gamesindustry.biz has some new info about the PS3’s ability to play PS2 games & PlayStation HUB, from inside sources at SCEE:

Sources at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have revealed that technology for the PlayStation Network Platform is being developed at Sony’s London studio, under the internal name of “PlayStation HUB”.

This tallies in with our earlier report about the progress in developing a billing system for the platform with the Royal Bank of Scotland, with testing on that aspect of the network system due to begin next month.

However, as yet it’s not clear whether PlayStation HUB is the final name for the system which will be used in the company’s marketing, or if a more consumer-friendly name will be chosen before the PS3 launches in November.

I think the name should be changed. PS HUB sounds a little weird. Any ideas for a name? I haven’t got any. 😕

Some interesting news however about the PS3’s backwards compatibility:

Elsewhere in Sony’s UK division, other teams are working on the backwards compatibility for the PlayStation 3 – which, one programmer on this project has revealed to GamesIndustry.biz, will be accomplished in software rather than by building the PS2 hardware into the PS3 console, as was the case with the PS2’s emulation of the PSone.

Sony has already pledged that all PS2 games which adhered to the company’s TRC (technical requirements checklist) will be playable on the PS3 – and according to our source, the software emulation system is progressing well and may indeed meet that lofty goal.

He claimed that a surprising number of PS2 titles are already working on PS3 prototype hardware, and revealed that the emulation tricks being used to mimic the behaviour of the notoriously complex PS2 processors are getting whole swathes of game titles up and running on an ongoing basis.

It will be very interesting to find out which PS2 games adhered to Sony’s TRC. I bet there will be some big names that didn’t. The Xbox 360 has a few problems running new Xbox games although they are updating the list constantly.

I hope GTA: San Andreas makes the list! Which PS2 games do you want to play on your PS3?

GAMESINDUSTRY.BIZ – PS3 HUB & Backwards Compatibility Update