BooJaka

PS3s Backwards Compatibility

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With the European launch yesterday, Sony announced its updated backwards compatibility list.

I don't mean to bash Sony any more than has already occurred but the list seems somewhat puzzling to me. Having never owned a PS2 a lot of the older games that I might want to try for the first time on the new console aren't supported or, at best, run with "noticeable issues". For example, all the Final Fantasy games seem to have troubles (including FF12 which is pretty bizarre) and Guitar Hero just doesn't work.

Having said that there are tonnes of games that are supported but none which i really care too much about which is a shame. Poor Europe.

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Being (probably) the sole owner of a PS3 around here I think I have to stick up for it. Take FF12 for example: it's working flawlessly for me and I haven't seen a glitch yet, after a few hours of play.

If you look at the requirements Sony put up for themselves with their hardware powered backwards compatibility, they were very strict. Stuff like "a row of pixels are out of place for 1/3 of a second after loading the game" would result in the title being called not fully compatible. While I don't think they've been that rigorous with software BC, they've still set the bar high.

I'm also very happy that Vagrant Story works for the PS1, so that I'll finally be able to play it again.

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That isn't how emulation works. They don't go, "alright chaps, let's get FF12 working today". They work on aspects of emulation, like getting different opcodes ("commands") of the emotion engine working, translating data in the PS2 graphics card to the PS3 graphics card, I/O, timing, etc.

Then, whatever happens to work is put on the BC list. Sure they could look into why FF12 isn't working, and work on those aspects, but that's a little harder than it sounds.

SiN

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If that was directed at me: where did I state a contrary opinion to that? I'm quite aware that emulation is a general process and not something that is done on a game-by-game basis.

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No, it was directed at BooJaka.

He said the list was puzzling because alot of the titles he wanted to play aren't on there. All I'm saying is that they can't really go "we should get these titles working" and just make it happen.

SiN

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Ok that's fair enough but it still just seems strange to me that they wouldn't put in that extra effort to try and make their most popular back catalogue/ newer games work straight away

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Probably because it's really not that important to consumers. You buy a PS3 because you want to play PS3 games. That it can't play a Final Fantasy game from PS2 right out of the box isn't going to stop a lot of consumers.

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I'm clearly losing the battle here so I won't labour the point any longer but I just think that the console developers (and I mean all of them, not just Sony although Nintendo kind of got round it in this generation) underestimate the importance of backwards compatibility for the people who either missed out on the games/consoles of last generation or can't afford to keep more than one console or have them cluttering up the house without having to take them out and put them back in storage everytime you want to try something out.

You know, the casual gamers

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What PS3 games exactly? At the moment they have about one exclusive one worth playing.

I think everyone underestimates the importance of backwards compatibility. The amount of people who trade in their old consoles to get the newest one is pretty high, alot more people would be happy to to do this if they can play old games on their new console.

I have several friends who lament swapping their Xbox for the 360, due to te large library of games they can't play.

I appreciate the argument that it is emulation and it isn't a simple task. But seriously, Sony made a bad move not including the chip in the European version, people still like playing all those f***ing Final Fantasy games.

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Backwards compatibility is an issue, you may be able to afford a PS3 and a PS2, but you not everybody has room for every single console ever made...

I still have my old PSOne since some of my games don't work on PS2, which sucks big time...;(

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