News PS3 could ship with PS2 jammed inside

The only backwards compatability on the Wii is with Gamecube games. The back catalogue of games is downloadable and played through the virtual console. I don't really consider that backwards compatability since I won't be able to plug my old NES and SNES cartridges in and playing them.

This bit of news really didn't surprise me at all. I just find it kind of funny that Sony has touted full BC at launch via an emulation routine but now it's being released that there will be PS2 chips in there. I wonder if they're going to be dropping PSX support until the software emulation is up to snuff. Having said that, when they finally get the emulator working, since this is a linux based console, will people have the emulator out and on torrents on the week of release? And will this emulator give the slight graphical boost that the 360 does to the current XBOX games that are BC? I reckon we'll wait and see.

 

Not, that it really affects me, but most people I have spoken to will be pretty annoyed if their old games don't work. They've spent a LOT of money on PS1+2 games over the past decade and they don't seem happy at the prospect of loosing it all. That's one thing I like about PCs: if I get a sudden rush of nostalgia I can still plug in Albion (1996), which I have on my flash drive now, and play it under XP. Brilliant!

-ed out

 

Personally I dont plan on buying ps3 for a few years until its dropped a bit in price, by then there probably wont be many developers making ps2 games anyway, but ill still want backwards compatibility. I used it quite a bit on my ps2, and i bought that 2 years after it came out.

Anyway a lot of people are bashing Sony because it looks like theyre trying to fix everything at the last minute. If I remember correctly Microsoft announced that theyre dropping their whole backwards compatibility program now, leaving a lot of games incompatible. I would rather have sony try to include a ps2 chip in the ps3 than have them release a software workaround for a few games and drop it a few months after promising theyll get it to work for every game.

Sony's biggest mistake is already out there though, I think the price is ridiculous for this system, and I could afford it.

 

We can't do better, but other companies seem to be able to, hell even sony themselves have done better in the past.

Backwards compatability is a something I really want with my consoles, just because the PS1 game I'm playing doesn't have superior GFX, doesn't mean the game is any worse itself. I just bought myself a PS2, not only did I buy a load of older PS2 games off eBay for it, I also bought some really good PS1 games like Vagrant Story and MGS. People still have and play thier old Ataris and SNESes, wouldn't it be much easier if you could have just 2 or 3 consoles connected to your TV instead of 20? Yeah it would. Also, what happens when my SNES breaks, would be alot easier if I could just plug the cartrige into a Wii instead of searching eBay for a retro console (obviously this isn't gonna happen but it would be cool).

Just because a console game isn't the latest, greatest game, doesn't mean it's still an amazing game that I'd rather play than FIFA 200X or LotR: Another crappy franchise game sequel.

 

I'm not saying its easy, im just saying its as if they've not really put any thought into it and are relying mainly on the brand name to sell it. I understand its difficult to design a console from scratch but for a company whos as rich as sony and has spent as much on development as sony, you would have thought they would have come up with something better that doesnt look like they've just thrown something together than been arogant about the whole thing and said you'd be lucky to own one.

If Airbus made a plane, sold it around the world then it was found it couldnt fly more than 10 feet, would you then say in your sarcastic way "well designing planes is easy. Why, I bet all the moaners on here could nock one up in an afternoon! How stupid Airbus are compared to you!" no because its they're buisness of designing planes, they should get it right.

As one of my lecturers said to us: simply saying "well i did my best" isn't good enough any more. if it doesnt do what its supposed to do then it fails, end of story.

 

Things don't always turn out as planned though. If it's the case that they're looking to fit PS2 hardware into the PS3 due to unforseen circumstances with software emulation then surely that should be seen as a good thing. Better that than saying "sorry guys, it didn't work out, live with it". You've only got to look at the relatively small list of of XBox games on the 360 to see the potential problems. I don't think it's too unreasonable to suggest that Sony looked at this, took stock of where they were, realised the importance of backwards compatibility and thought 'O.k, rather than release a crippled solution let's put the PS2 hardware in and have a solid solution from the start`. I just don't see why people are so keen to see this as a negative.

 

I thought they were having trouble getting the existing hardware ito the box let alone extra stuff...

 

this single thing is not negative, but the total of things that are the PS3 is a total of negative, they have a graphics processor with half the speed of the XBOX360, this can change anytime but still.....only time will tell if the PS3 sucks or not.

 

If this is due in five months, that leaves them with little more than five months to finish development, testing, and production. The problem with the console is that everything they do seems panicked and hastily done. Of course it takes a lot of effort from many individuals to produce and market a console. The thing is, a lot of people had/have high expectations which Sony might not be able to meet.

MS put a LOT of effort into designing and producing the xbox 360 b/c they still hadn't earned a dime from their initial launch into teh xbox platform. After establishing themselves in the console market, they're trying to get a stronger foothold in the marketshare. Nintendo realized it was far from being the leader and that most hardcore gamers would rather go with an xbox or PS2/3 than their system, so they put extra time and effort into producing a quality system. Those two companies have been acting like there is huge competition in the console market (which is how it really is). Sony hasn't been acting that way. I remember when the Cell was in development stages they mentioned that it would be somewhat crippled when implemented into the PS3. There were all these articles around that time questioning why the Cell would have redundant processing threads rather than full use of its capabilities.

I see myself as maintaining a neutral standpoint. I haven't owned a console since me and my sister had an Atari, and I have a good impression of all three companies. Given all the news in the past few months, it really seems as if Sony is just trying to catch up at any cost. Most people who would like backwards compatibility already have a PS2, so implementing it into the PS3 shouldn't be too much of an issue. Besides that, the major problem that I see, as I mentioned someone earlier in this rambling, is that it's 5 months before the expected launch, and they're only now finding out that things are botched. I see this as being equivalent to writing a 50 pg term paper and finding out two days before the due date that ou wrote it on the wrong topic.

 

what i dont get is that microsofts XBOX was brought out after the PS3 (supposidly a more powerful console) but it was atleast 6 months (if my memory serves me) and they have since brought out the Xbox360, and the PS3 is going to be a year later, sony have had atleast a year and a half more time then microsoft, and yet they seem to be playing catch up - what is sony doing ...

 

eh? The Xbox has been out for years and the PS3 aint even out. Is it this guy thats living in a different universe or me???

Xbox after PS3. Uk have a football team. Whats next Yahooadam???

 

what he meant was the XBOX360

and if i understood correctly the XBOX360 was presented to the world after the PS3 and the XBOX360 has already been launched and the PS3 is not out at this moment neither is it complete.

remember the dog that wants to catch his tail?

 

Five months isn't a long time to solve all the issues they seem to be having...

 

Which is why people are beginning to doubt the credibility and the power of the PS3. Right now alot of info points to Sony being way behind and as stated many times, playing catch-up. Last minute controller changes similar but different to Nintendo's controller. Cell processor under performing in tests, Problems with backwards compatiblity and WORLD WIDE LAUNCH forcasted for November. None of that adds up. How are they going to even produce enough units for a local launch if they haven't even worked out backwards compatiblity. On top of that no evidence has been given for how the PS3 will handle saved games for the PS2/PS1. No standard PSX memory slot was present and I believe they are using a different format for the PS3 aren't they?

 

they will have to find a way of moving data from the memory cards to the hard disk. and extra peripheral we will have to fork out for most likely.

 

oops guys - this post went a little wrong, the first PS3 written is ment to be PS2, ill re-write it then

what i dont get is that microsofts XBOX was brought out after the PS2 (the xbox supposidly being a more powerful console) but it was released atleast 6 months after the PS2 (if my memory serves me) and they have since brought out the Xbox360, and the PS3 is going to be a year later then the X360, sony have had atleast 1.5 Years more time then microsoft, and yet they seem to be playing catch up - what is sony doing ...

 

Just because the PS3 was announced first doesn't mean it was in the works first. For all we know, the xbox 360 was in the works as soon as the xbox was released, but it was announced when they were confident that it would be a solid product. For all we know, they're already working on a third xbox.

 

No he's saying that Microsoft has brought out 2 consoles between the time it has taken Sony to get the PS3 out (well, coming out), yet Sony is still having trouble keeping up with everything.

 

yeh i agree with most of the other points

Sony really is having trouble with this, i think it will be a huge flop.

I attended the launch of the PSP a while back (this was when i was working in a shop that sent me to all the product launches), and sony was making a huge fuss about how it was going to change everything..... ah no. the psp has been a huge letdown, a few cool features but in general it has flopped.

as for the PS3, it will be a cool machine it will have a nice hd-dvd (the only reason that im thinking of getting one), but in general i think is behind the curve. the xbox has already been out for a few months, it rocks, and everyone loves it. too little too late from sony.

 

A lack of backwards compatability isn't a show-stopper for me, but I am starting to run out of space for additional consoles in my entertainment center.

I don't think that backwards compatability is really for new customers, it's more for exisisting customers who have the older system and plenty of games for it, who don't want to be forever unplugging and replugging to play those older games.

As for buying a new system, I'm still kinda waiting on that whole "substantial range of quality games that appeal to my tastes" thing. But I'm funny that way.

Nezuji