Some Back Compat Problems For PS3 138
Via Opposable Thumbs at Ars Technica, the news at IGN that there are some annoying backwards compatibility issues with the PS3 and the PS2. Specifically, there are about 196 games that are experiencing issues. From the article: "In response to these issues, Sony's PR department pointed out that it, from the start, expected backwards compatibility to be less than 100%. It was also good enough to point out that some people can put up with playing games that lack sound. Regardless of this somewhat arrogant response, an official statement issued at the PlayStation.com site states that Sony will fix the problems with a future system update, and may even resort to individual patches for certain titles. When this will happen has yet to be specified." Qj.net has a list of some of the problem games, with their specific issues. It sounds bad, but to put this in perspective I believe there are still far more PS2 games playable on the PS3 than there are Xbox games playable on the 360.
i wonder (Score:2, Insightful)
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Currently the Emotion Engine has been included in the PS3 in a similar way
Personally, I would suspect that much of the non-CPU related functionality of the PS2 is being emulated on the Cell processor but the emulation is incomplete
What about PS1 games? (Score:2)
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If I was dumb enough to spend $600 on the PS3, I would SURE AS FUCK expect it to play my PS1 games in addition to my PS2 games. I have a PS2, and PS2 games, and I still spend more time playing PS1 games on it. I have two PS1s (a PS1 and a PSOne - I have the PSOne because I got it when I didn't have my PSTwo (slim) yet, and I still have the PS1 because it supports the game shark) and I use the PS2 because I don't want them taking up space. I have a switchbox, but why have more hardware out there when the PS
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It's funny how backwards compatibility used to be such a bonus feature, now it's practically expected.
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I think backwards a double-edged sword. If the makers add it, then they have a harder time selling ports of old games. If they don't, then they lose business on that.
So, does this mean nobody knows if it will play Ps1 games? My favorite all time games are ps1 games.
If the SuperNintendo and N64 and gamecube were
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Actually, that's exactly what Sony did with the PS3 - the PS3 motherboard contains the same EE+GS chip that powers the slim PS2.
You can see it on the left side of this photo [impress.co.jp].
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Since they're using software emulation now, they're in for the same issues that the 360 has. I don't think the issue to the consumers will be how many games work, but which games work. Few people will care if Madden '99 runs on the PS3, but they might be upset if their recently bought FF XII wouldn't.
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Re:i wonder (Score:5, Informative)
If you look at the pictures there are 4 chips. Cell (the main CPU), RSX (the GPU), EE/GS (the PS2), and an unmarked I/O chip.
They plan on doing software emulation at some point in the future, and when they do they'll drop the PS2 chip and RAMs from the board. Untill then there's a full hardware PS2 in every PS3.
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Simple answer is. (Score:5, Informative)
The hard answer is it depends.
1. Did the program use some strange feature or bug that you are not emulating? This can cause problems even for hardware. You do a new rev of some chip and a program that uses some strange workaround fails. This was a major problem for Apple when they created the Apple IIc. It used the 65c02 which fixed a lot of bugs in the 6502 that some software depended on. It was also a problem for some Amiga users when they upgraded to the 68010 or higher.
2. timing. This can be a real pain since on a modern CPUs you can not cycle count. On a modern CPU the amount of time an instruction takes is not fixed. Again did the software you are tying to emulate do something really odd with timing? Sound issues are often caused by this.
3. Bugs. No program is perfect. Emulators tend to multiply bugs. One bug my effect a dozen games.
4. Lack of documentation. Even if you have perfect documentation for the hardware specs that isn't enough. Some developer somewhere will go outside the specs and try something strange just to see if it will work. When it does they will leave it in. Unless you have the source for every program you intend to run on your emulator the odds are pretty good you will miss something. Even if you do it is unlikely you will go through every line of code.
What developers like about consoles is that you can program right down on the hardware to get the maximum performance. You know that each and every console will have exactly the same hardware.
What emulator writers hate about consoles is that console developers program right down on the hardware. If you make the smallest mistake it will come back and get you.
Just a short list of reasons.
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68010 was not a big problem, it's so similar to a 68000. 68020+ is much more problematic, to the point where some emulators allow you to start up on the original CPU.
timing and bugs in the other hardware are a much bigger deal, though of course I am not saying you are wrong.
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A bigger problem was that the 2091 card would set address 0 to some random number. That caused more than one program to have issues. I wrote a tiny utility to rest that address.
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As stated, not following the rules broke MANY programs during the move from 68000 to 68020 and above as many programs used unused bits in the A-registers (24 bits used on 68000/68010 versus all 32 bits on later CPUs) to hold data. Bad idea.
IIRC, Apple had a similar problem -- something about a "pur
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 [wikipedia.org]
Having issues with 130 or so games is PRETTY GOOD as far as backwards compatibility goes. Compare this to the 'how many?' original xbox games that play on the 360 - even now. Not to mention the fact that Microsoft's version of backwards compatibility is a
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Isn't the point of buying a new console to play... new games? One doesn't buy a next gen console solely for the sake of playing old games. Granted that is a use and a selling point, but it's not the god damned WHOLE point!
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It's because the PS2 actually included PSX hardware in it. There's a adjunct chip addtached to the Emotion Engine called the IO Processor, which is used to handle all the I/O in the system (controllers, DVD-ROM, sound, etc), very DMA-ish. This I/O processor basically includes the central processing core of the PSX as well - in PSX mode, the Emotion Engine would basically end up (with the Graphics Synthesizer) acting as the graphics chip, while the I/
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Kind of surprising, since they bought the company that made a really good x86 emulator for PowerPC. VirtualPC gave something like 25-50% native performance, and all the DirectX-related stuff should be handled outside the emulator.
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196 (Score:2)
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If you have a Gamecube and really enjoy it, good, keep enjoying it. Personally, my Gamecube owning friends are jealous of my huge collection of really good games for the PS2 and I don't own anywher
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There are about 16'000 different PS1 and PS2 titles, counting all regions... source [scei.co.jp].
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That's why I'm getting a Wii. Now I can play PS1, PS2, GCN, and Wii games all with only two consoles. If only someone would work in Saturn / Dreamcast / Sega CD support, I could unhook all these other disc-based consoles I own...
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Frankly, most of the GameCube games seem to be rubbish.
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It's why I've got a Linux PC: Now I can play PS1, N64, XBox, SNES, NES, DOS, Windows, 68k Mac, C64, etc. games all on one box.
no sound? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:no sound? (Score:5, Funny)
Real DDR players step to white noise. Expert players don't even need their PS3 to output a freaking video signal.
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Don't tell me someone made a StepMania simfile to "Onderheynah" [pineight.com].
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PS2 Hard Drive (Score:2)
They expected it, but did they point it out? (Score:1, Insightful)
So Sony's PR department expected backwards compatibility to be less than 100% from the start.
Did Sony's PR department point out that backwards compatibility would be less than 100% from the start?
I'll admit I haven't read every PS3-related press release, but have they been informing customers from the beginning that they too should not expect 100% compatability? I do
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There was PS1 -> PS2 incompatibility as well to the tune of a couple percent of the overall title list. The compatible titles differed even from revision to revision of the PS2. It sounds like the situation is the same.
Obvious. (Score:3, Interesting)
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Okay, look. I am hereby putting you on official notice. Do not use automotive metaphors if you know fuck-all about cars. That is approximately 99 & 44/100ths percent of all the people who try to make them on this thing. Just STFU right now, kthx.
What you apparently don't know, because your mother's basement is so warm and cozy, is that cars have serious design defec
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So those games break on the later versions of the PS2 also? Interesting. You'd think Sony would do what all the x86 manufacturers have had to do: Make all future hardware bug-for-bug compatible with old ha
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My only disagreement with this statement is that you didn't use enough superlatives and explitives.
the day we have to wipe the slate and start over will be the day x86 stability improves 10fold.
Are you talking about software stability? I highly doubt ISA backward compatability is a significant source of instability. Old software may be unstable, but it would be unstable on old hardware or new. Windows backward compatability causes instability because it
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They tried that, it was called Itanium, and one of the main criticisims of it was....that it ran x86 code poorly.
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Why the bad press? (Score:2)
The PS3 is likely emulating a PS2 through a combination of hardware and software. Since 99.99% of the people buying a PS3 will want to play PS3 games on their PS3, this really isn't an earth shattering issue. For the small remaining crew, they have a
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too bad it ain't a perfect world. In
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My Nintendo Polyhedron that fell back in time, however, plays all games from all systems currently out and some that aren't out yet.
The problem is it requires the user to smoke lots of Hash and drop some Acid before it becomes visible. Strange device, this future Nintendo machine.
Oddly enough Windows games keep crashing on it.
My huge and amazing library of linux games run flawlessly, though. Ma
Re:Why the bad press? (Score:5, Insightful)
Since 99.99% of the people buying a PS3 will want to play PS3 games on their PS3, this really isn't an earth shattering issue. For the small remaining crew, they have a PS2 they could hook up until the firmware updates roll out to correct it.
While I agree with you that it's not earth-shattering, I'll also point out that there will be people who are trading in their PS2 to lower the price of their PS3, so it might not be a feasible option for everyone.
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How much do you honestly think you can get off a PS3 for a PS2, like 5 bucks? I'm seriously asking b/c I don't know if the value-proposition is worth it. If you can keep a working PS2 for a second TV or something, the tiny trade-in value might not be worth the loss of functionality.
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No idea, but with the PS2-PS1 trade in, you could take $100 off the price of a PS2 by trading in your old system. I can't find anything official, but it looks like Gamestop will give you $60 for a PS2.
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Because your PS2 is broken, and instead of buying a new one you've been waiting for the PS3 to come out so you can play both next gen titles and your current library? All optical drives fail, original PS2s had many problems and even the slim ones seem to have (though mine is still running fine), so I'd wager there's actually more people in this category than you think. Sony must think so, because th
touche! (Score:2)
But I have to believe this is a matter of firmware updates and time-- not a permanent problem.
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Hopefully. It may end up like the 360 where you need to download a per-game patch, but hopefully a system-wide patch will fix the problem. I think this will mostly just ruffle the feathers of those who bought into Sony PR. Yes, that is foolish, but I don't think that means we should let the PR firm off the hook for being misleading either. If they jump on fixing the problem (instead of making dismissive stateme
because (Score:3, Insightful)
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I'm more likely to get a Wii (price, looks a lot more fun). I can pick up Zelda, maybe one other Wii game, then hit the used stores and buy a buttload of $5-15 Gamecube games.
Hmm, I suppose it's asking too much if the PS3 emulates PS1 games too?
Because you only have so many ports (Score:2)
My PS2 still works just fine but it does have some problems with a few newer games that use blue discs, in particular Lego Star Wars. So I would love to have a PS3 that could also play a few current games I couldn't get to work on my existing box
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Just to pick a nit, out of the 40 or so games I've tried with my VGA box, four or five of them did not support VGA output.
The pural of anecdote is not data, and perhaps I just got "lucky" and found all the games that don't have VGA support. But I disagree with your numbers.
Luckily, Record of Lodoss War supported VGA, and that's the one that mattered most.
More GH problems (Score:3, Insightful)
Too many words... (Score:4, Funny)
It sounds bad, but to put this in perspective I believe there are still far more PS2 games playable on the PS3 than there are Xbox games.
All kidding aside, though... That list makes it look like the problems are minor... Basically HDD games aren't supported (They aren't supported on the actual PS2 anymore either) and some cut scenes have audio problems. Oh well.
And HDD games supported in later update (Score:2)
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Unfamiliar Games? (Score:1)
Basically though, how many people in the US will this really impact? I'm certain that most of the other PS2 gamers out there have heard of and/or played more of those games than I've heard of... but
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I was working on the PS3 earlier this year as part of small contract employment with Sony's U.S. R&D. I don't speak for Sony and don't know much definitively related to emulation (as I was mostly working on building PSGL and COLLADA code and samples for the CEB and DEH SDKs).
While there, I was under the impression that the backwards-compatibility (i.e., PS2 emulation) software (including the small wrapper around the embedded PStwo chips that are planned to be phased out as soft-emu improves) has been
OMG PONIES (Score:2, Funny)
uummmmmmm, WHAT!!?!?!? (Score:1)
How can they not get 100% backwards compatibility when PS2 games run on the PS2 hardware?
The solution (Score:5, Funny)
(This post has been modded -1: Way Too Dated A Reference)
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If mentioning bleem! is dating yourself, is mentioning that bleem! is an upside down acronym for 'pentium 133, windows' marrying yourself and setting down with a two door garage, 2.3 kids and a dog?
List not that bad (Score:4, Informative)
As least you don't have older versions of popular games not being supported in order to push newer titles (Ridge Racer was not on that list).
Also noted is that the PS3 does not support the multitap - but it does support multiple controllers directly in PS2 games (since the PS3 can support up to seven wireless controllers at a time).
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Re: 7 controller potential for the Wii. (Score:2)
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My entirely-in-the-dark guess would be that somewhere in the support for wireless controller there is a byte used to identify a group of controllers that are being addressed, and that one bit is used for some special related purpose, so that there are only seven bits available to identify whether a particular controller is or is not included in the set, and therefore it supports up to seven controllers.
never buy sony at launch, but this isnt a big deal (Score:2)
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expand this to inc
Sony can't even catch a break. (Score:2)
Sony brags "we'll have more than enough systems at launch". HA! if you believed that one I got a bridge to sell.
Sony brags "Our system is best" are we going to listen?
The problem with Sony is no one would care if you only could player 1200 out of 1400 games. However Sony can't stop hyping their system to the point where they promise so much that of course they are going to s
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Huh? I dunno what E3 you could have gone to, but everyone was over at the Nintendo booth. The most people near the Sony booth was the massive line that went next to the Sony booth to the other side of the hall for the Nintendo booth. Sony's showing at E3 was abysmal. Both with their "Riiiddddggggggggeeeee Raaaacccccccceerrrrrr" & "Flip the gian crab over for massive damage" demos and the games in general at E3. All Sony has had going for them since E3 is their hype machine.
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Both E3s showed that people didn't care about the PS3, and were interested in the Wii (why do you think we got motion control?) so they got paranoid and just started over hyping the system.
Oh no! My copy of Daito Giken doesn't work... (Score:2)
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Hopefully they'll issue some fixes/updates (Score:2)
PS1? (Score:2)
Vastly better than the 360 though (Score:2)
This is in contrast with the Xbox 360 backwards compatibilty which is such a total joke that I can't believe anyone even bothers to mention it as a feature. On the 360 there isn't any way to move an old save from an Xbox, huge numbers of games don't work at all, and those that do are not guaranteed to behave the same way.
I'm not complaining about the 360; it's a
Numbers (Score:2)
There are also a lot more ps2 games than original Xbox games. It would be interesting to see a % comparison.
I think its just different views of the companies that drove their backcompat efforts. Microsoft with only their second console wants to make sure that every game they port works, while Sony knows economically thats not possible with the large title library, so they say 'here ya go, if it