Playstation specific website, Three Speech, who are known to have close ties with Sony, have grilled the company on the recent issue of backwards compatibility with the European and Australian consoles. Sony revealed this week that the PS3 will be revised for Europe and as a result will not be fully backwards compatible. This has caused a bit of a stir on many European websites, with many gamers annoyed at the fact that they're paying more than anyone else for the console,even though it will have less functionality.

From the interview:

Three Speech :: If this is a business decision to save cost, why are users left to bear the burden, having to purchase a system inferior to those sold in the US and Japan at a higher price?
Sony :: The PS3 launching in Europe is every bit as powerful as the PS3s available currently in North America and Japan. PS3 is defined by key features such as the CELL broadband engine, its Blu-ray drive, the SIXAXIS Controller and its ability to output full 1080P HD game content which makes it an entertainment system for the future, without equal.

PS one 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.

In the interview, which you can read in full at Three Speech, Sony also clarified that they had 'removed the Emotion Engine, retaining the graphics chip. This has an impact on the number of PS2 titles that will be backwards compatible.'

Source :: Three Speech