240°

PS4 backwards compatibility dilemma: Gaikai Vs. hardware based emulation | Sony-Gamer

Sony was the first company to truly embrace backwards compatibility when it released the PS2. It was a pioneering move and it helped garner a ton of loyalty for the PlayStation brand. For the first time gamer’s past video games weren’t just disposable toys of yesteryear, but were actually a living breathing collection of games that could play on your new console.The PS2 also used backwards compatibility as a way to artificially extend the shelf life of PS One games by providing upgrades like; texture smoothing and faster disc loading.

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sony-gamer.com
a_bro4187d ago

you know what sony should do?, release a box that allows you to play PS2/PS3 on the "Orbis". If its near imposible to emulate these games via software, then sell that hardware seperately. a box that has the EE/GS and the Cell/GSX. attach it to the back of the "orbis", sell it for $80-100.

Im sure that people would be against the idea, but I think that should alleviate some of these problems, while keeping the "orbis" at a competitive price tag.

wishingW3L4187d ago (Edited 4187d ago )

or just sell a limited edition premium Sku of the PS4 with BC or something. If the PS4 costs like $400 then sell one with BC at $500 or something.

And I say limited edition because not many people care about BC anyway so a limited edition would be great only for those like me that really care about having all the PS consoles in one place.

MikeMyers4186d ago

I imagine PS+ will handle BC along with Gaikai. It makes sense for Sony to further promote a subscription based model while at the same time offering basic online multiplayer for free.

Amazingmrbrock4186d ago

The ps4 should by all rights be able to software emulate an entire ps2. The ps3 almost can, and any passable four year old pc can so the ps4 should.

Ps3 emulation may be a bit trickier but it's still something i want. Not in an extra box either. If thats the case I may as well keep my ps3.

Brawler4186d ago

Software emulation wouldn't be that bad, since they have all the documents and the inner workings of the ps3. The problem with emulators made by other people is we don't have that we need to find everything and do self documenting on how things work, which takes a tonne of time.

Amazingmrbrock4186d ago

What I meant by not bad is that it would require a tremendous amount of cpu and gpu power from the ps4 because it looks likely that they are abandoning the cell architecture. Though the amd cpu gpu fusion tech they dev kits apparently use sounds interesting. It only might work if they use another full gpu with it. In any case it would only be a close bet for ps3 emulation and would require quite a bit of back end work from sony.

Godmars2904186d ago

What Sony should do, if they plan on advertising a systems able to play 4 generations of games, is deliver a box capable of playing four generations of games out of the box. If online, Gaikai whether its free or subscription, then its not BC.

FXGAMESKILLEEN4187d ago

Damn that is a excellent Idea to be honest with you I never considered glad you read the article though

darthv724186d ago

So the genesis being able to play master system games via the PBC and the 7800 being able to play 2600 games dont count?

adorie4186d ago

Touche. The PS3 could be the first gaming console to run 3 generations of games,spanning almost 20 years, though. I felt spoiled when I first got my PS3 when it had just come out.

3-4-54186d ago

Actually Nintendo was debating weather or not to makes the SNES backwards compatible with the NES. They had the tech for it and the ideas.

wishingW3L4187d ago (Edited 4187d ago )

if the PS4 goes with the x86 architecture then Sony will have no excuses to not offer PS1 and PS2 BC through software because these already have emulators running on x86 architecture on the PC. And let me say that these emulators play the games much more better than the original consoles.

Now the only issue will be the PS3. An by the way things are looking now Gaikai will be the only solution.

adorie4186d ago (Edited 4186d ago )

The emulators that play PS1 and PS2 games are great indeed, but take up more computing power than the actual consoles had, just to run the games.

Either way, imo, it would be costly to put Backwards compatibility into the PS4.
Sony should move forward and just worry about current gen games(PS4).
The only sad thing about this, to me, is that the "HD remasters, remakes" have usually been sub-par, but Sony's ability to raise fidelity of their older games have been above awesome, to say the least and I hope if BC is gone and "HD remakes" are our gateway to the past, then I hope more Publishers/Dev Houses put more effort into re-releasing these games.

GribbleGrunger4187d ago (Edited 4187d ago )

I would love for the PS4 to have full backward compatibility but something tells me we may be disappointed. Unless Sony are working on a very powerful emulator, I think BC will be dealt with entirely through Gaikai. Is that a bad thing though? How many people subscribe to Sky so that they can gain access to hundreds of channels they will never ever watch?

'The times are a changing' as the saying goes. A friend of mine often complains about the gaming media and the insistence of a downloadable future, but it's clear that many facets of this business are keen on making that future happen sooner rather than later. Who can blame them, it cuts their costs down dramatically. So what has the above waffle got to do with the topic at hand?

Our obsession with ownership, the fact that we take for granted the tangibility of purchases, has lead us to believe that we will never 'DAMN IT!' ever 'DAMN IT!' accept the idea of owning something that is digital... Something that we can't touch or smell or hear while tapping it against our sweaty palms. This idea is slowly being eroded before our very eyes and yet we still cling onto that old, old notion of ownership.

For instance, the friend I mentioned above, whilst ranting about such an idea stands beside his PS3 with at least 25 PSN titles on it. He also subscribes to Sky and pays for content he'll never own. It's odd then that people see a problem with a subscription fee for Gaikai in order to gain backward compatibility. It's not a huge leap from watching your favourite films, sitcoms, documentaries etc on catchup (and paying for the privilege) to playing you favourite games (and paying for the privilege)

If the subscription fee is reasonable, reluctantly or not, people will eventually succumb to its convenience

Ben_Grimm4186d ago

I like this comment, I fully agree with you. We have already accepted and embraced music going darn near fully digital. I'm pretty sure in the next next gen we will see all digital gaming consoles.

"I think BC will be dealt with entirely through Gaikai."

Again this makes total sense and would be a plus for Sony to offer PS2/PS3 games through a cloud service rather than having the actual tech inside the ps4 driving up the cost .

FXGAMESKILLEEN4187d ago

If its a subscription fee that fine, however publishers are greedy and I doubt they'd take kindly to this model. They more than likely will want to sell access to every game game separately.

Movies are different because they are a watch once you get the whole experience where as games are everchanging thanks to DLC and online. Also there are more cost associated with them, like maintaining update, and online servers.

Besides we all know deep down that game publishers want to squeeze out as much money from us as possible, that the sad truth

GribbleGrunger4187d ago (Edited 4187d ago )

Well, there's the rub. How greedy can they get before people start un-subscribing? We do have a model to judge Sony by though: PS+. I'd say that gives us a decent idea of whether they'll be fair with the pricing, which is why I leant heavily on optimism :)

How companies like EA or Activation respond to Sony's service (if indeed it does eventually exist) is something entirely different though.

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150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos1d 3h ago (Edited 1d 3h ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers1d ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken10h ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g20h ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing19h ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H920h ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola16h ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66919h ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle18h ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

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130°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg1d 12h ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos1d 11h ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion1d 10h ago (Edited 1d 10h ago )

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola1d 6h ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

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280°

Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

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techraptor.net
ChasterMies21d ago

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

just_looken21d ago

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

Cacabunga21d ago

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

just_looken21d ago

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

Redemption-6421d ago

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

Huey_My_D_Long21d ago

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

Einhander197221d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d ago

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

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DivineHand12521d ago

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

Joe91321d ago

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

Obscure_Observer21d ago

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

S2Killinit21d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

Joe91320d ago

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

S2Killinit20d ago

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

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Christopher21d ago

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

CrimsonWing6920d ago (Edited 20d ago )

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

S2Killinit20d ago

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

Abnor_Mal21d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

Christopher21d ago

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

just_looken21d ago

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

Einhander197221d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d ago

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

romulus2321d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218321d ago

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

S2Killinit20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder21d ago

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

crazyCoconuts21d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

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