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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.
This is good news to hear.
Although I am uncertain how long CD/DVD sized optical media will be around for (refer to "forever" comment).
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
will it run linux?
I have to doubt that the "gamecube2" will be backwards compatible in a similar fashion. I also doubt that it will serve any "dual" purpose such as a DVD player.
It's really too bad that the current GameCube doesn't play Mini-CD audio or Mini-CD VCD movies... or Mini-DVD movies... etc, etc. Otherwise it's a far superior platform.
MORTAR COMBAT!
Since the PS2 emulates the PS1, did Sony just need to get PS2 emulation right to get PS1 emulation 'for free'?
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
I do not own a TV. Haven't watched TV in over a year. Opiate for the masses, indeed. Can't understand how anybody could vedge away.
However, if I had one and was given a choice between the PS2, Gamecube, and X-Box, I'd most definitely take a PS2. Here you have a simply massive game libary that spans two systems worth of modern classics, a DVD player, and a cheap CD player all in a very small black box for $200. If Sony didn't keep up with backwards compatibility the game libary for the PS3 would be on par with the X-Box 2 and whatever Nintendo came out with next, and lord knows that both will also do the "entertainment center in a small box" thing, thus leveling the playing field quite a bit.
Sony would be shooting themselves in the foot if they didn't do that, and they're smart enough to know. Nintendo has done the same with the Game Boy, and it's payed off very nicely.
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.
Very good news indeed. But will the PS1 emulation be run from the PS3 or the PS2 emulator (an emulator running inside an emulator)??? ;)
I've got a modded PS1, primarily for playing Gradius Gaiden -- an import game that Konami of America said will never hit this continent in native form....
The problem being, since I've purchased a PS2 as well, is that I cannot play this game on the PS2 because of the region check.... so it looks like I'll be keeping my PS1 in good working order (I've already replaced the power supply, due to water damage....) I don't plan on modding my PS2 either, since I have no real benefit at this point...
I just wish they'd do away with the region checks. On a side note, since I've got my PS1 modded, there are some Capcom games that detect the mod chip, and throwing the game halt screen up before you can even play it... ugh.....
Karnal
Troll?
Wow.
I was expecting -1 idiot or the like.
But troll?
It was a fscked up JOKE people.
The only part that could possibly be construed as a troll is the fact that I mentioned Microsoft when responding to a comment containing 'linux', which if anything was more of a troll than my comments. (BTW, this was the root of the joke people)
Please, find a sense of humor somewhere, anywhere. You're all WAY too serious.
No Comment.
At one point in time, I was hard-core Nintendo. NES, SNES, & then I bought a N64. Actually N64 was o.k., but everything that I wanted to play was on Playstation. I wanted a PS2 mainly as a DVD player and PS1. The PS2 was all bonus... I won't go out and buy. I will buy several of PS2 games for $15-$20 that I couldn't afford at $40-$55 each.
Region codes... feh. I just got a flip-top mod for my ps2 (basically it's a new case - no electronics), so i could play the UK version of ICO. It works fine for skipping the region check on PS2 games, but it doesn't work for PS1 games. (i'm using the swap magic discs)
I too would love to play some japanese imports - particularly PS1. I hear that if you boot with a Gameshark 2 disc, it will work... but don't know for sure.
You post an idiotic fake link to goatse and then you whine that people mod you down as a troll. Either learn to troll properly or get a sense of humour mate.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
Sorry, I forgot this is slashdot and there is no humour to be had when linux and MS are mentioned in the same thread, it must always be a flame war.
Mine appologies, it will never happen again.
No Comment.
I love backwards compatibility. I like to know that my favorite titles will carry over, and if I want to buy some legacy game down the road, I'll still be able to play it. Glad to hear the PS3 will do this now.
But I also own an X-Box, and the chances of it doing the backwards-dealie are looking slimmer. Microsoft just ditched NVidia and have shifted to ATI to do their graphics chips for the XB2 -- will the old games still be playable on new hardware? Have coders worked with a generic API like Direct X, or did they go to the metal on the NVidia part and thus old XB games have no chance of dealing with the ATI part?
I look forward to a day when all the major consoles simply 'upgrade' as they go along without cutting off support for yesterday's games, much as the PS and Gameboy series are doing. I hope the others follow in suit.
But I also own an X-Box, and the chances of it doing the backwards-dealie are looking slimmer. Microsoft just ditched NVidia and have shifted to ATI to do their graphics chips for the XB2 -- will the old games still be playable on new hardware? Have coders worked with a generic API like Direct X, or did they go to the metal on the NVidia part and thus old XB games have no chance of dealing with the ATI part?
Assuming that Microsoft allow for backwards compatibility, the only reason that anything would not work would be because someone 'coded to the metal' as you stated. MS has been promoting Direct3D/DirectX as the method for coding for the XBox for quite some time, and eventually added OpenGL due to developer pressure, iirc, and both OpenGL (at least base OpenGL without nVidia extensions) and Direct3D should have no problems with changing the CPU, video card, and sound processor.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
"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."
:)
I found it much better to buy Dreamcast games for the same reason. Better graphics, better gameplay -- and Soul Calibur!
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
While it's rumoured that N5 will support GameCube games, it's so far away as to not matter at this point. Nintendo doesn't paper launch consoles for years before you can actually buy them. Best to wait and see what they'll do (I hope that they release Bluetooth adapters for the GBA link port and have it connectable to N5 via bluetooth, as well as shipping with only Wavebirds -- no more corded controllers).
:)
The situation with the SNES was a bit different. The NES was a 6502, and the SNES had a 65C816 (which has a complete 6502 mode). At the time, though, no one had backwards compatibility. SMS games wouldn't run on the Genesis (although they'd run on GameGear with an adapter), etc. Nintendo saw no benefit to forcing the extra circuits into their SNES and having an adapter cartridge ship with it when most people had a NES anyways.
It's all cost/benefit. It's why they stopped shipping systems with 2 controllers (people will buy a second one if they need it, and it encourages 3rd parties), and why no more pack-in games are around (unless you're trying to promote your system -- even then, you can pass on the costs ala MS' Adrenaline pack).
I wouldn't be surprised if the next-gen systems ship with just the hardware and the power cord. That'll let me get the component video AV without already paying for the shitty composite that "comes free" with the system
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Two guys are in a car. One of them looks at the traffic lights and tells the driver "it's green". He replies "I don't know, a frog"?
Goatse links are not humour, they are a tired, stupid juvenile joke that passed to the realm of unoriginal trolling three years ago. Even somethingawful trolls have gone past it. If you insist on finding a man's anus being stretched "funny" and, what's more, rage against the stupid moderator who don't really understand your delicate sense of humour, well, I doubt you'll find much sympathy.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
You're sick if you thought that the link itself was even supposed to be funny. It's a fucking _cliche_ now you tool, which I was attempting to use as a tool to ensure that people actually got the fact that I was obviously joking when I said that the PS3 would be running XP Media Center instead of linux. (The whole /. linux/MS zealot thing, yeah, uh huh, not the fucking picture)
No Comment.
I wouldn't be so mad if the damn multitaps worked at least. I've had to replace 3 multitaps over the life of my ps1 and ps2's because ports stopped working. At $30 each thats enough to almost piss me off from buying a new ps3 if it doesn't have four ports, emulation or not.
Why waste my money buying a PS1 or PS2? I'll just wait until the PS3 is cheap. Or maybe the PS4. Heck, maybe I'll just adopt a policy of buying every 10th console from Sony.
:)
But seriously, this is good news for the handful of us that are still putting off our first Playstation purchase. I'll just keep waiting.
I wonder how this will effect the modding community, but legal and non. If there's emulation in software for ps1 and/or ps2 software, will the copy protection checking still be in hardware? If it isn't, someone might be able to engineer a bios update to bypass the check.
It would be nice to extract the emulation software and use it for existing ps1/2 emulation projects too.
Absolutely and without a doubt, I believe I already stated that _way_ up the thread.
No Comment.