PS3 Definitely Compatible with PS2 & PSone Games

[smellslikenintendospirit]

Head of the Sony Computer Entertainment company, Ken Kutaragi, confirmed that Sony's upcoming Playstation 3 console will be backwards compatible with its counterparts, the Playstation 2 and PS One.

"PSone runs on the PlayStation 2 through emulation rather than actual hardware. PlayStation 3 will offer the same compatibility for PS2 software and the format will continue forever," he explained.

We can only hope that Nintendo and Microsoft follow a similar trend. Reports indicate that the Xbox 2 may very well be compatible with its predecessor, however the recently announced decision to partner with ATI - the current Xbox is powered by NVIDIA - may cause complications.

"ATI's hardware runs the same sort of pixel shaders and so on that the NVIDIA chipset does," one graphics programmer working on Xbox games explained, "but getting the hardware to exactly mimic the behavior of an NVIDIA part could be very tricky... It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft can get Xbox 2 to play Xbox games without glitches, especially ones that have been written to tie in closely with the console's specs."

http://games.thedgn.com/index.php?pa...ZFsruRbLAq.php

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Oh, and there's also a bit on Spong about HL2 going on xbox only in '04 and going to the GC2 and PS3, but if I post it nobody's going to believe spong...(I don't myself)

[Jushiko]

Hurray!

[PhixedDice]

That's good. Backward compatibility should be the standard now.

[Viper]

Agreed on the above. Looks like MS Next may not be fully backwards compatible, if at all, with the xbox.

[Prince]

Backwards compatibility rocks. Although I've only used it two or three times, its a nice option to have. :yes:

[Kenshin2]

If they dont change the controller, again... that is just really stupid.

[Notedog]

All they realy need to do is switch the left analog with the d pad

[Barbooski]

Most of my friends that have PS2 have like 50 PSOne games and like 2-3 PS2 games.. so this feature is definatly needed.

[TheGreenElf]

Wouldn't it be great if GC2 could play NES/SNES/N64/GCN and have a bulit in Gameboy player...lol just a dream though this thing would be the size of Xbox...?

[Haris]

^ That would be retarded. The thing would look queer.

[HolyPaladin]

"PSone runs on the PlayStation 2 through emulation rather than actual hardware. PlayStation 3 will offer the same compatibility for PS2 software and the format will continue forever," he explained.

I think this guy was being basically ignorant in suggesting this. The only reason that there is such a thing as a PlayStation today is because video games progressed from the old cartrige format to a newer compact disk. Had no such change occured, there would have been no experimentations with CD's and thus would have been no PlayStation, since it was originally meant to be the CD drive for the SNES. Sooner or later, even if it is a few more generations down the road, the format will likely change with the advent of some newer, better technology that isn't like a CD or DVD at all. If that is the case, you can't just pop a CD into a drive that is totally different. That's like trying to plug a cartrige into a CD drive.

[dwhittenempire]

Maybe Microsoft and Nintendo will take a hint also...

[HolyPaladin]

Oh, I'd be surprised if they didn't. I would really expect both to have backward compatability, as Nintendo has done with the Game Boy handhelds to this point. They know people like being able to play the old GB and GBC games in the GBA and should similarly see that people expect the next console to play GCN games. I'm sure Microsoft can't wait to do what everybody else is doing, too. If either one actually doesn't come out being backward compatible, either from Nintendo or from Microsoft, I think I'd crap my pants... twice..., or even thrice.

[Glenn2K4]

it pretty much safe to say all consoles will be backward compatible neXt gen....uh, but i guess weirder things have happened

[Viper]

The next Nintendo should be backwards compatible...no reason it shouldn't be. ATi owns the property that created the graphics ship for the GC.

MS will have a more difficult time with adding backwards compatability because they will be using ATi also but the xbox used nVidia. How this may affect its ability for backwards compatability is not yet known.

[Glenn2K4]

with both nintendo and microsoft using ATi and sony using a highly speculated infrastructure for the PS3, it is going to be VERY interesting to see who will have the best/efficient build for nextgen....

but back on subject, i believe all will be backward compatible. here are the true questions:
-- will nintendo remain using the mini discs or jump to the larger format. how will that effect their backward compatibility/costs
-- will xbox|next consequential have alot of bottlenecks in their hardware switching from nVidia to ATi
-- will sony be successful in their venture to create a new "ground-breaking infrastructure" for the PS3

hmmm

[HolyPaladin]

-- will nintendo remain using the mini discs or jump to the larger format. how will that effect their backward compatibility/costs

I'd expect a larger format, because certainly games with more stunning visuals will gobble up even more disk space. Using more space will demand a larger capacity disk, so no more mini-disks. However, a mini-disk should be playable in a larger-size drive. I had a mini-CD from Burger King, I think it was, that played in my PC's regular CD drive, even though CD's are twice as large.

[=NukeBlaze=]

Mini Cds Fit into CD drives. As far as backwards compatablility....As long as the same material is used within the same size limits...The games from this gneration can be backwards compatable through emulation.

All Optical drives use a laser...Wither it be of a longer or shorter wavelenght to read the disk. The next generation of disks called "Blue RAY" will for the most part be able to play DVD and CD within them.


AS far as you mention on the PS-ONE. It would have not existsed at all if Nintendo decided to use somthign a bit better than antiqued cartidges, and lost there support to SONY becuase of it. Sony did not have a chance in the start with its lackluster showings untill companies begain to pile on. From the stories I have read over tyhe years, SquareSoft seems to have a large part in convining compaies such as "Enix" to develop for the PS-One over the N64, and not just becuase the Cartridges were memeory limited and the system hard to program for.

[Sendok]

I would like backwards compatibilty, but im a collector and well i still have all of my systems, so it wouldn't make much of a diffrence to me, except maybe clear some shelf space.