Following last week’s news about the swap from hardware to software emulation in the PAL version of Sony’s PS3 console, Sony Europe has further explained its decision via the semi-official gaming blog Three Speech.

Some gamers have been outspoken about Sony’s decision to not announce the complete list of backwardly compatible PS2 titles that will play on PS3 until the day of launch. In response, Three Speech stated:

“We have been assessing the extent of backward compatibility, and will continue to do so right up until launch. It is therefore not possible to provide a specific number of backwards compatible titles at this stage, but close to launch consumers will be able to check whether their titles are compatible with PS3 by looking at the list of compatible titles at http://faq.eu.playstation.com/bc. This site will be available on March 23rd to meet launch day.”

The blog also went on to clarify exactly what hardware elements will be missing from the European model:

“The original PS3 used the Emotion Engine/Graphics Synthesiser to emulate PS2 titles. With the latest European specification we have removed the Emotion Engine, retaining the graphics chip. This has an impact on the number of PS2 titles that will be backwards compatible.

“PSOne titles remain backwards compatible and we will continue to assess the compatibility of PS2 titles right up until launch We will continue to offer firmware upgrades to increase the number of titles that are compatible, but rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, truly taking advantage of this exciting technology.”