So will or won't the Sony PlayStation 3 be backwards compatible?

We've plenty discussed Xbox 360 backward compatibility issues over the last few months, but we've nary addressed what's in store for Sony's PlayStation 3. Maybe it was the PlayStation 2's recent difficulties in playing old (and even new) games that re-prompted the question, but it's almost like people have been taking it for granted that the PS3 would be able to play PS2 games—especially after precedent was set by having the PS2 play original PlayStation games and they ran their it's-gonna-be-backwards-compatible E3 launch in spite of Microsoft's then-soft stance on the issue. But after Sony's recent PS2 debacle overseas, it was reported that Sony spokesperson Reiko Sakamoto told the press, "It's hard to say the PlayStation 3 will be 100 percent backwards compatible, but as we said earlier this year we aim to make it so as much as possible." If they're having trouble making minor changes to the PS2 and actually leaving a bit of doubt as to whether the PS3 will work as expected, well, we're not liking the sound of this, not one bit.

[Thanks, Tomo]

[bluetrane @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

ahahaha SONY strikez again

[JRM @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

keep the broken promises comin'....

[Todd Plants @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

So - stupid question - will the Xbox 360 be backward compatible?

[Zack @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

...at least nintendo wouldnt let me down

[BigGreen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I still firmly believe that SONY will blow Microsoft out of the water in the console war. Just I hope SONY stops screwing around. I had the burden of playing the Xbox 360 the other day in Wal-Mart and guess what? The wireless features of the Xbox completely crashed the Wal-Mart printers and scanners! They had to completely reboot the system! Another Microsoft expected glitch

[Lesbian Ham @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

w00t!!
S0ny iz t3h m4j0r cr4pS0rZzz!!!

:p

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Sony is really trying to do everything they can to kill the PS3.

[TheChaz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

According to other reporting of the same story, it's 44 PS1 and PS2 games that are programmed in a certain way. Apparently this causes slow saving to the memory card, and screen hang-ups. But 44 out of thousands of games for the two systems isn't really that bad compared with Xbox, where only a few of the "most popular" games are going to play on the 360.

[DMark @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Actually I'm not too worried about PS3. Personally I think they'll learn their lesson about shipping a new hardware SKU without finishing the compatibility testing first. It's careless and they should be scorned for it, but I don't think they'll make the mistake with the PS3. They have a lot more riding on it than a flashy new silver PS2.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Oh come on! This is what I can only call yellow journalism. Out of several thousand games, there less than 50 that have problems, and most of those are still playable. It is nothing but Microsoft pandering to somehow suggest that this constitutes some huge gap in compatibility that call into question Sony's honesty as to backwards compatibility. What is that, less than .1% of all PS games? Yeah, that really shows them up for the liars they really are!

[JinKazama @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Are you guys forgetting that the PS2 was not completely backwards compatible.

Certain PS1 game wouldn't play on the PS2. It will be the same for 360 and PS3.

No big deal.

[cecil @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Not Sony's fault. Programmers not sticking to the APIs is what kills backwards compatability. Sony cannot account for every little extra tweak that programmers do to the games via custom code to squeeze a little extra something out of the hardware (or whatever other reason). This has affected the new PS2 as well. However, the compatabilty is better than the 360 due to the chips on the PS2 being of sony's design and so they have full access to it, thus chip-level emulation.

Xbox 360 has a similar problem because many tweaks for the Nvidia hardware were used by programmers on the original Xbox beyond their "Xbox-Directx like" API. Only in this case, MS doesn't have access to the Nvidia designs(plus going with ATI this time), and is forced to have a patch for each game to workaround those tweaks(by working with Nvidia) and patch the code to something totally compliant with the "Xbox-Directx" API, which then can be run on the new PowerPC compiled "Directx" legacy libraries. They are emulating at the Graphics-API runtime level for graphics, but of course employing the x86 chip-level emulation for the pentium III that was in the Xbox via the core of the software they purchased from connectix(Virtual PC).

The PS2 easily handled PS1 compatability becuase it actually used a faster version of the same chip used in the PS1 coupled with the enhancement of the emotion engine chip - the hardware itself was backwards compatable.

At least all of this is my understanding of the situation.

[Twigster @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

?? Wow Gloom and Doom comment replies from just a short article of speculation.

You guys shouldn't worry. The Ps3 will be backwards compatabile out of the box with a lot more games than Xbox. As a post above stated, it's only a few games that were not compatable out of THOUSANDS.

You should wonder why with the XBOX 360 you'll have to download certain patches for games to play them instead of having it out of the box. And what happens to people who don't have high speed internet? It's very obvious that MS thought they could get away with not having backwards compatability at all when they were planning the 360. (Kudos for trying to push it in now after hearing complaints)

Microsoft fanboys o_O sheesh. (Not that I don't the XBOX 360)

[ulis @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Sony is really trying to do everything they can to kill the PS3.

i think you want to say

Microsoft is really trying to do everything they can to kill the PS3.

Im not a sony lover, just hate microsoft

[Twigster @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Also from what I heard the Ps2 handled backwards compatability by sticking and actual Ps1 chip in the PS2 to be used as the IO controller

[teazo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Will PS3 be backwards compatible to PS1 ??? I can't live without Jumpin' Flash.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Well if this isn't a non-story then I don't know what is.

[Walter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but backwards compatibility isn't a big thing to me, I don't buy a new system to play old games...

[theboywil @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Do many people really care..?

Ok so there were a handful of times when PS1 games got played on my PS2, but mostly after 5 mins of play the realisation strikes that I would rather be playing stuff which pushes the system rather than pre-dates it...

[Chris Norman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

You guys are completely missing the point. Who cares if the PS3 can play *games*? It's not a gaming *device*! You should be worried about whether or not it can connect to the giganet and render the next Pixar movie in realtime, while making you breakfast and monitoring your cholesterol rate via bluetooth.

[Veronica @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

That would be a bummer. Big time.

As for this comment: "Maybe I'm in the minority, but backwards compatibility isn't a big thing to me, I don't buy a new system to play old games..."

Maybe I'm in the BROKE majority that was planning on selling her PS2 to help afford her PS3, and still wants to play her old PS2 games.

[Mu Doggy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Seriously, they can't promise every game backwards compatible, because they haven't tested every game. Locally at the sony HQ in Foster City, Playstation employees are working overtime and have been for a few months testing out each and every game for backwards compatibility on dev systems and I'm sure have run into a few that aren't perfect.

[jon from vancouver @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I have no doubt that PS3 will have it's share of gamers as much as Xbox 360 will. The PSP and DS are two totally different handhelds and find their market. I have no idea where to find PS3 information, so I can't make an opinion on what it will do well. Does it just play games or more like the 360? I still own some old PS2 games, and as another poster stated, I sell my old hardware to help pay for the next new console as well.

[ben's hog @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

WOW BigGreen has got to be one of the biggert Sony fanboys out there. I am calling Bravo Sierra on you Sir and your claims of the Wireless controller breeaking everything. If you are making crap up like that you have to be worried about Xbox 360 giving Sony a run for their money.

That's it I'm punching out

"I had the burden of playing the Xbox 360 the other day in Wal-Mart and guess what? The wireless features of the Xbox completely crashed the Wal-Mart printers and scanners! They had to completely reboot the system! Another Microsoft expected glitch"

[BigGreen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Please Ben's Hog ... Call the Madison, WI Wal-Mart, West Side and ask them about the Xbox 360 and the effects on the printers and scanners in thier store ... I'll even give you the number if you would like. I'm not a Sony lover ... I just have had WAY too many bluescreens on my PC and do not desire the same on my gaming console

[Mysta @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I'm honestly not that worried about Backwards compatibility. I have my PS2... Its working fine, and if I wanna play 'old' games, I'll hook up. Not a big worry to me.

[Long @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I probably had around 100 PS1 games, but once I got my hands on the PS2, I never played any PS1 games again. The same will most likely be true when PS3 comes around especially when the gaming industry likes to do remakes of games for the newer consoles. But for most people with a PS2 already and planning to get a PS3, if the games dont work on the PS3, they can just play it on PS2.

[Andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

BigGreen: the 360s in Walmarts aren't using wireless controllers and if you read Microsoft's press release about it, maybe you'd be less ignorant.

[Andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

But I guess it's just easier to be a PS fanboy.

[BigGreen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Wal-Mart
7202 Watts Rd, Madison, WI
[phone]

Have fun proving me right ... Guess it's easier being a ignorant Microsoft lover than being able to think and see for yourself

[vakerorokero @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

"Seriously, they can't promise every game backwards compatible, because they haven't tested every game. Locally at the sony HQ in Foster City, Playstation employees are working overtime and have been for a few months testing out each and every game for backwards compatibility on dev systems and I'm sure have run into a few that aren't perfect."

yeah right...

Isn't Sony hard at work on the PSP 2.2 update to avoid homebrew? I don't think they are thinking about all those users who might be angry their old games don't work in the Playstation HAL supercomputer, i mean PS3...

Wasn't Microsoft bragging about the Xbox becoming the center of the home entertainment? maybe if looking to bring all those electronics together into one big old family. Does anyone know if it call out for the Aibo? how about the fridge? do the soda machines say anything about the xbox360 instead of "exact change only"? could this be viral propaganda? can't wait for the xbox360 to talk with my hybrid car!: "did he go to Best Buy to get more games?" "nah, all he got were little DS games..."

[cecil @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Xbox 360 is being rushed. I'm sure you'll be running "Xbox update" quite a bit.
Thats the big reason for the "silver" Live sub to be free. You'll really be unknowingly testing it for bugs, they'll track it via your live account, It'll send memory dumps, error reports, peices of the registry, corrupt .dlls etc. without your knowledge. Get ready to see on the back of a game that it requires that you at least be running Service Pack X.

PS3 is also most likely being rushed. I'm sure the launch unit will be more stable than the 360's launch unit, but I'll wait a hardware revision before I get one since there is always some problem that crops up on first-gen playstations. Sony won't release beta stuff as release quality though.

[JC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

This is EXACTLY what was said when the PS2 launched "Not every single PS1 game will play on the PS2", and Sony admitted that then, as they are now.

Right now, not even every PS2 game plays properly on a PS2 (the new slim silver version for example).

So with a library of 13,000 PS1/PS2 games... (see this pic: http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/9962/sonye37rg.jpg) several won't work properly, hence the "not 100%" comment.

That's entirely different than the Xbox 360s "only a select WILL work" stance.

[Brad Hill @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

The REAL problem afoot here is the use of the Spiderman font that emblazons the PS3. Somebody should tell Sony Pictures they're in the wrong division.

[kuyu @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I love fanboys. Nothing warms my day like the ignorant ramblings of a 14-year-old who thinks he knows more about everything than everyone, especially videogames.

Oh how the fanboy trolls along, espousing the superiority of a product he has yet to use. All this based on some innane, subjective, catagorical ranking of importance regarding a products factors and specs.

So thank you, fanboy. Without you we would all buy both systems, which you've clearly illustrated is an act of insanity.

[josh @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I admit I'm also not that worried about backwards compatibility. I already have a PS2. I will be getting a PS3 and a 360 (and a Revolution, for that matter).

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

WHO CARES?? I already have a PS2 I can play my PS2 games on.. I mean really how many of my old PSX games did I go back and play on my ps2?? 1 only 1, and that was just to test to see if it worked. If I want to play my old games I hook up my old system.. easy as that.

[James @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

chris norman, you are an idiot. sony has never stated anything about toy story graphics. i love idiot sony bashers repeating what they "heard" over and over again. it's really sad.

[Bazza @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

If the backwards compatibility is likely to cause issue, then I'd gladly see it dropped.
Sure it was nice going from PS1 to PS2 and keeping some games. But, not long after launch (of PS2) I never went back.
I can see the same happening with PS3.

Besides, I'll be keeping my PS2 hardware. The 2nd-hand market will be flooded with PS2 hardware when the PS3 comes out. So, no point in trying to flog it.

[eric @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

THANKS YOU brad hill, whats so wrong the the ps3 logos that all the fan's made. even the ps9 commercial followed that format.

[Tank @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I hate to admit the guy was right but I did call the Madison Wal-Mart and they confirmed Big Green's statement except they only needed to restart the handheld scanners and printers and then they worked fine. I personally own both consoles (Xbox and PS2) and I personally prefer the PS2 but Xbox has alot going for them on the Halo franchise and it will be tough to beat. I do hate when consoles "revolt" though. And to everyone Blogging, please keep the name calling to a minimum, we are all just expressing our personal beliefs on product ability and reliability.

[Dakara @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I just called that Wal-Mart. He is right. They dont even have it turned on cuz it causes trouble with the scanners. He also said that it IS hooked up with the wireless controllers, I asked him how he knew that they were wireless, he said he did it himself.

[Malfoy Roark @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Oh Crap! An engadget poster(big green) citing reliable sources to back up his claims and hosing the competition =O! Is this an engadget first?

[Todd H. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Your a f'ing dork! You actually called Walmart in another state about the 360 messing up their printers.

Get a life homey!

[IsurusAtWork @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

"Get ready to see on the back of a game that it requires that you at least be running Service Pack X."

How is that any different the PSP with Sony's damn firmware update requirements to play new games? Plus, if games require it, they come with it, so you don't have to download it. They could install it behind the scenes. How the heck did this post get hi-jacked into a war about the Xbox 360 Kiosks? What the heck does that have to do with backwards compatibility? PS3 is going to have the same problems that Xbox 360 is having when it comes to backwards compatibility because they will be working with entirely different chips sets, thus requiring emulation. Anyone who has or has tried to write an emulator will be able to understand how difficult it really is. And honestly, no one should care. The media your games are on will eventually degrade to the point they are not usable. The best way to preserve games is through ROMs and emulation, which will always be around. Backwards compatibility isn't even a thought in my mind. I couldn't care less.

[Babu @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

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"How the heck did this post get hi-jacked into a war about the Xbox 360 Kiosks?"
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Isnt it obvious? fanboy ramblings.

[Google Nazi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

WELL.....

Even if it isn't backwards compatible I am sure there will be an emulator to emulate PS2 games. Sony says its impossible to hack because of the cell architecture but you never know about hackers these days. They aren't the 6 year olds who hacked Microsoft's HQ anymore.

I really hope PS3 will be backwards compatible because that is the reason i'm not buying a PS2 right now. Friends have it and i have all the other consoles but $149 isn't in my interest (if only i could trade that damn xbox back for the ps2 i wouldn't be complaining about anything).

GO PS3 AND NiNTENDO REVOLUTION!!

SHAME ON XBOX360!! SHAME!!!!

PS.. Microsoft and bill gates are cool! Except the Xbox department suxx0rz...

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

#36, backwards compatibility is particularly important because most people don't want to have a mess of boxes in their living room. Consider your hard-core gamer who has more than one console and shuns such "m$ vz. $ony" "debates". Having 3 playstation boxes, 2 xboxes, and 4 nintendoes might not go down so well with spouses or good taste in general. However, 1 of each?...that might work.

[epobirs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Cecil, your assessment of the Xbox 360 backward compatibility situation is incomplete. Microsoft and Nvidia reached an agreement several months ago that allows MS to incorporate Nvidia's proprietary IP into the emulator, thus making it much more effective than a pure black box approach.

The big question on Sony's side that they've yet to reveal is how they're achieving the backward compatibility on the PS3. They have no IP access constraints but there is the cost issue. The PS2's BC support was very effective because they were able to incorporate nearly the entirety of the PS1 chipset by giving it a role in native PS2 operation that went a long way toward justifying the silicon cost for users not interested in playing PS1 games. There is no indication of any such silicon in the PS3 chipset info that has been offered so far, so it would seem they are taking the same approach as Microsoft in using a software emulation. They don't seem concerned about memory card continuity as the PS3 as shown to date has no legacy PS1/PS2 memory card slot. Another indication of cost reduction by not incorporating any of the earlier silicon. A USB accessory to allow reading of legacy memory card could be offered. Or existing PC-based devices could be used to migrate files to the PS3's supported card formats once the requirements are known.

The backward compatibility question on the PS3 has little or no relation to the most recent reduction of compatibility to itself in the latest PS2 revision. The PS2 is still a cash cow and cost reduction that sacrifices a few mostly minor titles is big win financially. The PS2 still has millions of unit sales ahead of it as the cost reduction makes accessable to a larger audience globally. There is no reason to think it will not enjoy the ten year lifespan Sony has claimed for it. It may largely disappear from retail in the US before then but will still be a viable product in poorer parts of the world as it drops eventually tot he PSone's $50 SRP.

[soco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

unless any of you are engineers who thoroughly understand the aspects of wireless communications, then i think it's a little absurd to be blaming anyone.

as for the backwards compatability, i've been saying this for a long time. it's foolish to assume it'll be 100% backwards compatible. the PS3 is looking at new processor type and a very differnet graphics chip. the good part is that the EE chip will be easier to emulate than the original xbox's. in the end, it won't make much of a difference. i dare say most people aren't buying a PS3 because of it's backwards compatability.