European Playstation 3 compatibility list
Europeans get weaker software emulation of Playstation 2 and Playstation 1 titles compared to the hardware emulation that Japanese and American Playstation 3 owners enjoy. It was not clear - until now - how good, or shall I say bad, the software emulation works and how many games PS1 and Ps2 can be played on European PS3s.
Sony wants to cut down on manufacturing costs and Europeans are the first to experience the ill effects of that decision. The Playstation 3 costs more and plays less, would not call that a bargain but the crazy Brits will surely buy the PS3 nevertheless.
Back to the compatibility issue at hand. As I said Sony published a Playstation 3 compatibility list rating games between 1 to 3 squares with 3 squares meaning that the game will most likely play fine and 1 square meaning it has noticeable issues.
I did a quick check on the first four letters in the alphabet and came up with 284 working games, 46 games with minor issues and 93 games with noticeable issues.
This means that about 30% of the games in question have issues and will not play correctly on European Playstation 3s. To make things worse some of the most important PS2 titles are not working currently. This includes Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII, Gran Tourismo 3 and 4 Prologue have minor problems and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas major ones.
I could go on and post more games that are not working correctly but I guess you figured it out by yourself by now. Software emulation is not a perfect solution. It might become one in the long run, Sony promised to update the emulator to increase compatibility.
Update: The compatibility list does not seem to be available anymore on the website, at least not under the original address it was posted on. Sony seems to have improved the compatibility in recent years, but I can't really say how good it is nowadays.
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If I were you I’d have a look at this far more comprehensive list with integrated user rating as well:
http://www.ps3comp.com
If you haven’t heard about this already, you should check out the joystiq article http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/23/microsoft-secret-agents-resort-to-subterfuge-at-ps3-euro-launche/
I think it’s pretty funny what microsoft did, like driving boats by that said “XBOX 360 HEARTS YOU”
Isn’t Great Britain also called Playstationland ?
Martin,
i dont know where youre from but ease up on the crazy British.
Proof we are not all ‘crazy’ is the simple fact that days before the release you can still GUARANTEE a pre-order at many places – HMV, Virgin; and many online e-tailers. At such ridiculous prices, you wont see the vast number of people queued outside the stores like there was with the wii…
Chris