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Shino
Fade into this fantasy, caught in the web of time
Age: 49
Gender: 
Joined: 15 Sep 2002 |
 Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:25 pm Post subject: Bad news for Europe PS3s |
Backward's compatibility to be software driven rather than hardware driven.
This makes me revisit the idea of getting one now. What's to say they won't do this in America to cut costs. We all know what's going on with M$ and there $h1tty Backwards Compatibility...
| 1up wrote: | Euro PS3 Scraps Hardware Backwards Compatibility
In other words: Europe's screwed.
By Patrick Klepek, 02/23/2007
Sony needs to start finding ways to save money on manufacturing PlayStation 3s, but most assumed that would come from cheaper chips became and more affordable Blu-ray production. Not so for Europe, however, as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced today they're actually removing the chips that allow for hardware-based backwards compatibility. They're going the Xbox 360 route and attempting software emulation for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game libraries.
We've contacted both SCEE and SCEA for comment on the issue. What's to stop Sony from instituting the same policy on future revisions of American hardware?
SCEE's rationale is a bit reaching. The company claims the change means to generate a focus on PlayStation 3 software, rather than the old 'n broken machines. Does someone want to remind Sony that PS2 actually outsold PS3 in America last month? Clearly, the best response would be to start ignoring that hardware base. SCEE president David Reeves explains:
"Games designed for PS3 offer incredible graphics quality, stunning gameplay and massively improved audio and video fidelity that is simply not achievable with PS and PS2 games. Rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, truly taking advantage of this exciting technology."
The press release says the European PS3 will be compatible with a "broad range" of original PlayStation games (they're easier to emulate) but a "limited range" of PS2 releases. They'll be launching a website on March 23rd with a searchable list of what will work and promise downloadable patches for more games. Based on experience with Microsoft's updates, however, this announcement says backwards compatibility will be forgotten a year from now.
What happened to Sony's old mantra of complete "legacy" backwards compatibility? Let's help Ken Kutaragi rewind to last fall:
"...the PS3 will feature backwards compatibility with PS and PS2 games from day one. I'm emphasizing this because, from what I hear, there are some platforms that haven't been able to completely do this. It's costly in terms of hardware, but we'd rather [invest] firmly on compatibility from the beginning, rather than to have issues later on."
From what we hear, that's not true anymore.
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Shino
Fade into this fantasy, caught in the web of time
Age: 49
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Joined: 15 Sep 2002 |
| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:32 am Post subject: |
A news upgrade for Europe.
Virtually all PS1 games will work and they say the initial release of the BC software emulator will support over 1000 titles.
Maybe it isn't a big deal for them taking out the Emotion Engine. Makes me consider waiting again...
| 1up wrote: | Euro PS3: Over 1,000 Backward Compatible at Launch
Concentrating on the 'big titles' at first.
By Patrick Klepek, 03/01/2007
The backlash to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's announcement last week PlayStation 3 would launch without hardware emulation via the Emotion Engine sent ripples through the online community. Everyone expected Sony to eventually start stripping parts to reduce production costs, but before launch and removing a feature the rest of the world already has? That's why people are upset.
Sony's Phil Harrison, president of worldwide studios, recently spoke with semi-official Sony blog Three Speech and expanded upon the question of "why?" More importantly, however, he confirmed they're aiming to have roughly 1,000 PlayStation 2 titles backward compatible via software emulation by the hardware's launch on March 23rd. More updates via firmware are promised, but at what frequency? We'll have to see.
Harrison tried to run a bit of damage control, too.
"Our thinking involves being able to bring the latest hardware specification of the PS3 to Europe, although that does mean an initial slight reduction in the number of PS2 components. Price reductions are something that we wouldn't comment on specifically. But you know the business model very well -- we strive to get the cost of manufacturing down as soon as possible, and as soon as we can pass cost savings onto the consumers, we will." |
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RivaOni
Full English!
Age: 41
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Joined: 24 Sep 2002 |
| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:53 pm Post subject: |
1,000 PAL titles, that'' be all of EA Sports games then.... great. |
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Shino
Fade into this fantasy, caught in the web of time
Age: 49
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Joined: 15 Sep 2002 |
| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:06 pm Post subject: |
| RivaOni wrote: | | 1,000 PAL titles, that'' be all of EA Sports games then.... great. |
hahaha
Well, still... 1000 titles at launch is pretty amazing if you consider that MS only has like 300 after more than a year. |
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Gryph
Pocket Convoy
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Joined: 26 Sep 2002 |
| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject: |
| Shino wrote: | | RivaOni wrote: | | 1,000 PAL titles, that'' be all of EA Sports games then.... great. |
hahaha
Well, still... 1000 titles at launch is pretty amazing if you consider that MS only has like 300 after more than a year. |
Remember, there's a difference between working, and working well. This is Sony we're talking about. It'll probably take some updates before all of the games work as good as they're supposed to. |
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RivaOni
Full English!
Age: 41
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:45 pm Post subject: |
But when its FIFA 99, FIFA 2000, FIFA 2001 etc plus the Club Football series (which is basically exactly the same game but it has a different cover and menu design based on which club version you pick) amongst others, theres not really alot of point.
I'm not saying thats how it is, but you have to remember, the PS2 catalogue is huge 2,302 individual games in Europe, and many of them aren't exaclty great, I'd guess that theres probably 500 games maximum that are worth playing on the PS2, while the rest are average or very poor.
Besides, the XBox only really needed 1 game to be backwards compatible to keep most XBox owners happy and that Halo 2, pity they couldnt cater for me though and get Panzer Dragoon Orta working.
I'm not saying ths is all bad, as you said, 1,000 is alot, its half of the ammount of games in PAL territories, well almost, and its nearly the full quota of games released in the USA (you guys have 1,319 games in total according to Wikipedia) so its not as bad as was thought, but the fact is its still £425 (wihch works out at about $850) and we're not getting all of the hardware thats in the units currently being sold outside of the PAL territory, it does stink of Europe being shafted once again. |
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