I've got a couple Japanese PSOne and PS2 games ("Metal Gear Solid: Integral" for PSOne and "Winning Eleven 6" for PS2) that I play on my PS2 using the knife-trick of swapping discs after the PS2 boots. Works great. You don't need a modchip.
I found this Gord on XBOX article while following another Gord link from a post on this story. Gord dishes the dirt on the gaming industry from the standpoint of a game rental shop proprietor.
Gord's 10 XBOX hurdles were good food for thought, as was his analysis of what XBOX has going for it.
I thought this article brought up two very interesting points which oddly enough I was discussing this AM with my wife after we learned of the GC pricedrop (we have a PS2 and "classic" PSX):
* Production control * Platform Longevity
When talking about hardware, it's all about controlling production and cutting costs whenever possbile. Since Sony controls the production, any increased efficiencies they realize in their PS2 chip fabs directly impact their profit margins. However, on XBOX, if Intel/NVidia become more efficient in creating XBOX components, they pocket the $$$.
In addition, and in the spirit of MS' campaign for "innovation", Sony is taking it to the poor XBOX team, which obviously isn't in this for the long run. Nothing against Blackley and crew, but Sony plays consumer electronics for keeps, has teams dedicated to multiple PS product generation, and are showing it with how they control manufacturing process where, for Sony, a penny saved on costs is a penny Sony keeps (don't think Sony is selling the PSOne for a loss @$49USD:).
In addition to controlling its own production, Sony obviously employs a number of highly-talented hardware engineers (and yes, some of the Emotion Engine peeps belong to Toshiba) dedicated to creating mind-expanding and truly innovative hardware for the consumer market which will age gracefully and provide high-performance for years to come (For those who insist on comparing XBOX/PS2 from a MHz/RAM standpoint, see the ArsTechnica article on the Emotion Engine). PS2 has lots of room to grow.
Sony knows consoles aren't like PCs: the majority of buyers keep the consoles much longer than a PC and periodically purchase additional software titles. When the next round of the Console Wars commences, you know Sony will be selling the PS2 around $99 . . . and it will still be making a profit on each unit. Will Intel still be making the P3? What about NVidia . ..
I'll agree that for the most part cheesy sfx can ruin a film (see The Abyss . . . hmm, like Titanic and T2 mentioned above, all are James Cameron films) and for some time I felt the same way about video games. As a long-time gamer (Activision's Seaquest on the Atari 2600 rocked) I fell prey to the more & better GFX == better game school of thought.
Well, last night I loaded up the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game just to see how it played. I still have the cart, but don't have an NES, and had never been able to beat Shredder. For all the cheesy gfx/sfx, it was a great game, and just goes to show that in games as in movies, plot/gameplay matter, and true classics don't rely on splashy CGI to be memorable--see Zelda for NES/SNES, Ninja Gaiden, Blaster Master, etc. as well as movies such as Blade Runner, Alien & the original SW Trilogy.
Even modern story-driven PSX games like Metal Gear Solid, or the lesser known but even more excellent Vagrant Story have aged much more gracefully than their Hollywood film contemporaries.
Next thing you know, they're going to say that my custom C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file pointing doubleclick ad banner references to localhost is thievery . . . I think of it along the same lines as "ignore the National Inquirer while in the supermarket checkout line" . . . which incidently I now do by boycotting supermarkets which litter their checkout aisles with magazine trash.
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I've got a couple Japanese PSOne and PS2 games ("Metal Gear Solid: Integral" for PSOne and "Winning Eleven 6" for PS2) that I play on my PS2 using the knife-trick of swapping discs after the PS2 boots. Works great. You don't need a modchip.
Gord's 10 XBOX hurdles were good food for thought, as was his analysis of what XBOX has going for it.
I thought this article brought up two very interesting points which oddly enough I was discussing this AM with my wife after we learned of the GC pricedrop (we have a PS2 and "classic" PSX):
:).
.
* Production control
* Platform Longevity
When talking about hardware, it's all about controlling production and cutting costs whenever possbile. Since Sony controls the production, any increased efficiencies they realize in their PS2 chip fabs directly impact their profit margins. However, on XBOX, if Intel/NVidia become more efficient in creating XBOX components, they pocket the $$$.
In addition, and in the spirit of MS' campaign for "innovation", Sony is taking it to the poor XBOX team, which obviously isn't in this for the long run. Nothing against Blackley and crew, but Sony plays consumer electronics for keeps, has teams dedicated to multiple PS product generation, and are showing it with how they control manufacturing process where, for Sony, a penny saved on costs is a penny Sony keeps (don't think Sony is selling the PSOne for a loss @$49USD
In addition to controlling its own production, Sony obviously employs a number of highly-talented hardware engineers (and yes, some of the Emotion Engine peeps belong to Toshiba) dedicated to creating mind-expanding and truly innovative hardware for the consumer market which will age gracefully and provide high-performance for years to come (For those who insist on comparing XBOX/PS2 from a MHz/RAM standpoint, see the ArsTechnica article on the Emotion Engine). PS2 has lots of room to grow.
Sony knows consoles aren't like PCs: the majority of buyers keep the consoles much longer than a PC and periodically purchase additional software titles. When the next round of the Console Wars commences, you know Sony will be selling the PS2 around $99 . . . and it will still be making a profit on each unit. Will Intel still be making the P3? What about NVidia . .
Well, last night I loaded up the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game just to see how it played. I still have the cart, but don't have an NES, and had never been able to beat Shredder. For all the cheesy gfx/sfx, it was a great game, and just goes to show that in games as in movies, plot/gameplay matter, and true classics don't rely on splashy CGI to be memorable--see Zelda for NES/SNES, Ninja Gaiden, Blaster Master, etc. as well as movies such as Blade Runner, Alien & the original SW Trilogy.
Even modern story-driven PSX games like Metal Gear Solid, or the lesser known but even more excellent Vagrant Story have aged much more gracefully than their Hollywood film contemporaries.
Next thing you know, they're going to say that my custom C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file pointing doubleclick ad banner references to localhost is thievery . . . I think of it along the same lines as "ignore the National Inquirer while in the supermarket checkout line" . . . which incidently I now do by boycotting supermarkets which litter their checkout aisles with magazine trash.