Sony Fucks Europe Backward (Update!)

[Anarchist Bunny]

Don't care. My PS2 is modded with an HDD, so I've not reason to give it up even if the PS3 was perfectly backwards compatible. Its simple more convenient.

It's a tossup, but I think the raw fun of swinging around a wiimote will win out,

Not for me. I play most of my games in bed before I go to sleep, so swinging is not appealing or fun.

Any non-party game that requires proper motion will likely get put on the back burner by me. Once I'm in bed I want to lie back and play with minimal movement.

Not multiple people stating it, not a Penny Arcade comic about it, not every god damn review of the controller stating it will people ever get it into their fucking heads that you don't have to swing your arms arround like a jackass to use the controller. Even Wii sports can be done with just wrist movement.

Twilight Princess was accually very relaxing to use as due to the Nunchuck's cord I was able to lay with both my hands on the bed on either side of me and play.

[salm]

Why can´t MGS be on the X-Box?

[Vendetta]

Hideo Kojima likes his moneyhat?

[salm]

Microsoft needs to buy him.
If someone had told me that i´d ever say this half a year ago i would have had a real good laugh.

[Admiral Valdemar]

It really is just so retarded when you hear of how much they're saving on fucking up a whole continent and its gaming library.

[Jade Falcon]

There are still some corkers missing. like Chronicles of Riddick, but most of the bestsellers are there.

They get updated roughly every quarter too.

(there are even some 360 exclusive Halo 2 maps on the way as well)

Well...among my X-Box games, neither Mechassault game will work, nor will Midtown Madness 3 or The Warriors to name a few, but we'll see.

[Netko]

Thread title updated for clarification, I was going to post this news only to find it had been posted yesterday, but the thread title threw me.

In other news, while this might mess up some PS-2 cames, it's really going to fork over the PS emulation unless they have some very smart Programmers. Some of the later PS games call heavily on some specific Playstation one features and chipset instructions. If they don't duplicate those exactly, or close enough it might do PS2 games just fine, but fork over PS one games.


Time will tell on that score, until we have one of these "Software" PS-3's in hand it's all speculation.

As idiotic as this decision is, emulating the PS1 in software shouldn't be a problem - its been done nearly perfectly on the PC with requirements less then what is available to the PS3, and that is without having the kind of access that the writers for Sony's emulator will have.

[Xisiqomelir]

Hokays, Sony's blog has some slightly mollifying news, apparently the PS2 BC count will be at least 1000 games, which will hopefully include at least all the plat and semi-plat titles. I hold out hope for Dark Cloud 2.

Q: What is Sony’s thinking behind leaving the Emotion Engine off the motherboards of PAL PS3s?

Phil Harrison: “Our thinking involves being able to bring the latest hardware specification of the PS3 to Europe, although that does mean an initial slight reduction in the number of PS2 components. But it’s important to put that into context: there will still be thousands of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles playable on the PS3 at launch. It’s very easy to over-react. We’re working to introduce a resource on the Web to detail which titles will have backwards compatibility. And as we make firmware upgrades, we will be able to add to that list.”

Q: Can you give us a ballpark figure for the number of PS2 titles which will be playable at launch on the PS3?

PH: “The situation is changing every day, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1,000 PS2 titles.”

Q: And presumably, you will be concentrating on the big titles?

PH: “We can’t give any information about specific titles but, clearly, that would be our policy.”

Q: It has been suggested that reducing the components on the PS3’s motherboard would pave the way for a reduction in its price to come about more quickly. Is that a fair analysis?

PH: “Price reductions are something that we wouldn’t comment on specifically. But you know the business model very well – we strive to get the cost of manufacturing down as soon as possible, and as soon as we can pass cost savings onto the consumers, we will.”

Q: Just how important is backwards-compatibility?

PH: “I think the reasons why people buy PS3s are the new games that it offers, and the HD content experiences provided by games and movies, the opportunity to access the PlayStation Network, and titles like MotorStorm and Resistance: Fall of Man – leading-edge examples of what next-generation games are all about.”

Q: The flaw in the argument that removing the Emotion Engine from PAL PS3s is that you’ve manufactured over 100 million Emotion Engines. So, surely the Emotion Engtine can’t possibly cost you more than a few pence to manufacture?

PH: “If only that was the case.”

Q: Are you shifting capacity in your wafer fabs from making PS2 components to PS3 ones, then?

PH: “It’s not as simple as that – we’re obviously continuing to make PS2s in huge volumes, so there’s no reduction in that. But the Emotion Engine that has previously gone into PS3s on sale elsewhere in the world is a custom component that we have now removed from the motherboard of PAL PS3s.”

EDIT: Here are the absolute numbers of title counts by region for perspective:

[Xisiqomelir]

Day 1 BC will be ~73%, with future updates to increase the playable title count.

Threespeech:

It seems that Sony really have been striving to make up for all the love lost with early compatibility fears. Whilst standing by their original comments that backwards compatibility will not be the focus going forward, the early launch of its compatibility site reveals that 1,782 of the 2,451 PS2 titles (in the SCEE region) available will work on your PS3.

The 1.6 firmware upgrade to be released at midnight on March 22 has now been finalised, and the number of games listed is the number that will be available to those owners who upgrade their system software after March 23.

OPR:

Press Releases


20/03/2007 12:30
European PLAYSTATION 3 Compatibility Site Launches Early


Firmware upgrade at launch to implement connectivity to Folding@home, background downloading and internet browser enhancements

London, 20 March 2007 – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today launched the web site that will allow prospective PLAYSTATION®3 owners to see which of their PlayStation®2 titles are playable on the new European PS 3 hardware model.

The web site at http://faq.eu.playstation.com/bc lists those titles from the portfolio of PS2 titles available in the SCEE PAL territories that are playable on PS3.

"Our engineers have been working overtime, and have succeeded in delivering a significant number of playable PS2 titles for the European launch", said David Reeves, President of SCEE. "We will be adding additional titles to this list in future firmware upgrades, but as we have made clear before, in the future our resources will be increasingly focused on developing new services and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, rather than on delivering PS2 backwards compatibility.”

New owners of a European PS3 will need to install the latest firmware upgrade to play the PS2 titles listed on the web site. The upgrade will be available at launch from midnight on 22nd March through the PLAYSTATION®Network, from http://www. PlayStation.com or, for those unable to access the internet, on a disc obtained from local Customer Services.

The latest system software upgrade (Version 1.60) will deliver features such as Folding@home connectivity, background downloading of content from the PLAYSTATION®Store, support for Bluetooth® keyboards and mice, and an optional full QWERTY on-screen keyboard for text entry.

The Folding@home project allows PS3 owners to connect to Stanford University’s Folding@home program, a distributed computing project aimed at understanding protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and many cancers. Using the power of the Cell Broadband Engine™, PS3 system can perform computer simulations for the Folding@home program ten times faster than your average home PC. Once PS3 system is updated to version 1.60, users can easily sign up to join the Folding@home program by clicking on the appropriate logo on the XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) under the Network icon. Then, when the PS3 system is left on and reaches idle mode, it will automatically begin a simulation and, once completed, send information back to a central computer(*1). Additional details about Folding@home are available at http://www.scei.co.jp/folding/en/.

Firmware Version 1.60 also delivers a more convenient process for downloading content to the PS3 from the PLAYSTATION Store. Up to 6 pieces of content from the PlayStation store can be queued up for download while the user enjoys other functions of the PS3 system, including playing games, browsing the web, using media functions including photo browsing, video and music playback. Progress of downloads can be easily tracked under a new Download Management menu under the XMB’s Network icon(2).

Firmware 1.60 also provides support for keyboards and mice enabled with Bluetooth wireless technology. Text entry is further expanded with the option to use a full QWERTY on-screen keyboard, in addition to the existing single tap keyboard. PS3’s built-in Web browser is also enhanced with the ability to zoom in to the optimal viewing size for the selected area of a Web page at the press of a button, as well as an optional tool for reducing flicker when the PS3 system is using interlaced video out (480i or 1080i).

(*1) To run the application automatically in idle state, PS3 must be connected to the network with both main power switch and power button turned on. Option setting must also be changed as this automatic feature is off at default.

(*2) Please refer to http://eu.playstation.com/help-support/ps3 for full functionality as some limitations may apply. The speed of download depends on bandwidth and network usage.

Official compatibility by individual title list

[McNum]

Hmm, no MGS2 on the list and MGS3 has issues. No Final Fantasy runs perfectly, and apparently VII and IX don't run at all. Guitar Hero is missing, but that's expected with the guitar controller and all. The Grand Theft Auto seris is so-so, too, with San Andreas having issues.

But after all, MGS, Final Fantasy, and GTA aren't some of the bigger titles on the PS2... oh wait.

I think I'll keep my "wait and see" stance on the PS3. I'm not gonna get one if my current PS2 games won't play on it. I don't have room for both a PS2 and PS3. Maybe the list will get metter with better firmware, I can't imagine the "MGS2 won't run" situation is fun for Sony.

And in the continuing saga: Barbie's Horse Adventures runs perfectly. What is it with this game and backwards compatability? It was on the first batch of Xbox360 compatable titles, too.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Wow, if I wanted that list of useless titles, I'd simply try my hand at gaming on Linux. It's likely cheaper and less frustrating.

[Vendetta]

I want to know what Sony consider "minot issues" and "serious issues".

I also want the emulator to upscale dammit!

[Admiral Valdemar]

I don't know how well it'd up-scale the res if it's having issues just playing the damn games properly in SD. The emulation on the PS2 with PS games was somewhat iffy at times, artefacts appeared in some titles, loading took longer etc. but it was playable. This sounds like they can't even get A-list titles to run smoothly. If the MGS, GTA and FF series are running less than perfect, then you have a problem.

[Vendetta]

True, Microsoft's approach at least got some pretty shiny titles like Ninja Gaiden and KotOR running first (though KotOR has some speed and sound problems).

(Though, of course, there's also that Barbie Horse Adventures issue... I guess it's because it's easy to make it work. Presumably as a piece of low budget shovelware it didn't use any strange or unique libraries, so it's easy to emulate)