I've been away for a bit, but it seems fitting I return with news directly related to my last piece on the European PS3 launching without hardware backward compatibility for PS1 and PS2 games, and my concerns about it happening in other territories around the world as well.
I was perfectly happy waiting to get a PS3 until some more games actually came out that I wanted, comfy in the fact that we (the U.S.) weren't going to lose hardware backward compatibility from the system, which is as big a factor for me in getting a PS3 eventually as having DVD playback functionality in the PS2 at launch. We launched with hardware compatibility; why take it out now? The recent price drop from $600 to $500 for the 60GB PS3 didn't phase me either since I still didn't want many of the offerings currently available for the system. Here's the official line from Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA):
"The 60GB PS3 will be available in North America for $499 until supplies of that unit are depleted. We have ample inventory to meet the immediate needs of consumers in this territory for several months to come. We won't be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated."
Turns out that the price drop is really only being done to get people to buy up all the "premium" systems that didn't sell at launch and the cheaper 20GB "core" SKU that was phased out months ago. Only the remaining 60GB PS3s are going to be available at this price and then the new 80GB model would go back up to $600 with Motorstorm packed in, but again, I was indifferent towards the news.
Then another nugget came out of SCEA, stating that we are in fact losing hardware compatibility just like our friends across the Atlantic. They start with saying, "The 80GB model uses a software solution for backwards compatibility, similar to that currently found in the [European PS3]." They went on to specify that part of this change is to emphasize PS3 content on the system and get people spending on their new stuff, and quit living off the greats of yester-year. Dedicating more resources to making more PS3 and PSN content is a good idea, but taking features away from users won't help earn them any fans. In other words, they don't care about the PS2 or PS1 content anymore, which is odd since without the hundreds of millions of PS1s and PS2s out there, Sony wouldn't even have a gaming fan base to swindle.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - O
do you hear anyone in Europe having BC issues? What do you lose with the removal of the emotion engine? Exactly. The PS3 is more BC than any console on the market considering its huge library. Please stop pretending to be a journalist when you're clearly making a big deal about NOTHING.
2 - Junkie
Ico gets a pass because it's 1st party. And this isn't Microsoft buddy, Sony actually emulates their games, and keeps adding functionality rapidly. 90% of 2500 PAL games are fully BC on software - those which don't have 3 'star' functionality have issues like "On level 3, when opening the door in the 2nd room, the sound file doesn't play". USA has fewer than that many games, and it'll be a shorter road.
3 - Mark Buckingham
I'll be thrilled if they cover most of the games, and can find an easy all-in-one solution. It's NOT Microsoft, which makes me hopeful. Reading about the spotty emulation compatibility for the 360 and how each game requires another download didn't particularly inspire me. And with Sony's recent trend of not being particularly customer-oriented, I was additionally concerned.
Here's hoping they do it right.
4 - Jules
Now that I've seen this backwards compatibility story develop, I'm very unlikely to get rid of my PS2 and even more unlikely to buy a PS3. On another note (the 80GB version) even if they give you more in a package people will still (probably) not go for it. The $600 price tag is simply too much for a gaming system, PERIOD. You might as well buy low end laptop or desktop computer for that price. I'm sure to many people it is not about spending the money but more WHERE it is spent, you can spend $600 so much better than on one game system.
5 - Mark Buckingham
@ Jules
$600 is a lot, and a similar price tag didn't help the 3D0 back in the 90s. The PS3 had/has the advantage of having a huge back catalog of stuff to play on it, which is why possibly losing that functionality bugs me. Again, it may work out well in the end with software emulation. We'll just have to wait and see.
However, a lot of people complain about $60 for games, up from $50 in the last generation. I still have receipts around here for old Sega CD games that I paid $60 back in the early 90s and didn't bat an eyelash (with my own money). Heck, Chrono Trigger cost $70 when it debuted on the Super Nintendo. It's been 20 years and games are just now going up in price for the first time, so I'm not too worried about it. Besides, if you have even an ounce of patience, the prices will come down soon enough and you can get the same game for a fraction of the price.
6 - The Future of Sega
I think Sony is in link with the mob! I hope to Christ every last one of those bastards working at Sony burn in the flames of Hell!!! I am dead serious! Here it is, I have waited for nearly a year now and Sony has STILL not added rumble functionality yet! By far, that is pissing me off the most! I've paid $600 dollars for a faulty product! Sony Playstation 3 is a scam! Why in God's blood do we have to wait a WHOLE month just to get updates that should've already been implemented into the machine upon purchase!? And another thing, why is it in the game Oblivion when ever you're fighting amongst numerous enemies, the game slows completely down? It's even worse than on Halo when you keep shooting a dead covenant and you walk over there blood! By far I am disgusted that I have bought a Playstation 3! I should've went with my gut feeling and bought an Xbox 360, even though I'd rather kiss my own shit than pay $400 dollars for a fucken Xbox! Come on! IF YOU DEVELOPERS CANT MAKE GOOD AND PROMISING GAME MACHINES, THEN GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE VIDEO GAMING INDUSTRY!!! Cased closed.
7 - Jack Mehoffer
Why is the title of your article a lie?
8 - Mark Buckingham
@ Jack
It's not a lie. It IS losing the more reliable hardware backward compatibility and going a software emulation route instead with an uncertain future and level of support. If you need clarification, read the rest of the article.
9 - Mike
The title of your article is, and I quote.
"North American Playstation3 to lose backward compatibility"
This IS a lie. It will still play PS2 and PS1 games, it may not play all of them, and it won't play them through hardware but it will still play them. To say it is losing backward compatibility would mean that it will no longer play the games AT ALL.
10 - Mike, Again
I have yet to hear anyone complain about software emulation on the 360 which never had hardware emulation in it..
11 - Jaime
PRICE the gamecube was so cheap and all we know how it ended...
BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY always been there, and always will be there (is not like you have to download the game so you can play it like in the xbox 360)
BILLIONS COPIES SOLD you must not have a clue in videogames, never in history a game have sold any billion
YOU CAN REPLACE HARD DRIVE ON YOUR OWN well, that sound just an idiot complaint, you prefer need to buy extra expensive property hard drives for expansion like in the xbox 360
I WAS INDIFFERENT TOWARDS THE NEWS and still you write about them and without understand, indifferent and biased
12 - Jack Mehoffer
@ Mark
You're stretching deep to justify your article title.
You really don't see how the title of your article makes it appear that new PS3s won't play PS1 or PS2 games?
The PS3s with hardware backward compatibility are something like 90%+ compatible with past titles. The European PS3s with software emulation are supposedly 75%+ compatible with past titles...
You wrote: "However, with software emulation, typically only the biggest and best-selling handful of games get supported."
Only a handful? Only the biggest and best selling games? Even 70% would be a sizable majority.
So Mark... Why so biased?
13 - Numanthia
This is clearly a very poorly researched or a highly anti PS3 article. It is one or the other.
I must agree squarely with the poster that stated the headline is inaccurate. The PS3 with hardware or software offers backwards gaming capabilities and even with a 90% softeware compatibility list with the previous consoles it is still superior to any other gaming console and easily outshines the scortched earth policy of the Microsoft xbox platform.
Also to the future of sega poster you are clearly full of crap. Currently any of my friends who had owned an xbox 360 and have now bought a PS3 prefer the PS3 over the 360. I do not believe you own a PS3 and are most likely just attempting to stir it up. The problem with your approach is it is so transparent it is pathetic.
Here are the undeniable facts. The PS3 is the most dependable and highest quality gaming console available. It is technically the most advanced gaming console available. It is the easiest system to implement and get up and running with. The launch games contained clearly superior quality graphics (shading, pixel rendering) than any game launch in the entire first year of the Xbox 360's release. The total cost of ownership is lower than the xbox 360 when compared feature for feature and there is no charge for the online service with the PS3.
The Playstation 3 is a best valued gaming system ever to be launched in the history of gaming consoles while the xbox 360 is the greatest defective electronics release ever seen in the history of a globally distributed electronics item.
I personally feel the time stolen from Microsoft xbox 360 users during the breakdown of their consoles and during the repeat repair process has also made the xbox 360 the worst gaming console investment in the history of the gaming industry.
So if you want the best gaming experience, the most dependable console you have to pay for it but be confident you are actually not paying the most for a console as that cost comes along with the xbox 360.
14 - Ken Edwards
I changed the title to clarify.
And Mike, Again, um... you must have missed the series of articles that Matt and I wrote on Xbox 360 backwards compatibility, where I discussed all the problems with it, and why it is bad that the Xbox does not emulate all the games.
15 - Ken Edwards
Numanthia, its a shame you blow your anti PS3 theory out of the water by going a little far in the PS3 fanboy department.
And how is it poorly researched, I ask you. As this news broke _weeks ago_ and this news has been out there at other outlets.
It irritates the piss out of me that my Xbox 360 won't play all the Xbox games. Some that do play are emulated horribly. Hell, it took them two tries to get Forza to work correctly on the 360.
That is why I am glad I bought a PS3 with an Emotion Engine, where I do not have to go to some web page to see what the emulation status of X game is.
As Mark said, it was part of the N.A. launch, why take it out now -- and I would add still charge the same price?
Sony could really use a better price point, seeing as the 360 just got a $50 price drop on all models.
The PS3 emulation downloads are downloaded in the same fashion as the 360 ones are, there is no difference in that process.
16 - Mark Buckingham
What makes the "best gaming experience" and "the best value in gaming" varies greatly from person to person.
I have a Wii and a PS3 and play the Wii a heck of a lot more than the PS3 (not counting watching movies and playing old PS1/PS2 games...thanks Emotion Engine). That doesn't mean I don't like the PS3 or acknowledge that it's well manufactured. There just isn't much available for it that *I* want right now. But equal to or more than either of those I play my PC. Personal tastes vary. Deal with it.
Fun is in the hands and minds of the beholder.
17 - RCM
This is news? This has been known for a while. Way to be current. Can't believe this was published on BC, doesn't make me proud to be a contributer. Futhermore, doesn't make me proud to be a game journalist. Sorry to be harsh but this shouldn't have been published. Too late and too lame...
18 - Mark Buckingham
RCM
So just because it didn't happen five seconds ago, people that don't exclusively frequent gaming-news sites shouldn't be made aware or discuss it?
BC doesn't have an overwhelming amount of gaming news as it is. If you have a beef with it and are such a proud "gaming journalist," why don't you fix that? Do something constructive at least instead of attacking me over it.
19 - Bill
This is an overpriced console, sold in two SKU's,( criticized MS for two SKU's)...That promised full backwards compatibility,...(Criticized MS for not being backwards compatible), Has SH*T for software, and has now dumped what is their first two chassis (Known as SKU's) of this game for a lower cost to manufacture chassis,(Third SKU) that which is the Euro PS3 without the "(stupid marketing term)" emotiom engine...
We didn't eat up the the original PS3 with the PS2 chips, so they DUMPED them to clear stock and saturate the market (Therefore LOOKING like the demand for the overpriced bloated console) hed gained acceptance. Now the latest Madden games come out at HALF the framerate - Again - This console cant do at $599 what an XBOX360 can do BETTER at $349.
I bought one at launch like an idiot and paid WAY too much because I bought into the hype. Don't do what I did...
My 360 is used daily, if not to game, but to stream Live and recorded TV like, but better than an Apple TV. My PS3, has four inches of dust, now that I'm tired of Resistance...ask PS3 owners
(that aren't fanboys), you'll hear the same thing...
(Can't WAIT for Bioshock and Blue Dragon)
Thanks for listening...
20 - RCM
My apologies, I didn't mean to attack or insult you. This news is just really old by net standards and sort of seems thrown together.
Generally BC be it through hardware or software is something core gamers (those who frequent game-centric news sites) care about.
As for me doing something about the lack of BC news, when they start paying me I'll gladly be their news guy.
Again, my apologies if you were offended.
21 - Mark Buckingham
Bill
I agree, Sony has done a number of hypocritical things since the PS3 launch, many of the same things I mentioned here
If I wasn't so wary of the 360 hardware failure problems, and so much of the 360 stuff wasn't also available on the PC (Gears of War is now coming to the PC, too), I'd be more inclined to get one of those.
22 - Mark Buckingham
RCM
No hard feelings...there have been a lot of negative comments, so maybe it got to me a little more than usual.
I understand timing is important, and I WANTED to have this story up when it first broke, but "real life" (i.e., those paying gigs) kept slowing it down. Better late than never?
23 - AzUlo
even though sony has lost the emotion engine, they deliver the goods and have kept their promise by updating their emulation through a majority of updates. PS3s are more reliable then the 360, why? because the ps3 didnt have to revise their console unlike the 360 that had to go 3 revisions to get it right! AKA the ring of death and that massive block power supply the x360 has. Sony is better if u look at it from this stand point. There is soo much content that u can do with the ps3 now then back then. I believe ppl who have the ps3 and say it suk is because they dont update their friggn ps3, if u update it to latest firmware it is awsome. i bought one and i dont regret it since MGS4 is exclusive to ps3 :D
24 - Let's hear it for the facts...
The is NOTHING wrong with European BC!!
25 - Mark Buckingham
AzUlo
I remembered reading about early quirks with the PS3--like not being able to download stuff in the background while doing other things--and thinking, "What oversights!" The X360 got that right at least. But with the firmware updates, they've added a lot of nice features to the PS3.
Sure, I'd have rather had them out of the box, but better late than never. I also don't mind them adding content and new modes to games after release via DLC. What I don't like is when a company releases a broken game and HAS to patch it later just for basic functionality. PC users have dealt with this for a long time, but I'd hoped it wouldn't make the jump to consoles.
Now I did hear some rumbling recently that Konami might port MGS4 to other systems for profitability's sake (since the PS3 isn't exactly selling out these days), but no indication as to when or which system(s).