PS3 will not enhance PS2 games

Sony's Phil Harrison spills the beans on PS3 backwards compatibility and downloadable back catalogue.

Vib Ribbon on the PS1

1UP.com has been speaking with Harrison about all things backwards compatibility related. Firstly, the PlayStation 3 will not perform any visual enhancements to PlayStation 2 games - this includes increasing PS2 game resolution. Upscaling games to output at a higher resolution, like what happens to Xbox games on the Xbox 360, could still be a possibility.

"They are as exactly as they were," said Harrison, claiming that Sony preferred the games in their original form.

[Funky Town_TX]

I can't play madden 01 in 1080p. Who cares about BC. I don't want to see an old PS2 or xbox game. I don't want to see and low res game on my 52" HDTV.

[Funky Town_TX]

they did over promise, and.............under deliver. Back in 05 BC was suppose to have HD res. xbox 360 first console to offer all gaming in HD OUT OF THE BOX. Well atleast Killzone PS3 will be sweet. It will be just like e3 05, I know it will.

[THWIP]

"They are as exactly as they were," said Harrison, claiming that Sony preferred the games in their original form.

So....Sony prefers games that are largely inferior to competitor's versions, with poor framerate, lower polygon counts, and jaggies out-the-ass? Who knew? :|

[shysun]

WTF are you talking about?!So it wont upscale Tenchu for the PS1...you can't get that game ANYWHERE else!So I ask again,WTF are you talking about?!:(

[Deceased]

Man the PS3 sucks, it isn't all it ws supposed to be. I gues Microsoft beat them at their own game, I have two 360's and yes they are that good.

[DJ]

Did the first one die on you or something? I've never heard of anyone buying two Xboxes or two Playstation consoles at the same time.

[blackmagic]

Network play. Some people have significant others that enjoy networked gaming.

[Capt CHAOS]

lol and I'm getting a second this winter too.. At their price it's worth it.. Just so the kids can play in another room while I play something else or watch the telly..

[DJ]

Good idea, hehe.

[Nodoze]

Attention Sony. I was going to pickup a PS3 to gain access to the back catalog of great titles. I was looking forward to having those games enhanced by the PS3 (anti aliasing, wireless control and upconversion), since this is not going to happen you have lost a potential customer.

Sony drops the ball....AGAIN.

Sony fans have been bashing MS with their 'limited' backwards compatibility. All I have to say, is at least those titles are enhanced! Halo/Halo 2 with full scene anti aliasing looks fantastic.

"They are as exactly as they were," said Harrison, claiming that Sony preferred the games in their original form.

Translation:

'We did not want to invest the time or effort to improve upon the user experience with backward compatibility. Our customer wants and needs are secondary to that of almighty Sony. Thus we DICTATE what the experience is and will be.'

HAHAHAHA

[PS360WII]

Granted this news is breaking my balls here. That is bull crap that they won't upscale the graphics of even ps2 games for the dang system. But this is hardly a reason to say that's why you aren't going to get the ps3. It still fully backwards compatible just what you wanted. So you can't really complain, it's just going to not look that sweet on the hd-tv you may have

[Deceased]

RFOm in 720p and now this? Sony's PS3 is weak, the 360 could do RFOM in 1080i/1080p! LOL Not enough VRAM, Not enough VRAM. DJ me and theMART told you so, i guess we know our stuff.

[PS360WII]

Had always said they are on 720p right now but they are trying for 1080p. "Trying" is the key word here. Noticed how they didn't say that it will be or that you bet your sweet arse it will be. So how is this even in your argument?

[Watapata]

Deceased, use your head, do you even know what VRAM is? or how it is used?

[Balance]

yeah that sucks but who really cares. do you know how many xbox games i play on the 360, zero.
BC is not really that important. if you are buying a next gen system and playing last gen games, then you bought the wrong next gen system because you are playing old games instead of new ones.
i thought it was stupid when people hammered MS for BC so i think it is stupid to do the same to sony.

now after all the hoopla of RFOM and now it being 720, that is something to hammer them for.

[Nodoze]

I do not have a PS2. Therefore I was going to pickup a PS3 to benefit from an extensive back catalog of solid titles. The very point of BC is to lure in new gamers (such as myself), and to appease current owners (swap the existing consoel with the new).

I was expecting an upconversion (PS2 did this for PS1 games, 360 did this for X games) and now that this is not the case why even bother. There is one title available for PS3 that looks good (RFOM). I don't need to play it that badly.

So Sony has effectively lost a next gen customer due to this. I am not going to rush to spend 6 bones for 1 new titles and a handful of older games.

Now lets look at the other angle. A new 360 owner who did not have an orginal X, can go out and pickup some of the best titles for the X AND benefit from an upconversion and AA. Hows that for cool.

I was expecting the same from the mighty Sony, but alas they chose to invest time, resources, and effort into the trojan horse BluGay player instead.

Oh well.

[Siesser]

That sounds like an argument of graphics over gameplay. If you like Xbox's games better, and the ones you want to pick up are on the BC list, then I'd suggest going with that console. If you like PS2 games better, then PS3 seems the answer. "How they look" shouldn't (my opinion, of course) be THAT big a factor; most of the games don't look horrible by any means, so it will still be an enjoyable experience. What games from the last generation really piqued your interest?

[Watapata]

PS2 did NOT make PS games look any better, there was NO upconversion there. in addition, they are leaving open the possibility of upscaling...

[BIadestarX]

Mom look! More Sony bad news.

[THELANDSOFSAND]

Halo 2 looks so sweet next-gen'd up... i'm enjoying MK deception and DOA3 on BC too.

its a shame the power of the cell can't enhance PS2 games. especially when you see the launch line up!

[Lionel Hutz]

Yes, it is bad for some people that the PS3 will not ENHANCE PS2 games. However, it may still upconvert 480i/480p PS2 games to HD resolutions (720p/1080i/1080p). The article said:

"Upscaling games to output at a higher resolution, like what happens to Xbox games on the Xbox 360, could still be a possibility."

[THWIP]

"could" and "possibility" are about as pointless as Insomniac saying "we're trying for 1080p"; we all know how THAT turned out.

[THWIP]

Double post...server issues apparently

[kmis87]

So Sony announces full backwards compatabilitiy and the ability to download all psone games for the psp and ps3...and you guys go nuts. Doesn't logic follow if you enjoyed the games before, you would enjoy them again regardless of antialiasing? I mean, this isn't exactly a great thing, but at least we get to play all the legacy games we want to on a ps3. I still get to play my old MGS, FF, and Guitar Hero games so I'm pretty happy. And being able to download psone games I missed, like Chrono Cross or Vagrant Story, sounds pretty sweet too. I swear you guys could take pick the most minor bad news out from any story and blow it up to be the end of the world.

[zypher]

i'm seeing a lot of 360 fans posting in this article. i thought most 360 fans cared about backwards compatibility as much as Microsoft did...as in they don't? why should this even be news for 360 fans who a) don't care about Sony/PS3, and b) don't care too much about bc on their own system? i'm a staunch supporter of bc, and this news is of little consequence to me. if upgraded graphics are that important, why even bother playing old PSOne, PS2, XBox games? just play PS3/360 games. me myself, graphics are of little consequence, which is why i still enjoy all my old PSOne games, crappy graphics and all; because they are FUN.

[kmis87]

I wish I could give you more positive feedback. If anyone deserves 7 bubbles it's probably you.

[zypher]

thanx for the props bro. i try to keep it as real as possible. most people don't like that. they're called fanboys.

[FKN Unbelievable]

I Want SoulCaliber 2, Def jam F4NY CVS 2,GGXX Reload and the Whole Neo geo catalog to be BC cause those games was good fighters online.

[shotty]

What the hell, first Sony makes fun of microsoft for having limited backwards compatibility. Now Sony announces the ps3 can't even upscale exisiting titles and even perform anti-aliasing on them like the xbox 360.
This is what happens when you put a mini ps2 into the ps3 to do emulation.

[kmis87]

"Upscaling games to output at a higher resolution, like what happens to Xbox games on the Xbox 360, could still be a possibility."

Did you not even read this? And at least there will be full backwards compatability, not just limited compatability with polished graphics. I'm really not worried about graphics if I'm playing psone and ps2 games am I? If graphics were all that mattered I'd be playing only ps3 and 360 games, wouldn't bother with the wii, wouldn't play older games or retro games, and I would be buying Ridge Racer 7 at launch so I could admire 1080p at 60fps. Hmmmmm...I guess graphics aren't everything.

[Nodoze]

To the fanboy that stated the PS2 did not 'improve' PS1 games:

The US PlayStation 2 has kept the feature of being able to filter textures to give an improved visual look from their original pixelated state. This compatibility though doesn’t work for all games and on some games you will have poor results. Because of that unreliability, it is an option instead of a standard. In normal mode, the PlayStation 2 should play 99.9% of the games out there. There are a few select games that won’t work properly, but those will be the rare exceptions and should still run anyways. You shouldn’t have to worry about your PSX games working on the PlayStation 2.

As far as games from the PS2 era that I was looking to play:
God of War
Ico
Shadow of Colossus
ZOE 2

Those are the standouts.

[Siesser]

That's a pretty good list there; I never played ZOE 2 though. So, you're really not going to play them because the PS3 might not make them look better than they already do?

[ApocalypseShadow]

YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PLAY THE ENTIRE BACK CATALOG OF PS1 AND PS2 titles.they didn't say ENHANCED ps1 and PS2 games.show me ONE link where sony said ENHANCED ps1 and ps2 games.one link?or are these just comments from xbox graphics whores?would it have been nice?of course.but i can live with playing them ALL than the broken in half catalog on 360 where i still can't play some of my top games on it from xbox.and kev,you really need to find ZOE2 and play it.awsome game.