We Found Out Exactly Why There Is No PS3 Backwards Compatibility

PSInsider writes: We heard a few more things from our sources about why certain features did not make the cut in FW 3.0.

[jack_burt0n]

great article.

[lordgodalming]

And it makes sense. I've still got my PS2 set up right beside my 40GB PS3.

[randomwiz]

in my opinion, they should remake the "phat" ps3 @ 399 with hardware backwards compatibility(like the original 60gb's)

the ps2's will still sell in developing countries

[lokiroo420]

Uh, far from it. They just figured these reasons out huh, welcome to the party.

[Christopher]

Agreed, best article here in a very very long while.

Thank you for the great info on this.

Now, how long until it is ignored by the people who like to propagate fanboy wars?

[Alcon Caper]

This guy is reaching. The original iteration of the PS3 touted backwards compatibility w/ upscaling. No one expected the Wii to play Gamecube games or the 360 to play Xbox games. Sony messed up by taking that promised feature away. People have been expecting its return ever since.

Because of technical issues, as well as pricing issues, they were FORCED to cut that feature.

They make it sound like it's a choice that they don't include it.

The fact is that they still can't afford to figure out BC because that would raise the price of the slim, a factor that is well in their favor.

[lordgodalming]

The article is simple, logical, and, yes, even obvious in points. But "obvious" is a terribly subjective word--how come no other gaming journos have come up with the same arguments this guy has?--and it's refreshing to see a reasonable take on gaming hardware.

Edit: @ above:

Sony has already figured out TWO methods of B/C. The first was hardware (launch SKUs), the was second software emulation (original 80GB SKU). Besides that, if they're still selling loads of PS2's at $100 a pop, why would they jam it into the PS3 for free? Furthermore, if software is the real moneymaker for consoles, they would definitely want people buying new PS3 games rather than old/used PS2 games that wouldn't make them much money.

Wasn't their choice...unbelievable.

[yippie1234y]

My 80 gig backward compatible (MGS Bundle) PS3 is collecting dust simply b/c Xbox spoiled me with party chat. My PS3 has missed out on a bunch of multi plat games for this one reason alone.

But i do load up Mega Man X Collection (PS2 game) every once in a while.

[Blaster_Master]

I already have BC so. Ha!

[Christopher]

Your comment has absolutely nothing to do with the article at hand.

@Alcon Caper

I think you miss the point. Their is no debate on whether or not BC was expected. The question is on will it return, and we've known for more than a year that it would be going the way of the dodo so I don't see complaining about the latest PS3 not having as really an issue with it but with the product as a whole.

They already explained that people weren't willing to play for full BC with the original PS3, and I'd kind of believe the people who have the sales figures and user reports over some random gamer on the internet.

This article is solely dealing with why we aren't seeing BC through software and why they currently have a solid comment of it not returning at this time. The reasons they provide for this element alone are extremely reasonable, but don't negate the fact that they could still be working to make BC via software work.

Overall I think there are two sides to people responding to this article. People who understand that this is solely an explanation on the difficulties of BC via software emulation alone and people who are still complaining one way or another about BC being unavailable in general.

@Chrisny85 below: Yeah... talk about stretching that one a mile and then some to try and make your statement relevant to the discussion... I mean, let's take a single example in a sentence about improving the PS3 as a whole and then relate that to your whole statement of just playing your 360 in an article about... BC on the PS3 for PS2 games... Yeah, definitely not a stretch there.

[fr0sty]

@ 1.5

A software based backwards compatibility system will not raise the price of the slim at all.

[yippie1234y]

Actually it does, if you read the article. The author says Sony is focusing on making improvements to other areas such as cross gaming chat. Their focus is to make popular features for the PS3 without loosing sales on PS2.

With that being said, I am trying to emphasize the loss of profit Sony is missing out on when they are loosing sales because of such a great feature that they still have not made.

I love my PS3 I am just agreeing with the author.

@ cgoodno it is what it is... my ps3 collects dust since i play online shooters and have actual friends(people who you play your games with who share common interests) i know A.I. does not talk to you but maybe one day. Go bother someone else.

[Christopher]

Yes, that last statement of yours makes tons of sense because there is absolutely no chat option with PS3 games. None. Whatsoever. Seriously. You can't even use bluetooth headsets, it's all been a scam.

[yippie1234y]

your attempt to make this into a fanboy thing is disgusting. dont brag about bluetooth, the last thing people want to hear is background noise from 12 different random people's TVs.. that is another reason why i think PS3 needs party chat... so i only hear my friends backgrounds instead of the whole damm community.

If ps3 had party chat i would buy my mutli plats on it. that's the point im trying to make.

go away.

[JBaby343]

He's not attempting to make it fanboyish. Your comment sounds very fanboyish. Maybe you didn't mean for it to but it does. Also if party chat alone is enough for your PS3 to collect dust then you need to meet more people than just your little network. Exclusives alone with or without party chat are enough to keep any PS3 from collecting dust. Even Killzone 2 only lets you talk to people in your squad (if you want) so you have a party system there alone. Even in games when you can hear everyone I seldom hear any background noise. Maybe PSN has more mature gamers than Live but even in the odd occasions when someone is a D!ck you can mute them. Your comments do seem fanboyish and quite a stretch to relate to the article which is almost entirely concerning BC while chat features are only mentioned in passing.

[IaMs12]

It was a good article and it had many good points but the Xbox has MANY games that run BC. All the ones i have run great on them and its not all big brand either. Of course They cant get every game to run understandable but most to work. Now Sony should release these patches for users so they could play at least some of the games until they work out the big solution. Thats one reason i got a Xbox because it had BC. Of course if you got the arcade your suckered in lol

[Kain81]

?????

[kingOVsticks]

"4. Memory card utility - Sony is not interested in producing many of them due to high cost of PS1/PS2 memory card slot. Apparently it's a low profit hassle that also (for the reasons listed in reason number 2) slows down the sales of third party PS2 games."

that makes alot of sense and didn't even cross my mind.

[jadenkorri]

If you wanted a BC ps3, then you should of bought the launch ps3, last i checked you guys all whined about the price and claimed you all had ps2's, why would you need BC. So you people demanded it to be taken out, sony followed suit and did that for you with a lowered price. Now your all whining again, put it back, put it back. Good job on getting it removed, I'll enjoy my 60 gig ps3.

[Tsar4ever01]

I didn't even bother to consider SOME of those other reasons, I STAND CORRECTED! I guess I won't B***H about it no more.

HOPE MY K.KUTARAGI/PS3 60GB lives a LONG life. And I'm still thinking about getting me a Ps2slim to take over for my original PS2/SCPH-30000 ver. when it dies out.

[Sarcasm]

The no B/C excuse is by far the worst.

Next it's

"The PS3 doesn't do drugs, I'm not buying it. Sony, give me a reason to buy a PS3!"

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

I fail to see how 2) will affect third party developers at all:

"PS2 is still selling good. Third party developers who are still releasing games on PS2 know that their games will sell better if PS2 is a separate console, as most people with a PS3 are going to primarily focus on buying PS3 games, which has a lot more games being released and therefore much more competition (even from the same publisher)."

I mean after all, the PS3 supporting BC has no effect on PS2 game sales. This just means PS2 now has a potentially (albeit less likely to purchase) a 20 something million new customers.

[rockleex]

Once the PS2 dies, and once the PS3 costs either $99 or $199.

Since they always have a more expensive model with more features, they might as well add hardware BC as one of those "luxurious" features.

But its more likely for Sony to release PS2 classics that are fixed to work on the PS3 for PSN. More profit.

[Electricear]

@IdleLeeSiuLung
People who own a ps3 and have some extra cash are far more likely to purchase a new ps3 game than a new ps2 game. Ps2 backwards compatibility is mainly wanted so people who have a collection of ps2 games don't loose their existing collection. Yes there are a few people with ps3's that would buy a ps2 game; however, it's far more likely that a person who only owns a ps2 will purchase a given game, because that is their console. Once a person moves on to a new console there is a little bit of nostalgia playing, but after a while they typically will stick to newer system games only reverting to the older games when they desire to have a nostalgic trip.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Thanks for the clarification, but what I meant is I fail to see why that would be a hindrance. I mean even if the likelihood of somebody buying a PS2 game decreases significantly with PS3 owners, it is still an expansion of the PS2 market.

Besides PS1 games sell well, so why not PS2? Why let GameStop eat up your profits on older games that are no longer available brand new in-store? That is a huge catalog of games....

[Electricear]

but if Sony were to make the ps3 backward compatible again, then when a persons ps2 dies there is a high probability that they would just purchase a ps3, and though from our standpoint that sounds appealing, lets think about this from a business standpoint. Adding ps2 backwards compatibility financially gets Sony very little at this point, because as I previously stated most individuals will mainly use it for playing their existing game collection, and when they have money to spend on a new game they are far more likely to purchase a new ps3 game rather than a new ps2 game. From Sony's stand point they loose profit on selling the ps3, and they loose profit on unsold p2 games, but make a profit on ps3 games. So that is 2 monetary losses to one potentially small gain.

Now if they keep the ps2 separate while there is still a decent demand for it It's far more likely that the gamer will buy another ps2 which they make a profit on, the user now is still obviously interested enough in the ps2 to have purchased a new one, so they also have a market for new ps2 games, and eventually if the person decides to go to the ps3, they have the additional revenue from that ps2 sale to help off set the cost of the ps3 purchase. Basically the person spent $100+ dollars on something that Sony only makes a profit on at this point. Thus it's currently a win win solution for Sony to keep selling the ps2 separately from the ps3 until their simply isn't enough demand for it any more.

Once the profit level of the ps2 drops to low for it to pay for the manufacturing of it, then Sony will more than likely kill it off at which point they are more likely to add it back in as a downloadable emulator for the ps3, and charge people a small fee and they potentially make a profit again. See how this works, by waiting, they have the opportunity to make a profit off the ps2 the whole time.

[D R Fz]

PS2 is still a factor and still sells well. Sony is juggling 3 major gaming devices in the market and I think they as a company know what's the best approach to making sure that each one remains a great option for consumers.

I would offer them advice, but I've never ran a company before. I trust their decisions and I know Sony is listening to their customers.

[fr0sty]

I always knew there was a hardware issue for them to face with porting PS2 games to run on PS3, as individual emulators per game are required. However, I neglected to look at the business end of it until I heard this. It does make sense from a profit perspective for Sony to keep those 2 systems separate.

[keysy420]

it puts less pressure on the ps3 to sell off the charts. son yisnt going to disrupt this until its time to

[nightelfmohawk]

People *****ed and moaned when the PS3 cost so much, now they ***** and moan when Sony removes features to get the cost down. I have both a PS2 slim and a PS3, and I couldn't be happier. :)

[Alcon Caper]

The only reason why people expected BC in the first place is because Sony touted it as a key feature in the first iteration of the PS3.

No one expected the Wii to be BC with the Gamecube or the 360 with the Xbox.

Sony just messed up.

[El Botto]

Its gone, its done deal already. Let bygones be bygones. I cant believe how many people still cling on BC. When Sony first released the PS3 with BC, people were complaining about how it wasnt needed and how the price was too high.

So what did Sony do? They removed the BC to bring the price down. And then all hell broke lose! Bunch of fking hypocrits present day gamers are!

I tell you, I dont know ANYONE who plays PSTWO games on their PS3. So whats the big fking problem? 360 and Wii barely has BC, hell you need to PAY to play SNES games on the Wii, haha how fking OWNED is that. But people cry about PS3 BC for almost 2 years now.

Deal with it already bunch of crybabies! Just look at the PS3. Look at its line up. I have never seen such a line up in the 15 years Im playing videogames. Its without ANY DOUBT the best line up ever. So what are you crying about it.

[CryWolf]

Listen up El Botto some people didn't get a chance to get PS2 or PS2 games they just got a ps3 or want to get a PS3 two play PS3 games and PS2 games not just PS3 games, so were going to keep talking about backwards compatibility in tell sony finally put it back on PS3. if it take 2-3 more years then we will keep talking about it for 2-3 more years as long as it takes to get b/c back.

[nightelfmohawk]

"El Botto some people didn't get a chance to get PS2"

Yup, people like me who sucked it up and got both a PS3 and a PS2 slim (after it dropped to $99).

[Stryfeno2]

Because the PS3 is still selling? What about the PS2? It had BC throughout its lifetime...I remember the PS1 was selling good and Sony never removed BC from the PS2.

[Kill Crow]

can opnly render PS2 games without jaggies .... no where did I put my 4D goggles ...

[gamerdude11]

If you want BC buy the 60 gig on ebay. It will never return to the PS3. There is no chance.

[koehler83]

I have a 60GB myself and I've never regretted being an early adopter for that benefit.

I disagree though, I believe BC will definitely make a return to all PS3 units before the end of it's life. It's just a matter of the PS2's life ending first. The transition from PS2 to PS3 is taking ages compared to the almost immediate transition from PS1 to PS2. There are a lot of people to blame, and the consumers and developers (especially Japanese consumers and developers) are among them for sure.

All that said, I have a BC PS3 and I do not pay any attention to what's going on in the PS2 games market, so I am proof of that claim.

[randomwiz]

the ps2's life will end when the ps3 becomes a sub $200 price. The ps2 is seeing a great amount of sales from developing countries, because of how cheap it is.

[JBaby343]

I wish there was a better BC option but oh well. The PS3 games will be more than enough.

[sam2236]

Ebay?! Are you mental? You'd get scammed easily! Hell, I could but a 60GB HDD into my 80GB and pass it off as a 60GB on Ebay!

[JonnyBigBoss]

I say they announce the new firmware at E3 next year.

[ElementX]

They announce a new firmware every few months.

[mrv321]

If you want BC buy a PS2. I didn't notice much of a graphical upgrade on PS2 on my 60gb if any at all so why not just get a PS2 for $99 or £70 with a game. Now for that price how can yoy really complain about no BC... if you want to play PS2 games buy a PS2.

[mrv321]

Ok maybe I'm wrong in saying but...

Most of you allready own PS2 games and most likely then a PS2 so why do you want BC because your at best going to trade it in for like £30 anyway... and if it broke and you fancy an upgrade to a PS3 then that's still not viable because you'd still have to buy PS3 games which will end up costing half the price of a new console anyway, infact the COD 6 prestidge edition cost more than a PS2.

[DrWan]

Why are u guys saying great read, this guy is making this crap up.

Take point 3 for example, you dont need a master disc to make duplication. Anyone knows that the developer has the only Master Copy not the one in retail form but in their pre-burnt stored on their computer, work unit, or an unofficial copy that they brought to the press to begin with. Obtaining any copy of old games won't be hard for any developer, they do keep copies of their old codes and game. And it's not up to SONY to obtain a game from say EA, it's up to EA to submit it. Sony cannot just go duplicate a game that's not developed by them and put it on PSN, they don't have the rights to do that.

Now they are trying to save their ass to say the PSP price drop didn't happen but they still "got it right" bc of GT PSP? come on, what a load of crap. They were just making pointless predictions like everyone else, and 50 thousand other site has the same prediction and Slim prediction as well. They just "happen to be right". Remember back in E3, everyone was syaing there is a price drop? what happened to those "predictions".

If u can't see through this site's BS, u r just a damn tool. Use some critical thinking, the title said they "dug a little deeper", i was thinking they pick up the phone and call a few knowledgeable ppl from the inside, instead they were just making more crap up and postulating more theories why there is no BC.

[DrWan]

companies to remaster selected titles in HD, add trophies, and release on PSN for the PS3 for a decent price. It will take some money, sure, but I bet ppl will buy into it, like SF Turbo HD. And Marvel vs Capcom 2

[fr0sty]

The copies are stored on glass master discs. These discs cannot be read by a normal DVD player, as they do not have pits but instead have spikes that punch the holes into the aluminum of the DVD discs during replication. Therefore, to actually read the disc, you must punch the holes in an aluminum plate and then make a standard dvd out of that.

I should know this, I only make DVD's for a living as part of my video production company.

And no other site out there mentioned anything about fw 3.0 at gamescom, or that there would be a video for it, or the exact date for slim and the price cuts, or any of that. we were more specific than any other site out there and nailed damn near every rumor. the psp go one was a case of a rumor being told to us before decisions had been finalized on exactly what they were going to do with psp go. it didn't make sense anymore to sell it at $250 as is, with their top of the line system only costing $50 more now. So, they were forced to do one of 2 things. cut the price, or add value to it. they obviously chose the latter. however, the price cut could still come to the US and japan as the GT bundle is only for the UK.

[DrWan]

discs are made, that data came from the Dev unit or from the computer, you can always make as many as you want if you are the developer, therefore your point3 is still useless. Stop making sh!t up.

I only know one fact and that is No one knows why Sony does not have BC, no one knows if this is a technology limitation vs time vs money vs worthwhile doing something else with their software engineers. No one knows, so stop telling public things you imagined up.

If you want to tell the public ur FUD, that's fine, don't make ur title sound like you got it all figured out. You are just as confused as anyone else. Or else you wouldn't be speculating.

[CryWolf]

If these guys are developing a patch for ps3 backwards compatibility that means PS2 is not selling as well as Sony hopes it would sell, a other thing to point out is maybe sony should have went the route that Microsoft went with XBox Live backwards compatibility way go to xbox.com to put it on a CD disc or download it online to get better profits for PS3.

[fr0sty]

dude, I own a video production company. I produce many, many videos just like these developers produce many, many games. There is no way in hell I'd have enough storage space to keep my projects backed up on hard disc, so I use master DVD copies as well. mine are not glass masters (they do not need to be, as I do not mass replicate), but none the less I keep master DVDs just like they do.

Storing all that data on anything else just does not make sense. It is not economical, nor practical.

[Lumbo]

@fr0sty: come on, surely you don't want to suggest that DEVELOPERS make the expensive GlassMasters themself .. Naturally developers have a DISK version of the game and that one is stored, not the Glass master. So they will have a DIGITAL master around to make a new Glass Master if need be.

The DIGITAL master can be used to make the DL version of the game.

The writeup is actually a joke, really. They post random made up "reasons" and even try to dig themself out of their clearly wrong "pricecut" statement, the free GT is only for the people buying it in the FIRST TEN DAYS, not a general addition.

The rest is pure speculative blabber, as usual, and mostly pulled out from where the sun shines not.

(edit: correction on the technical part of mastering, forgott the metal stamper phase, my bad)

[fr0sty]

Due to copyright reasons (for instance, you cannot use CSS copy protection on a burned DVD disc, as DVD-R and +R writers are not capable of writing on the area of the disc where this encryption is located), I could understand why they might not keep a DVD-R version of their games. They could just offer up a pressed retail copy, but for some of the more obscure games that may not be an option (they just might not have it anymore). Some studios go out of business, others are bought out, and so sometimes keeping up with all the games can be a hassle.

I'll ask one of the developers that works for our site about how they store their data (we are called playstation insider for a reason).

also, I find it funny how we nailed 4/5 things we said, even when no other site had given a date for these things or even mentioned fw 3.0 and a video to showcase it's stuff to be shown, and yet all you can do is focus on the one thing we didn't get perfect. Plans changed, and the announcement of the psp go price cut is still a possibility at TGS according to our sources.

[Christopher]

Point #3 is only stupid if you don't understand copyright law and how they burn data to the PS2 discs.

[Skully-NW]

All i know is that i didn't buy a ps3 to play ps2 games even though i've got a 60gig, if you really wanna play ps2 games buy a ps2

[Tony-A]

True, it is only, what, $100? Everybody and their grandmother has one already.

[hatchimatchi]

yea, i got a ps3 last october and i was really hoping for a BC patch cause i wanted to play some games i missed out on, but eventually i said "screw it" and i went out and bought a ps2 slim. It was like 100 dollars and came with 2 controllers, a memory card and some syphon filter game. It now sits on my shelf next to it's big brother, the ps3. Ha.

[beeeffess]

It's quite simple.

Once PS2 is finished, no more units will be produced this is the ideal time to add backwards compatibility. This won't happen until the 10 year thing ends. I think we're on the 7th or 8th year so far.

But this isn't definite.

We may never see BC until firmware 4.00.

[stevenrb]

considering that the old 60 gig ps3's played ps2/1 games perfectly with no problem. Why cant we do it now?

[fr0sty]

Those PS3's had actual PS2 hardware in it (the GPU can CPU from PS2 were in them). They removed those parts after the mgs4 80gb bundle to cut costs.

[Tony-A]

I believe it's because Sony underestimated the success of the PS2. I imagine they thought the PS2 would die around 2007 or 2008, but it's still selling over 100,000 units a month. Because of this, people are so connected to the PS2, and have such a huge collection of those games, that the PS3 game sales suffer a bit. Stopping PS2 BC will slow down the PS2 and increase PS3 and PS3 games sales.

I remember when everyone said the PS2 was done for... in 2004. Then God of War came out. Then they said it would die again in 05, then God of War II came out. Then when we said God of War III was coming to PS3 and the PS2 has nothing left, Guitar Hero was released. It simply won't die.

[ZBlacktt]

That was a great read. Good job.

[jerethdagryphon]

in actuality
a company makes an ansigned copy themselves for testing on debug kits, that wont play on standard ps3s

this i know because thats what was used in the littlebig popup shop and they routinly had new discs with updated builds brought down

[cr33ping_death]

I love.. love my PS3 60gb launch model :) i can play anything PS on it muahahahahaha :)

[Sonyfanclubpresident]

should have included bc with the slim.

fvckin shame

epic fail thy little gaystationers

EDIT to thy little gaystationer below.

put down your ps3 controller and take some English classes son

[Etseix]

sony release its products to people how can understand those things, in other words, not for u sir. please stay away, thx.

yea, i take english classes, but then again, does it hurt u or something? if u know a lot of english, why u are not able to understand about those things ?

i might fail on english, yea, still u fail on all the comments u do, thats sad.

[FFXI101]

Cause you said so?

why don't you go b!tch at M$ for not included BC on 360, for not included wi-fi on 360, for not included a charge cable for the wireless controller like PS3 does and for not offer a free online service?

Your avatar describe perfectly of what kinda person you are....A moron.

[kaelix]

why are you typing like nelson does? dun dun dunnn..... and about BC what about your precious 360 does it have it? nope soo... hypocrite much? o.o

[gamingisnotacrime]

And make me happier that i have a limited BC 80 GB PS3 with software emulation. My PS3 runs ove 80% of my PS2 collection (i dont have THAT many games), but includes monsters like GoW, GTA series, GT 3 & 4, MGS series, Devil May Cry etc)

PS2 = $$$$$ for Sony
PS3 = $$

PS3 with PS2 BC = $

I have both, but BC is a great feuture for playing PS2 on HDTVs.

[mcgrawgamer]

I would like to see BC in the ps3 only because I'd rather have one console in my ent center compared to 2. but this article while very well written is nothing more than pretty looking excuses. it all comes down to one thing, and that's money. sony is still making money off of the ps2 with systems and software, so why cut off a revenue stream just to make a few folks happy; when at this point every household probably has 2 or more ps2's anyway?

[FFXI101]

That important...... Think about it, there're more PSOne classics on PSN. Soon, We'll see PS2 games on PSN too, so what's the point to have BC?

It cost more time and money to add BC to systems that are on the market today or patch it to every PS3 that are out there. It just waste of time, besides, most people who still have huge collection of PS2 games, are either collectors or who can't afford a PS3. Then in this case a PS2 can easily solve your problem(they don't cost $299 or $199, they are $99.)

[DARK WITNESS]

wow..., all i can say is i am glad i have a 60 gig. i don't use it much for playing ps2 games but its always good to know i have the opption.

i like my 60 gig and would not trade it for anything else.

[super x]

360 is down too bad 360

[Pillville]

"2. PS2 is still selling good." *BUZZ!!*
2. PS2 is still selling WELL.

Doesn't anyone know the difference between an adverb and adjective anymore?

[fr0sty]

Our source's native language is not english. Go easy on em'.

[Dzpool]

Its simple if you have to buy a ps2 and a ps3 Sony gets more money its called being greedy.

[fr0sty]

Not being greedy, being smart. If your company was bleeding red ink, posting losses on quarterly reports... would you not want one of your products competing with another? Or would you want to slow down sales on a system that is sold for almost pure profit so you can give a select few kids a feature they want? B/C is not a system seller. PS3's new games and features are. So, sony are focusing on just that. PS3's selling points.

[Darrius Cole]

So basically, the PS3 has no PS2 BC because the PS2 is just a beast of platform that crushed all of its competition and is still doing very well.

---Therefore, Sony deems the PS2 to big to kill off yet.

[PeterGriffinSays]

Yall mad?

[Allowen]

If this full B/C emulation ever comes to the PS3 it will not be free.
I don't think they will just add this huge feature for free in a firmware update while the PS2 still gives lots of money to Sony.

My bet is that in a year from now Sony will launch at the PSN a perfect PS2 emulator at the price of around $30 dolars.

By that time the PS2 console will not be selling that much(and Ps3 SLIM will be selling a lot!) and so instead to do a price cut even bellow $99 Sony will instead launch the "virtual PS2" emulator for the PS3Slim.

[divideby0]

bc was very impt. to me, hence another reason why I got a launch unit

[spunkee311]

I have the 60 gig original and wouldn't give it up for anything. I play PS3 games more obviously but its nice to be able to have the choice to play ps2 games. Considering the fact I have over PS2 50 games.
I actually can't believe how many people are complaining about having the potential to Play PS2 games on the new PS3's.
Why would I go out and buy another PS2 or even still keep mine, when I can have everything play under one system?
And a PS2 game on a HDTV doesn't really look as well. The PS3 playing PS2 games look great.
I traded in my PS2 to help with the cost of the PS3. And I love the fact that its 4 systems in one (ps1,ps2,ps3,blueray) and more.
And I love how people say "Oh I've only played a ps2 game once or twice on the PS3". That's crap and you know it. And why wouldn't you want access to the best library in gaming history?
I do think that Sony didn't believe the PS2 would still be a success. So I think they just figured they would cut cost by cutting the backwards Compatability and in turn it would boost sales and continue sales for the PS2. Which it has done. THey are just not ready to cut it. Especially since the Wii is pretty much a PS2 in a way and both share a lot of the same games with the same graphic capability.
It the update to play ps2 games I think will come soon. From the looks of it, it does look like they are working on it.
I personally think they should sell the original 60 gig again. Maybe exclusively on the Sony website.
4 usb's, Memory Card Readers, Backwards Compatability. Can't get better than that.

[DevilWillCry289]

but Sony had already said the reason of no BC, days ago. They said, " People buy a PS3 for PS3 games".

[champ21]

its retarded to own a console.

buy games at a high price and later on dont even have BC ... sigh.

why allow companies like ms and sony to screw you.

[Enigma_2099]

... they actually explained in a way that didn't piss me off. Amazing...

They're still selling PS2s? Yeah? Ok, we're good.

[ReBurn]

I use the BC on my 60gb PS3 quite a bit. I could live without it because I still have my PS2, but I don't want the clutter of multiple systems out at once. The PS3, 360 and Wii are more than enough.

[xboxlover]

But they are, and sony fu(ked up, and people will never be happy with sony. Look at my name, obviously I am a huge 360 fan, but with the slim, I am seriously thinking of buying a PS3 for heir exclusives.

[fr0sty]

I updated the article with a much more in depth look into exactly which technical hurdles stand in the way of running ps2 games on a ps3 without actually having ps2 hardware in the ps3 (as in, software emulation only). They removed the ps2 CPU and GPU from ps3 to allow them to cut the price, so given how difficult it is I can understand why we do not have it.

[memphis2]

now this is for all you people that might have read my past posts about the slim not being all great and mighty. such a good article on information and facts. yet i'll say it again i am GLAD to have my 60GIG VERSION.

[AriesFury]

I read on another forum that some guy as both the PS2 & 3 and wanted to play GOW2. So he unplugs the 3 and plugs in the 2 to play it.

This is the nightmare of not have b/c for the PS3 latter systems.

[djfullshred]

Alot over my head, but it is still fascinating to hear the tech talk of why it is not so easy to have backwards compatability on the current PS3 versions. Nice write up.

[D3adcell]

I think PS2 B/C would at least help them sell PS3's a little better. Everything helps and that way people only have to have one console hooked up to the TV for playstation games.

[thereapersson]

"There is quite simply more framebuffer and texture bandwidth on the PS2 than the PS3 has. And even the eDRAM of something like Xenos doesn't really help here because the latency is higher and it's explicitly a transient state holding buffer, rather than a final output field. GS not only allowed you to work in eDRAM, but that was the main VRAM itself... it stored the front and back buffer as well as working textures in there. On current chips, the backbuffer and frontbuffer have to go through a resolve step and are always stored in main VRAM. All these sorts of things are exploited rather explicitly in the vast majority of PS2 games."

Wow, I didn't even know that!

[TwistedMetal]

Sony expected you to cheap broke gamers to buy the bc ps's but your faces didnt. you guys cant use that it was expected argument becuase they have no obligation to give bc to the people who didnt want to buy the ps3. you had like 3 years to get a ps3 with bc and you still can. also all ps3 have ps1 bc. why would you even buy a wii or a x360 if you wanted ps3 bc in the first place? the othere consoles had no games last gen. well wii did but only a few. if people are willing to buy a wii or a x360 over a ps3 then they didnt want bc becuase they didnt care about sony or sony games. when the consoles was first releasing all ps2 franchsies like gta were said to be ps3 exclusive and everyone should of gotten a ps3 then no matter what. only later did people did people find out that those games were multiplat. these people who cry about ps2 bc are hypacrits and should of had a ps3 day 1. Also they shouldnt even have a x360 since they play there ps2 games so much that they need bc in the ps3

[thehitman]

made sense... Only thing that I would believe is the part about ppl using the ps3 to pirate ps2 games into their ps3s. The 80gig had emulation already so dont think was much problem there. Also i believe person who wrote this article doesnt have a working ps3 w/ bc because he know the ps3 has built in memory for ps2 games that gets saved on HD like ps3 game no memory card needed and they have converter(which i have) to put ur old ps2 saves on ur ps3.

[Sumadyan]

The whole thing with BC on ps3 is only about money and sony's business model. Software emulation for ps2 was in european consoles at launch. Even if it wasn't/isn't perfect sony could have just left it alone so everyone could have some sort of bc, but no.. they yanked it and now are coming up with excuse after excuse why its not there.

The ONLY reason why ps3 has no BC its because sony will be selling ps2 games on psn network. Having people buy the games they had and liked again on psn instead of allowing BC is just a ploy to milk more cash from the gamers, nothing more.

[agent864]

the 60GB euro and 80GB us models had software emulation for the emotion engine chip only. The Graphics Synthesizer chip was not emulated, those models actually had the hardware chip in them along with whatever else to support it hardware wise. I think I read it saved sony $27 per console to remove the GS Chip. 10 million consoles = $270 million saved off of unprofitable PS3 sales, which also meant people still buying PS2's at $129 and $99 a pop so figure an extra $100 - $200 million in profitable revenue on PS2 sales. So Sony's main responsibility is to their shareholders, not to us. I dont think you even need to use a calculator to figure Sony would lose a ton more money by leaving in hardware BC despite whatever goodwill it would generate, prob not $400 million worth that's for sure.

However I believe it was a *huge* mistake during the design phase of the PS3 to not design the PS3 so that it could cheaply emulate the PS2. I think sony made a lot of mistakes, firstly assuming Cell could do all the work then having to contract with Nvidia late in the game. Sure would like the inside scoop on that story. Where's our Dean Takahashi insider for Sony ? That story would definitely be worth a lot of money.

[BROOKLYN N-M-E]

this story is bogus or the writers have no fu@king idea what they're talking about!

"4. Memory card utility - Sony is not interested in producing many of them due to high cost of PS1/PS2 memory card slot. Apparently it's a low profit hassle that also (for the reasons listed in reason number 2) slows down the sales of third party PS2 games."

That cable that makes PS2 game saves possible on the PS3 is bullshit! And it hasn't been necessary since like firmware 1.1 when Sony introduced the ability to make a PS2/PS1 virtual memory card on the hard drive. What the Fu@k are these idiots blabbing about? More bullshit to get more hits!

[D3adcell]

I think they mean for people to transfer saves. Not a lot of people are going to want to start from scratch on many of their games they have invested a ton of time into.

[Chriswsm]

I got rid of all my PS2 stuff (gave it to a friend) the day before I obtained my PS3 on release day. Lets look forward not backwards and if you really like game nostalgia get an Amiga 500 or 48k Specy.

I say skip the backwards compatibility if it provides scope for new thinking and products.

[0din]

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