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PS3 Backwards Compatibility Confirmed
Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for their story confirming that the PlayStation 3 will offer backwards compatibility with earlier PlayStation consoles via emulation, offering a quote from Sony boss Ken Kutaragi, sourced from the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun: "PSone runs on the PlayStation 2 through emulation rather than actual hardware. PlayStation 3 will offer the same compatibility for PS2 software and the format will continue forever." He also partially attributed the PS2's success to its multi-purpose nature, saying "[PS2] offers a sense of insurance because it is compatible with PSone and DVD movies", echoing earlier suggestions about DVD players in consoles, and obvious advantages to backwards software compatibility.
I thought that the IOP in the PS2 was in fact a near exact replica of the MIPS R3400 that was the heart of the PS1, and that when not handling PS2- or DVD-intensive I/Os, it was in charge of running the PS1 games on the processor they had always run before.
The PS1 is enclosed in its material form in the PS2, thus eliminating the need for emulation. Is this wrong ? Does anyone have reliable info on this ?
Who needs a
If this really happens, then I think I'm pretty much guaranteed to upgrade. After I got my PS2 and got tired of Ridge Racer V (ugh) I went on a used PSX (aka PSOne) game-buying spree. My library of PSX games went from about 20 to about 40 in the space of a couple of months, and while somewhat expensive for some titles, many of them were sub-$15 and a few were sub-$10. From a gamer's point of view, a gamer who doesn't mind some chunky graphics, it was a time of great fun. During that time, I got into Ape Escape, for example. (Review. Sequel.) A great, but slightly flawed, PSX game that I might not have bought had PSX game prices not dropped precipitously after the advent of the PS2.
/. that I don't understand is that they guy says that PSX emulation is done in software. That sounds wrong to me, since I thought that it was just using the PS2 input processor, which happens to be the same as the main chip in the PSX, as a PSX. Add in the PSX BIOS and perhaps some tiny software bits here and there, but still isn't it mostly hardware?
The PS2 is still our DVD player, too. In terms of use of entertainment hardware, the PS2 is second only the TV itself in our house.
The only bit about the blurb posted here on
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
PS3insider also does not think that the PS3 will support PS1 games. Mind you, with the ammount of power the PS3 is suppost to have, then emulating a PS1 should be trivial.