Backwards compatibility has been a fairly big issue for the Playstation 3. The reason for this is that the early Plastation 3 – the U.S. 60GB and 20GB models – were designed to handle older games via hardware. The Emotion Engine chip made it like having a PS2 inside of the PS3. Later, Sony decided to remove the chip in favor of a software emulation solution, greatly reducing the system’s compatibility with older titles.
Sony has recently released a tool that allows PS3 owners to check for specific games’ compatibility on either system, returning results ranging from "No major problems for this title," to various fmv issues, to completely bogged down in-game performance.
Using the tool makes it very clear that the 60GB model handles older titles much better, so if you’re in the market for a PS3 and have lots of older games, I would recommend scooping up an older model. Better functionality at a $100 discount is a winner in my book.
