Quote:
Originally Posted by Illusion
Because PS3 has the same/similar computer that the PS1 had to play the games.
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False! The PS3 is simply powerful enough to emulate the PS1 in software. (So is the PS Vita for that matter.)
The first-generation PS3 did have the entire hardware of the PS2 inside its housing (miniaturized, but all there) so when it ran a PS2 game it just handed off control of the controllers, screen, and audio to the PS2 hardware. The second-generation PS3 hardware revision took that out as a cost-saving measure and TRIED to emulate the PS2 in software; compatibility was pretty bad and lots of games didn't work right, so this feature was dropped entirely in the third-generation PS3 revision.
Similarly, the PS2 actually had a miniaturized version of the PS1's hardware in it to enable backwards compatibility.
The Xbox 360 is a similar story to the 2nd-gen PS3; it can play original Xbox games through software emulation but not all titles are supported.