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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?
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.
I wouldn't be surprised if the next Nintendo system was backwards compatible. I think they've learned that backwards compatibility helped Sony this round. Besides, there are a lot of people that want to play a few GameCube games, but not enough games to warrent buying the system. Maybe those people could be swayed to buy the next system since it could also play the games they missed this time around.
Nintendo did try to make the SNES compatible with NES games. The SNES CPU is a 16 bit version of the NES CPU, which has an 8 bit mode. The rumor is they had trouble getting it to work well enough, and decided it wasn't worth the time and money to work out the kinks.
All Gameboy systems are backwards compatible.
They didn't attempt backwards compatibility with the N64 as the SNES showed they could get by without it. Besides, the SNES was a 2d system whereas the N64 was a 3d system, so the hardware wasn't even remotely similar.
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
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.
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]