Gizmodo: backward compatibility

PS2 Compatibility Never Returning to the PlayStation 3

Mark Wilson — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:10:00 EDT

Sony pretty much implied that backward compatibility was dead when they released the PS3 Slim (without PS2 support), but just in case, Sony's John Koller put a few nails in that coffin during two recent interviews.

Koller said, "It's not coming back, so let me put that on the table," before later adding "won't be returning" to Ars.

Then, to Kotaku, Koller flipped the whole table metaphor around (but said the same thing) with the assertion that "backwards compatibility is off the table."

Some eyewitnesses claimed that Koller then stood from his chair, squatted to the floor and teabagged the first generation of PS3s that included hardware backward compatibility. Then, with an equal amount of ceremony, he teabagged the second generation of PS3s the included software emulated backward compatibility.

Sony's stance is that PS2-compatibility is simply no longer a relevant draw to PS3 buyers. And while that's an easy enough point to scoff at, I will admit, I don't know the last time I loaded a PS2 disc into my PS3. [Ars and Kotaku]

Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility Updated

Jason Chen — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:55:35 EST

The Xbox 360 backward compatibility team's just pumped out a batch of new updates, this time adding support for many older sports games, driving games and Batman games. There aren't many A-list titles on here (probably because they've been added earlier due to the fact that they're A-list titles), but if you really want to play Playboy: The Mansion without having to whip out that old black box, here ya go. As Microsoft's said before, BC development will be ramping down after '07, so expect less frequent updates after this one. Full list after the jump.

2006 Fifa World Cup Germany
25 to Life
AMF Bowling 2004
Apex
Arena Football
Armed and Dangerous
Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance
Batman Rise of Sin Tzu
Bionicle
Blade II
Blinx: The Timesweeper
Blitz The League
Blood Omen 2
Blowout
Breakdown
Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Cabelas Dangerous Hunts 2
Championship Manager 2006
Colin Mcrae Rally 2005
Crime Life: Gang Wars
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
Dungeons& Dragons Heroes
ESPN College Hoops 2k5
ESPN NFL 2k5
Fantastic 4
FIFA 06 Soccer
Fight Night: Round 3
Final Fight: Streetwise
Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
Freedom Fighters
Freestyle Street Soccer
Future Tactics: The Uprising
Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee
Godzilla Save the Earth
Goldeneye Rogue Agent
Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball Max'd
High Heat MLB 2004
Hunter: The Reckoning
Indiana Jones And The Emperors Tomb
MLB Slugfest Loaded
MVP Baseball 2003
MVP Baseball 2004
MVP Baseball 2005
Nascar Thunder 2002
Nascar Thunder 2003
NBA 2k3
NBA Ballers
NBA Inside Drive 2002
NBA Street V3
NCAA College Basketball 2k3
NCAA March Madness 2005
NCAA March Madness 2006
NFL 2k2
NFL 2k3
NHL 2005
NHL 2K3
NHL Hitz Pro
Nightcaster: Defeat The Darkness
NTRA Breeders Cup: World Thoroughbred Championships
Playboy The Mansion
RLH Hunt or be Hunted
Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown
Rocky
Rugby 2006
Shattered Union
Shrek Super Party
Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
Starsky & Hutch
Syberia II
Techmo Classic Arcade
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Test Drive
The Bard's Tale
The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
The Guy Game
The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age
Thousand Land
Thrillville
Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers
Turok: Evolution
Van Helsing
WarPath
Worms 3D
Zathura

Easily look up whether your old PS1 and...

Jason Chen — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:43:19 EDT

Easily look up whether your old PS1 and PS2 titles will work on your PlayStation 3 with this Sony Backward Compatibility checker. No giant list—you'll have to enter a title manually. Again, the 60GB has hardware emulation, so if back-compat is important to you, grab one of those now while it's still in stores. [PlayStation]

PS3 Firmware 1.82 Available

Jason Chen — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:30:55 EDT

Along with support for AVC High Profile (H.264/MPEG-4) video support (which most people don't care about), update 1.82 has improved backward compatibility with PS2 and PS1 games (for the software BC consoles, most likely). No big list for which titles have been changed, but head over to the Status Site to be sure.

PS3 Update [PlayStation]

Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility Update for April

Jason Chen — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:00:00 EDT

Microsoft's just thrown down a brand new Xbox 360 backward compatibility update that adds or updates about 40 titles (give or take) to the list of Xbox games it can play. If you remember back to GDC, you'll know that Microsft's planning on ramping down the BC efforts after '07. So unless they pull out a gigantic update near the end of this year, you're probably going to have to keep that original Xbox around if you've got some titles you're still keen on playing.

That said, it's nice that they finally got some of the old Call of Duty games up in there. You can never get enough Nazi killing. – Jason Chen

April '07 Back Compat Update [Major Nelson]

European PS3 Backward Compatibility List

Jason Chen — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:30:25 EDT

The Internets have been griping about the software backward compatibility of European/PAL PS3s for the past couple weeks, so it's probably a good idea to actually take a list at the titles the software emulation can support. Right now Sony's gigantic list is at 72 percent, with improvements sure to come.

Compared with the Xbox 360, it looks like it's higher already, and unless Microsoft pumps up their BC titles by the end of '07, Sony will still have the upper hand while saving costs by going software instead of hardware. – Jason Chen

BC Page [Playstation via Kotaku]

Europe's PS3's Software Backward Compatibility Graded (It's Not Good)

Jason Chen — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:43:16 EDT

What would you do if you were a professor and one of your students got 1 out of 12 questions correct on an exam? Before you answer, let us tell you a story. You see, the Inquirer got their hands on a PAL PS3—you know, the ones that have software backward compatibility—and tested it out with twelve popular PS2 games. The result? Only one of them worked. Eragon. The worst game of the twelve. Fantastic. Compared to the US and Japan's hardware compatibility percentage of 98%, that's bad news.

So what would you do? Would you fail this kid? Would you hope he improves by some future software update? That's what Sony's claiming, as the "final" software update before launch hasn't been installed. If that's true, the whole exercise could be moot. – Jason Chen

European Playstation 3 not so backwards compatible [The Inquirer via Kotaku]

Euro Backward Compatibility Issues [Joystiq]

Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility Development Ramping Down After '07

Jason Chen — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:55:21 EST

At the end of the GDC blogger's breakfast yesterday morning, Chris Satchell dropped this bomb that not many people seem to have picked up on. He said, regarding Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility:

At some point we're going to focus less on it. When you get to the end of this year there will be a reduced focus on backwards compatibility. There are so many 360 games out there. I don't know if it's important anymore.

So depending on how many Backward Compat. updates (we counted two in 2006) your Xbox game may not quite make it to Xbox 360, which means you're going to have to keep that big black box around indefinitely. – Jason Chen

GDC 07: Liveblogging the Blogger Breakfast [Kotaku]

European PS3 Has Gimped Backward Compatibility

Jason Chen — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:30:28 EST

Oh Sony, it's not that we don't like you, but if you keep shooting yourself in the foot, the thigh, the other foot, the ass, your hand, and your ear, it makes it difficult to defend you.

What'd the monolithic Japanese company do this time? They've swapped out the hardware-based backward compatibility on the PlayStation 3 for software-based ones. This means less PS2 games will be playable on the PS3, which is already having enough trouble keeping the visual quality up-to-par with the older console. Add to that an already late launch, and Europeans are feeling more screwed than ever.

Dear Sony: stop being stupid! – Jason Chen

PAL PS3 Backwards Compatibility Gimped [Kotaku]

Xbox 360 Compatibility Update

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:30:06 EDT

Our favorite next-generation console that you can currently buy in stores has gotten another backward compatibility update. Twenty one more original Xbox titles are added to the over 200 already working on the Xbox 360 today. Here they are:

4x4 EVO 2, Amped® 2, Bad Boys 2, Big Mutha Truckers, DOOM 3®, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Fatal Frame^TM, FlatOut^TM, Grabbed by the Ghoulies^TM, Intellivision Lives, LEGO® Star Wars®, Minority Report, MLB SlugFest 20-04, The Punisher^TM, RalliSport Challenge, Silent Hill® 4: The Room, Spawn® Armageddon, Spider-Man, Star Wars Battlefront^TM, State of Emergency, Zapper^TM

If they'd only go back and assign achievement points to the old Xbox games, those titles could possibly see a significant increase in sales. I'm a total gamerpoint whore with over 15,000 points so far. Though I think my best achievement has to be the 200 completion for Geometry Wars. – Jason Chen

Back Compat update [Major Nelson]

Image courtesy xbox 365

Sony Ships PS2 Hardware In PS3 For Backward Compatibility

Jason Chen — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:57:57 EDT

Japanese Magazine Ultra One says Sony is including the PS2 hardware in PS3s in order to provide complete (or close to complete) backward compatibility with previous generation games. Sony is looking for their back catalog of PS1 and PS2 games to bolster their sales of PS3s, something Microsoft isn't really worried about, as the Xbox 360 backward compatibility updates have been slow in coming.

Including extra hardware will bump up the cost to manufacture the PS3, something Sony will just have to eat at this point. Later on, when their software backward compatibility is complete, expect Sony to take out the hardware for a software-only solution.

At this point, since every Howard, Ken, and Harry own a PS2, our suggestion is for them to cut out BC entirely and chip off $50 from the PS3 price. Please? – Jason Chen

Report: PS2 Included with Every PS3 [GameDaily]