GamingBits has
confirmed that the new 80 GB PS3 will not come with the Emotion Engine chip and instead will use software emulation for backwards compatibility. This really isn't that surprising given that Sony was already phasing it out in the 60GB PS3's to save money but it's still disappointing to see it go.
Of course Sony's software backwards compatibility is still years beyond what Microsoft has come up with for the 360 and it still looks like good BC is a priority for Sony which is something that the folks from Redmond seem to have forgotten about.
Thanks to
Destructoid for the link.