According to a patent dug up by Siliconera, Sony have found a way to emulate the running of PlayStation 2 games on the PS3 with the use of a software-only solution, as opposed to the hardware solution in the early PS3s that went on sale in North America and Japan at launch.

Currently, if you buy a PS3 from the store, that machine will not be able to play PS2 games, after Sony pulled the hardware necessary to run those games following concerns over manufacturing cost, while the early software solution used to run PS2 games on European PS3s was also curiously removed.

This new approach by Sony, however, which theoretically would allow all PS3 owners to play PS2 games with a simple firmware update, will probably be used in conjunction with their efforts to resell games from their back catalogue of titles, as the resale success of Final Fantasy VII (and other original PlayStation games) on the PlayStation Store has obviously set a few eyes at Sony a-twinkling.

There is currently no word on when (or how) this software emulation approach will be officially announced or released.

Source: Siliconera