On March 23, the Playstation 3 comes to Europe. The reports from Europe have shown strong interest in the system via preorders at stores, but Sony has released some troubling news in advance of the launch: newer Playstation 3 consoles may suffer reduced backwards compatibility compared to existing North American and Japanese units. In a statement released today, Sony said that the European systems will utilize "a new hardware specification," and Sony won't "concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility." Rather, they are "increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, truly taking advantage of this exciting technology." What does this mean in plain English? Sony is looking to decrease the production cost of the Playstation 3, and they have opted to replace dedicated hardware with software that will replace its functionality. The hardware had been providing full backwards compatibility of PS2 games, but Sony makes it clear that the new configuration will not offer the same level of support. "Certain PlayStation 2 format software titles may not perform properly on this system," the statement reads. arstechnica.com