (including some completely fabricated genres!). Personally, I would love to have Sega return to their former software glory with top-notch development houses such as Smilebit, AM2, AM3 and Sonic Team. Deep down however, I know this is a bit of wishful thinking.

On a last note:
If we always continue to do what we have been doing, the opportunity for innovation and improvement is lost.

Why couldn't this be done for PS2 games downloaded on the PS3, just the same way they do it with Xbox games downloaded on the 360. Yes, I know the software is different, but why not? It is not like the deal with Sega is to open the whole freaking catalog, but just the ones that will sell.

If those proposals really come to light, they would represent an extremely interesting opportunity to position the PS3 as an entertainment center. The Dreamcast catalogue, although short-lived, is one of the most impressive in the history of videogames (especially Sonic Adventure and Shenmue). Excellent news!!!

I think it's obvious that software PS2 emulation is in the works, given that Sony has patented Emotion Engine emulation and whatnot ( http://www.siliconera.com/2009/06/29/sony-patents-emotion-engine-emulation-techn
ology-for-cell-processors/ ).

I think the only questions are how they plan to execute it and when will they release a firmware update that supports it.

Owning a Wii and Xbox already, I feel that the PS3 needs every perk it can get to differentiate itself. Even with the price drop, I don't feel it's worth justifying a purchase being that most of the great PS3 games I can nab on Xbox as well. If I can retire my slim PS2, that'd definitely bring me closer to that purchase.

It surprises me that Sega is not doing this with Microsoft. Sega and MS used to be very chummy -- the Dreamcast is what really got MS into consoles with its Windows CE operating system.

In fact, the first-generation Xbox was a spiritual successor to the Dreamcast: it had built-in networking, four controller ports, Jet Set Radio and Sega GT as a pack-in.

(confession time: actually, that's why I bought an Xbox in 2004. My old PS2 was left in Brazil, so I decided to try a console closer to my Sega fanboy sensibilities in the US)

@Luis: I'd expect Sega to be carrying out similar conversations with Microsoft - the document indicates Sony are interested in exclusivity, which implies releases on other platforms are planned. The Wii doesn't have the horsepower and the PC seems unlikely, leaving the Xbox 360 as the only other candidate.

Regarding PS2 emulation: it'll be interesting to see if (and how) Sony pull it off. Enabling Xbox emulation on the X360 was possible because most people used the standard Microsoft libraries, making it relatively easy to translate with some HLE trickery (i.e. passing the calls to the native equivalent). Even then, there are still gaps and exceptions: there's more than a few Xbox games which can't be played on the X360.

Conversely, there were a lot of "to the metal" tricks used to boost performance on the PS2, so you have to emulate individual components on a synchronised, per-instruction basis. It's possibly telling that the GTA games are mentioned in the document: GTA uses the cross-platform Renderware system so should have minimal hardware trickery.

Granted, Sony have ported GoW 1/2 to the PS3, but it's likely that they've just used the GoW3 engine (assuming that GoW3 is an evolution of the engine used on the PS2).

Overall, what I'd expect is for Sony to release custom per-game emulators which will be downloaded with each individual title - and I'd be surprised if they were willing to release these for use with people's physical disks. So people will still be stuck with having to use a PS2 (or first-gen PS3) for their PS2 back-catalog.

Putting logic aside for a minute and injecting some emotion into this. It feels a little weird to hear Sega in talks with Sony about bringing the Dreamcast library to the very company who had a very direct hand in ending the Dreamcast's lifecycle. What does that say for the both of them?

Hope all of these came true!!!

The one I like the most is being able to purchase Ico, Fatal Frame, and more ps2 games I haven't found at retailer stores.