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Digital Foundry: Hands-on with PS4's PlayStation 2 emulation

I dont think we'll see something like X1's level of backwards compatibility. If I were Sony:

- Certain PS3 games are/will be 'remade/remastered/choose your poison'. They will still be in demand because of fans and because a lot of people will not have played them. I'm afraid that 'that certain PS3 game you love' wont be a part of this process, but people will pay for it.
- PS2 (and PS1) games will become available as digital downloads, or as PS+ gifts, or as extras. I'm afraid that 'that certain PS1 and PS2 game you love' wont be a part of this proces, but people will pay for it. It would be nice if Sony does not make you rebuy shit if you already got certain games as digital classics.
- PS Now is an avenue for Sony to get subscribers on non-gaming platforms (Smart TVs etc). It will have tons of games you already have or just arent interested in, but people will pay for it.
- The few die hards who want to play their old stuff probably have their old consoles around.
 
If I can play my PS2 discs on PS4 :

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Hang on what on earth is going on. Can the PS4 emulate PS2 games? Why are Sony waiting this late to implement it if so, is it because of the Xbox One capability?

Seriously, Sony, get the act together. The PS4 can either emulate PS2 games or it can't. If you was hoping on PS NOW filing the gap for extra £££ I'll be seriously pissed.

They need to release a PR statement ASAP.
 
I don't expect to see something that allows us to use discs, simply because it just plain doesn't make much sense when it's two generations back to spend the resources to figure out how to do it.

I'd certainly appreciate the hell out of it, though.

Hang on what on earth is going on. Can the PS4 emulate PS2 games? Why are Sony waiting this late to implement it if so, is it because of the Xbox One capability?

Seriously, Sony, get the act together. The PS4 can either emulate PS2 games or it can't. If you was hoping on PS NOW filing the gap for extra £££ I'll be seriously pissed.

They need to release a PR statement ASAP.

lol, it's clearly not that simple. An emulator is a piece of software that's actually worked on, it's not something a piece of hardware can either "do" or it "can't".
 
I don't expect to see something that allows us to use discs, simply because it just plain doesn't make much sense when it's two generations back to spend the resources to figure out how to do it.

I'd certainly appreciate the hell out of it, though.

They don't need any extra resources to support disc over digital. If the emulator plays ps2 games then it would actually require that they specifically block disc support like they do on ps3.

There are reasons why they might do that, but allocation of resources is probably not one of them.
 
I don't expect to see something that allows us to use discs, simply because it just plain doesn't make much sense when it's two generations back to spend the resources to figure out how to do it.

I'd certainly appreciate the hell out of it, though.



lol, it's clearly not that simple. An emulator is a piece of software that's actually worked on, it's not something a piece of hardware can either "do" or it "can't".

Well okay then, same thing. Why have they not worked on it sooner?
 
Automatically upscaling the visuals... shit if there is disc based emulation I'm going to be pretty hyped. Will have to revist some older stuff.
 
This is definitely cool. It just doesn't matter much to me until I get confirmation of disc support. I have many PS2 games that never got the classics treatment. So if it's digital only it still isn't much of a boon for me.

Obviously the option of using discs would be ideal, but part of the reason the selection of PS2 Classics available for PS3 is so limited is that the emulator they made for the PS3 had fairly low compatibility. A more modern emulator on more powerful hardware would likely have far better compatibility, thus games that might have been impossible to release digitally previous now could be.
 
I don't expect to see something that allows us to use discs, simply because it just plain doesn't make much sense when it's two generations back to spend the resources to figure out how to do it.

I'd certainly appreciate the hell out of it, though.

One of the first consoles to have backwards compatibility supported a system two generations back. The Atari 7800 also plays 2600 games, but not the games of its predecessor, the 5200.

Also, I wouldn't doubt Sony so quickly. These are the guys that sued Bleemcast into the ground and then hired one of their top guys to get PS1 emulation working on the PS2.
 
Hang on what on earth is going on. Can the PS4 emulate PS2 games? Why are Sony waiting this late to implement it if so, is it because of the Xbox One capability?

Seriously, Sony, get the act together. The PS4 can either emulate PS2 games or it can't. If you was hoping on PS NOW filing the gap for extra £££ I'll be seriously pissed.

They need to release a PR statement ASAP.
I think it's been a matter of them not being able to do it like this until now.

Over the past few years there's been news where they've hired people who are supposedly emulation experts and there's been other news where they've registered technology which could be used in emulation.

I can't imagine that it's been a priority for them so it's probably just taken time for everything to line up as it has.
 
Meh... I had PS2 BC on my 60gig PS3 and never used it. For me the generation gap was just too big. I could see the appeal of PS3 games since the support for the platform is just now dying off, but I don't see the masses caring much about the potential of PS2 support.

Actually I think most people would rather have games from the older generations in HD than to have games from last generation playing almost the same as it did last generation.
 
Actually I think most people would rather have games from the older generations in HD than to have games from last generation playing almost the same as it did last generation.

I disagree. I think the majority would rather play PS3/360 games over ps2 and back.
 
What if this is the real reason no God Of War I and II remasters were released on the PS4?

They're on PS Now, I think.

Edit- God of War HD, God of War II HD, and God of War: Ascension are on PS Now. Weird that God of War: Chains of Olympus HD and God of War: Ghost of Sparta HD are not there. God of War III may or may not come to PS Now. The reason I think there's a chance, is the fact that TLOU is on PS Now, despite the remaster on PS4. That leaves only one God of War game to be forgotten as usual: God of War: Betrayal, a 2D side-scrolling beat-em-up cell phone game from 2007 (I think). IGN actually gave that a 9/10.
 
What if this is the real reason no God Of War I and II remasters were released on the PS4?

I think it is more to do with the fact they already remastered them on the PS3, and allowed those who pre-ordered GOW3 Remaster, free playtime of them on PSNow.
 
I disagree. I think the majority would rather play PS3/360 games over ps2 and back.

PS2 and back are "classic" or "retro" by now, and it's in vogue to play retro stuff. PS360 games are a generation away. If we want to pull numbers out of thin air, "the majority" of people still own PS360 consoles vs working PS1/PS2 consoles.
 
I don't forsee disc based emulation.

What I do see is that it will be like PS One where you can buy a digital copy and it is playable on every single hardware that can emulate the game. For example, you get a digital copy of FF7 and it is playable on the PS3, PSP, PS Vita, and maybe in the future PS4 and PS5.

It was a one time purchase, but it will be playable on many machines.

If they did that with PS2 games, I could see myself re-buying several PS2 games for around $10 ish bucks.
 
Any idea who they'd need to contact about the licensing? Since the dev Shiny Entertainment merged into Double Helix in 2007, do they own the rights now?

Honestly, I haven't looked into it so I can't comment definitively. I will say that licences like that used to be, and still are in many ways, signed on as time restricted. The publisher controls that license for two years for example.
The reason it was done that way is digital distribution didn't really exist at that point in the console space, and Steam wasn't released until 2003/2004. So a time restricted license made sense, release the game, make their money in the first month then move on.

The game is likely owned by the publisher, but it would be too expensive to secure the license for emulation.

I would suggest PCSX2 if you are that excited.
 
Rogue Galaxy is gonne fantastic on PS4.

Rogue Galaxy and Dark Cloud 2 would be glorious. Along with the PS2 Suikoden's and Wild Arms. So nice.

Also I don't know what they did with those 2D HUDs but if that is upscale and not replacement that is a glorious filter they have for 2D. Only small issues I noticed was some dithering in fog and shadows.
 

Damn that's nice.

Hopefully we can download the PS1/2 purchases we've already made through the PSN store for free.

Yeah I think this is way more likely than disc recognition. I hope they can atleast do this and think they will, I've been racking up a pretty good collection of my PS1 and some of my PS2 favorites over time due to the sales and what they've put up so far. Like the S-E and Atlus sales.

Rogue Galaxy is gonne fantastic on PS4.

So much yes. Please do it Sony. It looks amazing on PCSX2 (minus the interface glitch). I'd love to play it on my PS4 with this upscaling.
 
Is thropy support confirmed for any of the starwars games? I actually would like some throphy support for ps2 games.

I wounder how hard it is to work in a emulator? There are things like retro achivments who does it pretty well.
 
Is thropy support confirmed for any of the starwars games? I actually would like some throphy support for ps2 games.

I wounder how hard it is to work in a emulator? There are things like retro achivments who does it pretty well.
Ye they have, list has been provided, no platinum though :/
 
Hang on what on earth is going on. Can the PS4 emulate PS2 games? Why are Sony waiting this late to implement it if so, is it because of the Xbox One capability?

Seriously, Sony, get the act together. The PS4 can either emulate PS2 games or it can't. If you was hoping on PS NOW filing the gap for extra £££ I'll be seriously pissed.

They need to release a PR statement ASAP.

What is this, can someone assist?!?
 
Obviously the option of using discs would be ideal, but part of the reason the selection of PS2 Classics available for PS3 is so limited is that the emulator they made for the PS3 had fairly low compatibility. A more modern emulator on more powerful hardware would likely have far better compatibility, thus games that might have been impossible to release digitally previous now could be.

I hope that's the reason. I always thought it had more to do with licensing and reworking titles that they probably don't have the assets to anymore such as KH or that the opportunity cost simply isn't worth it in comparison to more recent titles they could remaster and potentially make more than 10-20 a pop on.
 
I don't expect to see something that allows us to use discs, simply because it just plain doesn't make much sense when it's two generations back to spend the resources to figure out how to do it.

I'm no backwards compatibility engineer, but surely this is a trivial issue? The PS4's BD drive already natively plays back DVDs, so it's not like there's hardware incompatibility for PS2 discs. The PS4 doesn't support CD playback, but I'd previously read this was a licensing thing, not a hardware issue.
 
Personally, I could see discs work. However, I think there would be a catch where discs would be limited to what is available on the PSN store. For instance, say you have the first Ratchet and Clank (the original PS2 release, not the PS3 remaster) and it is available as a PS2 classic to download, you would be able to play it freely (it could work similar to the way 360 BC works on XB1). Say you have a disk of Madden (whatever year). The disk would do nothing.
 
Any chance discs could mess with the emulation? Since they're improving things and all by rendering at a higher resolution, more stable/increased framerate and probably reduced pop in and loading times? Yes the drive will be faster than the original PS1 and PS2, but they'd still be far slower than playing off the hardrive. Could that be a possible reason for not allowing discs?

Personally I hope they do allow discs, even if I'll never take advantage of it since I've donated all mine away.
 
Any chance discs could mess with the emulation? Since their improving things and all by rendering at a higher resolution, more stable/increased framerate and probably reduced pop in and loading times? Yes the drive will be faster than the original PS1 and PS2, but they'd still be far slower than playing off the hardrive. Could that be a possible reason for not allowing discs?

Personally I hope they do allow discs, even if I'll never take advantage of it since I've donated all mine away.

They could easily have people install the discs, just as they do with PS4 games. The disc becomes an authentication token, more or less.

In reality, I don't expect them to offer emulation for disc-based games, but it would be a nice offering given what MS has brought to the table.
 
So this is how they're bringing back FFXII.

This is probably my number 1. I've only played about half of it, so it'd be nice to revisit it with improved visuals (PC emulation never works for me, I always get distracted and lose interest).
 
I'd love this to support discs (I still have quite a lot) but part of me knows that Sony would make no money off that and might be reluctant. :C
 
They could easily have people install the discs, just as they do with PS4 games. The disc becomes an authentication token, more or less.

In reality, I don't expect them to offer emulation for disc-based games, but it would be a nice offering given what MS has brought to the table.
PS4 discs are designed to be copied though. Would the older discs not have something like copy protection since they weren't made with in mind? No idea juat speculating. Also if it has an icon on the PS4 then would that not mean you'd need a database for each game so the PS4 recognises exactlt what it is? Or would that already be present on disc and read from there?
 
Thats pretty cool. I'd be blown away if they let psp games to be played the ps4. Now that's an awesome library that's waiting to be played with the comfy DS4. :)
 
Disc based PS2 emulation would be a major benefit to the system. Pair it with the streaming and gameplay capture features to make the most of it. Even if it's imperfect and slapped with a beta tag, this is something that would make me majorly happy.
 
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