If you own a diet PS3 (the 40GB version incapable of playing PS2 games) - your backwards-compatibility shortfalls could be remedied with downloadable PS2 games on PSN in future.
That was the hint dropped by Sony's PSN director Eric Lempel, who said the technology exists to make PS2 downloads possible.
"We haven't talked about that yet, but there are possibilities through technology and software emulation to make that possible," he told EGM magazine (via Kotaku).
Most PS2 games are below the 4GB mark so it's perfectly feasible.
PAL 60GB PS3s use software emulation to play PS2 games. If this feature was removed - presumably to cut production costs (which puzzled us to start with) - why would reinstating the software via downloads be any better?
This insinuates that the 40GB hardware is still capable of playing PS2 games. So surely Sony could just make the emulation software available as a cheap purchase (like a standalone patch), to allow 40GB owners the choice of paying to BC-up their console and play PS2 discs?