European PS3 will eschew PS2 hardware for emulation, sez Sony
posted Feb 28th 2007 8:10PM
Bad news for those European fans who've still been anticipating the PS3 despite delays, higher costs, limited selection, and weak launch stock: the rumors were true this time around, and your 'newly designed' console will be shipping sans PS2 hardware. Of course, you'll still be able to play certain titles through software emulation -- although even that may be dodgy, judging from the US and Japanese experience -- and there's always the possibility of non-compliant games coming out over PlayStation Network, but Sony has already admitted that the backwards compatibility offered by these new rigs won't be on par with that of PS3 Rev A. Since this move is purportedly being made to lower costs and speed up production (remember Sony is quite sure that there are widespread shortage) it's possible that the PS2-less PS3 might be sold in regions outside of Europe according to company reps -- yet another blow to gamers who've had to put up with setback after setback after setback for the privilege of giving Sony their money. We're sure that this news is going to bring yet another barrage of "passionate discourse" in the comments, so let the flaming discussion begin.
[Thanks, Griking]
Here is my opinion....I have a PS3 and it plays all of my PS2 games great, and thats really convenient. But I bought a PS3 for the PS3 stuff.....if it didn't play PS2 games, I would just plug my PS2 in. I agree that its unfair that other regions got it to start, but its not the end of the world.
OLD, OLD, OLD News....catch up with the times Engadget.
BTW, Sony stated back in June 2006 that they were going to do this of course you forgot to mention this in your article. And the price difference between EU and US is due to the different economies and high taxes in EU.
But again, this is really old news by internet standards.
I'd love to know how you feel the many different economies of europe make the ps3 more expensive! Also the taxes in europe are all around 21% (most lower) and the difference between this and US taxes dont justift such a HUGE mark-up.
In the words of Dr.Phil "lets call a spade a damn shovel!"
Sony are charging more cus they think they can get away with it!
looks like playstation owners are busy getting owned by sony as usual
@ubers
If they are currently Playstation owners then they already have the PS3 with a PS2 in it so technically Playstion owners can't get "owned" as you say. Nice try at being clever though - keep trying and maybe someday you'll succeed.
WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Is this like the time XBOX360 couldn't play OLDER CRAPPIER XBOX games?
It's why I got a PS2....to play PS2 games.
But's I stills got to cry about everything PS3......Wahhhhhhh!!
What's next? No rumble? Oh wait. Wahhhhhhhhh!!!
I sincerely hope they continue with hardware PS and PS2 support for Japan and North America. Sony is seriously sacrificing Playstation's brand equity by selling units with shoddy backwards compatibility support.
oh-my-god.
that is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO clever.
While some posters like to make this out as generic anti-Sony whining, it's a pretty significant deal. While it's true that a lot of people already have a PS2, many people had also hoped to be able to trade the PS2 in to when getting a PS3. For those people, this news is kinda like adding an extra $50 (or so, what's the trade value for a PS2 these days?) to the PS3 cost, especially since Sony's tone suggests that the emulation won't be much of a priority for 'em.
Actually, the report is a bit misleading. PSOne games will work fine on the PS3, as for PS2 games:
The PS2 has two main components: the "Emotion Engine" (CPU) and "Graphics Synthesizer" (GPU).
These PS3s will have GS(GPU) hardware for PS2 support, but will emulate EE(CPU) support. If what we've been told (from IBM, Tosh, and Sony) is correct, the Cell should cope with that. It's just an issue of having the right software.
Best to save the comments that Sony is screwing over customers until you have the list of games that this will work with. Most good gaming franchises will have new PS3 titles. For those classics you want to play again, if they're popular, you can be assured they're likely to work (MGS games, for instance).
If the PSP's emulator is going to be Sony's standard for the new PS2 emulator, then we're in luck! This could even mean downloadable PS2 games for a low price from the PS2 store! That would be a nice extra for the inconvenience.
like others had said, i bought my 360 for 360 games, its nice that it plays my old xbox games but i dont really care, i wouldnt of sold my xbox if i still wanted to play my original xbox games.
This writeup is the very definition of a troll. Don't feed it.
Just like the Roman empire collapsed so will Sony.
Now, when I picked up a Wii, BC really interested me. There were some games like Resident Evil 4, Wind Waker and Mario Sunshine I either never played or never finished.
Back in the day, about 2 years ago, I owned a PS2. I was holding out for a PSone-like revision, which came in the form of a slim PS2 before I was willing to pick one up. The new GTA wasn't as much fun as I'd anticipated, and I got rid of it.
The PS3's non-gaming appeal in BR, DVD and CD playback interested me the most, followed by the PS2 BC, then finally, PS3 games. Games at the bottom of the list because I'm only liking the look of Lair and MGS4, and both are twinkles on the horizon it seems.
No big I think -- I'll pick one up when it's out (I'm in the UK), enjoy it as a home cinema system until games are out, catching up on titles like Bully, Okami and Shadow of the Colossus for the PS2.
I don't have any collection of PS2 games so as long as there is some compatiblilty, I should still be okay. Otherwise, forget it.
BC doesn't just benefit owners of the old system, so "just plug the PS2 in" isn't always an option. Also, how annoying would that be?!
sony must think that europeans are bunch of idiots who will pay anything for ps3 otherwise sony wouldn't dare to jack up the price even after months of the delayed launch while reduced the functionality of ps3.
euro launch must be a beta test for the new emulation software & for the market reaction of lousy ps2 compatibility
i were european in europe, i will not buy ps3 until the proper treatment for the fans of ps is delivered.
i think sony should have made the emulator to take advantage of the new hardware to make the graphics of ps2 games better...with that, i think sony can at least make an excuse for dropping ps2 hardware from the ps3
Software emulation is better becasue they can modify the emulator to make games hd and load faster and so on. Also because its a software emulator, it can be updated until you have full compliance with all games. And who really gets rid of a ps2 because they bought a PS3? Do they draw a big profit on the black market? Heres a tip: buy a ps3 for the ps3 games. Buy an old style ps2 and modify it with a harddrive and flip top so you can download games for free.
I got my ps3 because I never owned a ps2 and wasnt willing to pay for 2 systems when one is enough.... But I feel sory for the europeans... they deserved a least a small price cut....
This wouldn't be such a big deal, but SONY themselves made Backwards Compatibility such a big deal, even going as far as bashing MS for it poor Xbox support. So once again, they say one thing and bash the competition and then go right on and do the SAME THING. Sony keeps doing this to themselves and Sony fanboys just think everyone is out to get them. Sony LIES, LIES, LIES, and the fanboys are just blind. I guess this is why Sony thinks they can keep doing these things, because the fanboys are unlikely to remember what Sony had said a week, month, year ago.
It's really not even funny anymore. It's not just their Gaming Division either.
I think the real issue is not BC per se, but the fact that SONY (Phil harrison to be accurate) promised:
"[The PS3 will have] almost perfect backwards compatibility. There will be some exceptions, but we believe those will be even less than we saw from PSOne to PS2.
"Backwards compatibility, as you know from PlayStation One and PlayStation 2, is a core value of what we believe we should offer. And access to the library of content people have created, bought for themselves, and accumulated over the years is necessary to create a format. PlayStation is a format meaning that it transcends many devices -- PSOne, PS2, and now PS3."
"If the developer wrote the game according to our technical requirements checklist, we will have what we believe will be almost perfect backwards compatibility. There will be some exceptions, there always are, but we believe those will be very few and far between. Even less so than we saw from PSOne to PS2."
Now, they want to cut costs and they say they will not invest on BC because the PS3 is the system for the future.
It's one thing to make cost reducing decisions, it's another to shit on your customers and give them an inferior product to what you offered, totally contradicting yourself.
Next week: the PS3 will ditch the BR drive, because DVD is cool and they commit to good use of resources, 9 gigs is enough!!!
I original had an xbox when the 3 last gen consoles launched because I saw Xbox had (what I thought) more potential than the PS2. Now, on launch day, I bought a PS3 and love it because it can also play all of the PS2 games I didn't have on the xbox platform.
If they had announced simultaneously that European customers would enjoy anti-aliased HD PS2 games, the post would read "US PS3s now crippled"
Seriously, there really is no way to make everybody happy.
im waiting
1. the next "real" gta game (not a psp port like liberty city stories)
2. rumble controller
3. eye toy
@ Taylor Kemp
Pretty sure that the Xbox 360 has all those things that you listed.
Sony = Disappointment
I agree, it's not the end of the world and I'm sure there's alot of PS fans out there willing to wait. I'm fed up and will not wait any longer. I purchased the 360 and I love it. Sony got themselves into this mess by mismanaging the product and by certainly not managing expectations correctly. My PS2 and games go on ebay this week...
Oh Sony. You're like that ace magnum cumlaud student and star athlete we all new in high school that when on to college only to get turned on to dirty bathtub meth and disease ridden hussies and is now forced to work the graveyard shift at 7-11. Where did it all go wrong?
FYI, http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/769/769163p1.html
If they can't get this to perform decently, then it's going to be a major blow to their "Cell is a supercomputer" positioning.
it will work fine they have just realised due to firmware updates they dont need the chipsets originally required to emulate these things.