Phil Harrison, Sony's head of World Wide Studios, has confirmed that the UK version of the Playstation 3 will be able to play approximately 1,200 PSone and PS2 games as long as you are able to download a firmware update from the Playstation Network.

On the UK Launch day (March 23), there will be a firmware release (1.6) that enables it's users to play older games. The reason behind the UK Playstation 3 playing fewer BC games is how it is made. European models will use software, rather than a dedicated internal chip, to emulate PSone and PS2 titles.

This will cause a considerable drop in games that are backwards compatible, while the Japanese and American versions of the Playstation 3 are able to play approximately 98% of older games.


Source: IGN