Siliconera has posted schematics submitted by Sony to the Japanese Patent Office that details a device that will allow Playstation 2 games to run on Playstation 3. According to Siliconera who translated the documents, the device–if released to market as described–will be a single unit device consisting of the following:

▪ Processor
▪ DVD decoder/emulator
▪ Sound processor
▪ Graphics processor

I highly suggest you read Gamespot.com’s reporting on Siliconera’s article for additional info of the proposed device. Now, I’m no electronics engineer by any stretch of the imagination, nor am I a gaming industry expert–but allow me to play industry pro for a second:

This device kind of sounds like a Playstation 2 minus the DVD drive, power brick, and memory card ports. I think this device might possibly be a final skew of the Playstation 2 before the console is finally put out to pasture. PS2 sales according to August NPDs were under 105K (which is still kind of impressive when you take into consideration how long the system has been in production), and there really isn’t much coming out for it as we move into the Christmas shopping season. It could be a good way to send that tech out on a high note, satisfy the Sony hardcore who have been clamoring for a long time for PS2 functionality to return to PS3–and, in my case–without having to re-purchase my favorite games via digital download (*cough* Nintendo *cough).

I’d love to be able to play my copies of Godhand, and Viewtiful Joe on PS3, but I can’t help but ask the question–Why did Sony cut PS2 computability out of the PS3 in the first place?

Just some FYI, just in case you’ve been wondering. For the complete list check out, the Playstation Blog.

Click on the jump to see the list!

Updates

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords PSP Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

Cube Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

Dead Head Fred Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient 2 Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

WTF: Work Time Fun Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

Prinny: Can I Really be the Hero? Temporary Sale (now $9.99)

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! Temporary Sale (now $9.99)

TV Show King Permanent Price Drop (now $7.99)

PSone Classics: PS3/PSP

Jumping Flash! 2 ($5.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 269 MB

Um Jammer Lammy ($5.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 512 MB

Nuclear Strike ($5.99)
ESRB Rated T
File size: 476 MB

Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko ($5.99)
ESRB Rated T
File size: 259 MB

Game Demos (free)

Brutal Legend Demo
ESRB Rated M
File size: 1.58 GB

Need For Speed Shift Demo
ESRB Rated E
File size: 854 MB

The writing is on the walls for plastic peripheral bundled games. Guitar Hero 5′s bundle sales haven’t been stellar in comparison to previous years, and Activision decided to give Guitar Hero: Van Halen free to purchasers of GH:5.  But, what should a company do to reinvigorate interest in the Guitar Hero franchise? One person…Hugh Hefner, The man who has helmed the ship of sexy ladies for the past 50 years. In a new GH:5 commercial two lovely ladies are on both sides of “Hef,” concentrating on their GH skills. This isn’t Hef’s first foray into gaming. You probably don’t remember the PS2 game, Playboy: The mansion, because no one played it….Well, on second thought, Allen did!

Sony made their big announcement today! Nope, not a PS3 price drop. A PS2 price drop! Just what we’ve been clamoring for! /sarcasm

So run out and get your PS2 for $99 these days.

There has been a wonderful union between comics and videogames for a long time. This year’s New York Comic Con played host to some introductions of new anime/comic licensed games. One of them was Namco Bandai / CyberConnect2 (the makers of one of my games of the year Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm) are seemingly doing the Naruto license justice again. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 will be hitting the Playstation 2 (hey, if you’re going to make a Playstation game, it might as well be on the platform you’ll actually make money on, right?–I kid, I kid). Shippuden is the next story arch in the Naruto series, which deals with an older Naruto coming to terms with the 9 Tail Fox spirit inside him, and new enemies that seek to exploit it.

GameTrailers has the Naruto goodness.

Man, I loves me some Metallica. Mostly older Metallica, but ther are a few good songs on their recent Death Magnetic album. If you take a gander over at Metallica.com, you can see the anticipated full track listing for the upcoming GH: Metallica game. I am really looking forward to this game. Release date is March 29th.

So much for the rumor that GTA IV was going to hurt movie sales. It seems that the Iron Man movie has pulled in more than 100 million in ticket sales in the US in its first weekend alone. I must admit that our 16 dollars were part of that 100 mil and I loved the movie. The movie got over 200 million in sales worldwide. It came in second in opening weekend sales for non sequels beaten only by Spider Man which had 114 million in sales its first weekend. Iron Man is 10th on the all time opening weekend sales list. This all leads to my question, have any of you played the Iron Man game? If so I would like to know because I am tempted to pick it up. I know movie based games usually suck, but this one is getting average reviews. Some people say its good while other say it sucks so I want our listeners opinions. If everyone is still playing GTA IV I will understand but I was curious if anyone had picked this up yet.

*****Update*****.
Ok so the link I had up here earlier was not the one it was supposed to be. This is the correct link for where the info came from. I really don’t know where that other link came from. Sorry.

The more I read and watch about this game, the more I want it now. I have been on a big Star Wars kick recently and I am becoming enamored with all things Star Wars. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed hits store shelves on September 16th and will be available on PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii. Some people I know who aren’t console gamers are thinking about buying the Wii for this game just because it will be the first time that you get to properly have a light saber duel. I am anxious to see how it turns out on the Wii. Check out the video of the game in action in the next section.