It seems that compatibility is the word of the week. Earlier in the week Sony announced that all instruments for the PS3 versions of three upcoming music games (Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Revolution) would be compatible. Microsoft soon followed suite, making clear that instruments for future Xbox 360 rhythm games will be compatible too.

Following on the announcement that SingStar PS3 Vol.2 will be making its way to the US this October, SCEA unveiled a new SingStar PS3 disc swap feature that incorporates the SingStar PS2 library.

According to the SingStar development team, SingStar track compatibility across PS2 and PS3 is enabled via the Disc Swap feature. “The feature has previously been available on SingStar games for both PlayStation 2 and PLAYSTATION 3, but for the first time owners of SingStar for PS3 will be able to play songs from PS2 discs in their collection.”

When you are playing a SingStar PS3 disc, simply choose ‘select’ at the song select screen to swap discs and play the songs from the inserted disc. Although the songs are not saved to the hard drive, this feature enables gamers to enjoy their SingStar PS2 collection on their PS3.

The disc swap feature will be delivered via a free game update later this year. It will work with all current PS3 system models and does not require a system software update. It will work with all current SingStar PS3 discs and will be included on future SingStar PS3 discs releasing next year.

Richard Bates clarified a few points in the comments section. Players will not be able to upload any saved media for PS2 songs due to licensing restrictions and trophy support will be coming early next year.

In response to whether the PS3 will be playing PS2 discs in emulation through the SingStar software, Bates replied “We added to the PS3 SingStar game ‘engine’ the ability to read and decode the tracks from a SingStar disc for PS2. Keeping it within the PS3 game also means you can still play your downloaded tracks.”