At the E3 conference, Sony has announced that the new Playstation 3 will be backwards compatible with the PS2. Since the PS2 is backwards compatible with the original Playstation (and PSone), this means that PS3 will be able to play all previous Playstation games.

This backwards compatibility refers to software, ie. games, and not necessarily to any hardware components and accessories that exist for the current Playstation incarnations. Says Father of Playstation, Ken Kutaragi: “PSone runs on the PlayStation 2 through emulation rather than actual hardware. PlayStation 3 will offer the same compatibility for PS2 software and the format will continue forever”.

Will we be able to use our trusty DualShock 2 controllers? The new controller is wireless via bluetooth technology, so there may just not be a technical way of connecting the old controllers. But would we even want to?

Many people have commented that the new PS3 wireless controller looks like a futuristic banana, and until hands-on reports come in, we can only speculate on how comfortable or not this new controller will be. Microsoft’s initial Xbox controllers were of unprecedented size and clumsy to hold for all but the most meaty-handed gamers. In comparison, the new PS3 controller, although it looks unwieldy, may well be designed so cleverly that it fits comfortably in small and big hands alike, and hopefully we won’t lose control in heated game battles because the slick thing slips straight through our sweaty fingers.