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Sony confirms PS2 emulation coming to PS4

gofreak said:
The very fact that Sony XDev is asking on Twitter 'what PS2 games would you like to see on PS4?' heavily implies this will be digital releases of PS2 games rather than backwards compatibility for discs.

I'm guessing the emulation isn't robust enough in the general case for them to simply release it with disc support and claim (close to) full backwards compatibility. So they'll cherry pick some titles, make sure they run OK on the emulator, and release them digitally.
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Or their solution may be similar to Microsoft's - I. E. Although you're playing the PS2/360 game as-is, Sony needs permission from the publisher before they add the game to a BC list.
 
Yea, sounds like no disc based emulation, which is a shame. But would that even be possible with the added touch up/trophy support? Either way I'm stoked. While I'd much rather have PS3 Bc, there's still tons of games I wanna replay from the ps2/ps1(ps1?) era
 
Conduit said:
Hm...there are still plenty of PS2 games on CD. PS4 doesn't support CD.
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That's actually debatable.
See here, page 10: https://www.playstation.com/manual/pdf/CUH-1001A-1.0_3.pdf

The PS4 has two lasers, a blue (violet) one and a red one, the specification sheet lists the wavelengths for all three formats with an asterisk denoting that "CDs cannot be played", not that they cannot be read.

Sony also pioneered the first monolithic dual wavelength diodes for DVD/CD reading on a single device, and used them in both the PS2 and PS3, so being used in the PS4 is pretty much a given.

They would not have listed the CD wavelength in the spec sheet if it could not read such disks, of if they were going to, they would have stated clearly that it was unsupported.
 
The hope would be that all previously released titles on the PS3 will make the move forward first, but I guess that's more due to publisher's discretion, and their willingness to provide trophy support. Just so long as it doesn't turn out like the Vita's limited compatibility list for PS1 and PSP games.
 
Montresor said:
Or their solution may be similar to Microsoft's - I. E. Although you're playing the PS2/360 game as-is, Sony needs permission from the publisher before they add the game to a BC list.
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Don't know how their licensing works out.

But I do recall that with PS3 software emu of PS2 (on those PS3s with software PS2 emu), they had to go through an awful lot of QA effort before putting out a big list of compatible titles. Before - iirc - eventually winding up efforts to build that list, saying it was taking too many resources. That was a technical/manpower thing rather than a licensing issue, so maybe the PS1/PS2 software licenses had backwards compatibility on future platforms covered.

However the technical and QA effort remains unless they have a generally robust and performant emulator - one so good they can be confident any game will run without any serious testing. I doubt they're at that point, so I doubt we'll see general BC. They'll put the effort into making some titles compatible in the expectation of a return via digital sales.

This won't be BC so much as a cherry-picked library of 'PS2 classics' on the store.
 
gofreak said:
Don't know how their licensing works out.

But I do recall that with PS3 software emu of PS2 (on those PS3s with software PS2 emu), they had to go through an awful lot of QA effort before putting out a big list of compatible titles. Before - iirc - eventually winding up efforts to build that list, saying it was taking too many resources. That was a technical/manpower thing rather than a licensing issue, so maybe the PS1/PS2 software licenses had backwards compatibility on future platforms covered.

However the technical and QA effort remains unless they have a generally robust and performant emulator - one so good they can be confident any game will run without any serious testing. I doubt they're at that point, so I doubt we'll see general BC. They'll put the effort into making some titles compatible in the expectation of a return via digital sales.

This won't be BC so much as a cherry-picked library of 'PS2 classics' on the store.
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This is exactly what we should be expecting, anything more is gonna crush everyone's hopes. I just hope they keep the games flowing quickly. I don't mind re purchasing, since it seems like they're updating them for modern hardware to an extent.
 
Ricky_R said:
I guess I'm one of the few who has no interest in any form of backwards compatibility at all.
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nah there are plenty of people that think that way on gaf, or atleast the xbox bc announcement thread made it seem that way. They just dont seem to bother posting here again I guess for whatever reason.

Im excited to play some old games on my ps4 since its not seeing much use atm
 
gofreak said:
so maybe the PS1/PS2 software licenses had backwards compatibility on future platforms covered.
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Not when they are also available as digital downloads. There has been a clear pattern of having to relicense old games on every platform that offers them as digital downloads (and previously were disc/cart only).
This is especially notable with PS1, which even with 6 year headstart only midly outpaces PS2 classics on PSN, ie. it's clearly not connected to QA and compatibility issues.

Anyway - since we're never going to see them remastered now (EA official policies and all) can I insert a request for SSX/Burnout classic series here Sony?
 
godelsmetric said:
Silent Hill 2, 3 & 4 please
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I'm right there with you but Konami man
 
As much as this might be a good thing, the chances of it being implemented for We <3 Katamari, Blood Will Tell, Shadow of Rome or even God Hand are pretty slim.
 
GrotesqueBeauty said:
Maybe you're just the one bothering to post about it in a thread about a backwards compatibility announcement. :p
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Haha good point.

It may have come off as hating, but I really wasn't. It was more about seeing so many people interested in the feature. I would definitely welcome BC regardless of what I feel since I know it's a great addition for those who are really interested.
 
gofreak said:
Don't know how their licensing works out.

But I do recall that with PS3 software emu of PS2 (on those PS3s with software PS2 emu), they had to go through an awful lot of QA effort before putting out a big list of compatible titles. Before - iirc - eventually winding up efforts to build that list, saying it was taking too many resources. That was a technical/manpower thing rather than a licensing issue, so maybe the PS1/PS2 software licenses had backwards compatibility on future platforms covered.

However the technical and QA effort remains unless they have a generally robust and performant emulator - one so good they can be confident any game will run without any serious testing. I doubt they're at that point, so I doubt we'll see general BC. They'll put the effort into making some titles compatible in the expectation of a return via digital sales.

This won't be BC so much as a cherry-picked library of 'PS2 classics' on the store.
Click to expand...
Staring with digital makes sense for the reasons you posted, but I don't see why compatibility issues with individual titles would be a deal breaker for disc based. Look at Xbox compatibility on the 360. There was a list of compatible titles, and they expanded upon it over time. That was also without the benefit of a two generation gap. PS4 might have enough overhead to make emulation easier on the whole provided they do a great job. Given how long PS2 emulation has been viable on PCs without the advantage of Sony's internal documentation I don't see robust disc support as an impossibility, in the long run at least.
 
As someone who collects PS2 games but only has a PS4 with my right now, this is the best possible news. Disc based emulation would be so much better.
 
Please god let it happen and let Namco release Xenosaga on PSN. There's still a few PS2 RPGs I'd like to play again that clearly have no chance of being remastered like Xenosaga.
 
BasilZero said:
Hopefully this means PS2 Classics from PS3 PSN to PS4 PSN right...?
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Well if they are making it a priority to begin with, i'd say that's their plan, to increase the library

Grunkle said:
But if there is no disc based, then it really can't be called BC. It's just emulation then.
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Whatever you want to call it, they are going to be using software emulation to allow users to play PS2 games.
 
Beautiful that someone who buys a PS4 will have access to games from all PlayStation gens if you include PSNow.

Very elegant solution in the end, I always thought using PSNow for PS1 and PS2 games would be just stupid.

Next step would be to work with Sega to get Master System, Mega Drive and Dreamcast games in there.
 
i would love if it was just straight up hardware emulation pop that disc in and go but.... that won't be the case. I still just really want to play Final Fantasy XII.....and I'd like to not have to resort to dubious means to do so. So I dunno help me out here Sony.
 
As I said before, I want a huge library more than disc support.

sora87 said:
Sorry Sony, not interested in repurchasing my PS2 library.
MS did it the right way.
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You know how their model is going to look ? Also, you don't have to rebuy your old games to play them. You just put the DVD into your PS2 to play.
 
viHuGi said:
Is this like PsOne and Ps2 classics on Ps3?

Man i want PsOne aswell not just Ps2!
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PSOne games will happen.
They are so easy to emulate it shouldn't be any concern.

The only reason why it hasn't happened yet is due to trophies. I believe Sony wants to add them to nearly every "classic" game to breathe new life into old titles.

It's this reason why I believe that (old) FF7 on PS4 hasn't released yet, despite it having an original date of spring 2015. Sony wants to announce and release a lot of titles at the same time. It would certainly explain why that title alone was delayed from Spring 2015 to Summer 2015 to Winter 2015.
I know they claimed that FF7 on PS4 will be based on the PC version of the game, but they could easily say that because they weren't allowed to mention B/C at the time.
 
Has there been any further confirmations of the trophy support? I'm being reasonable in assuming it be simple non-platinum trophy lists for the select line of PS2 classics. Still more than a man could ask for.
 
Give me Dark Chronicles and the greatest final fantasy ever XII international edition!!
plus
Ratchet and Clank
Jak and Dater
sensible soccer
cannon fodder
bully
fatal frame
mercenaries
rogue galaxy

for starters!
 
SpotAnime said:
Never say never, especially with this Sony leadership team. They really seem to be listening to fans and delivering. I would not be surprised if they did allow for disc based BC, since that's another goodwill mark in their favor. Shall I list some for you? ;)

- Yakuza. Check.
- The Last Guardian. Check.
- Shenmue III. Check.
- No online requirements. Check.
- You want indie games? We got 'em. Check.

What am I missing?



ToMjGpKniGqRNLGBrhu.gif


Edit:



Ah, bummer. I have tons of physical PS2 games, I would really be hesitant to rebuy them unless there's a crazy discount on PS+ or something, and at that point, what's the benefit for Sony to do the effort in releasing them?
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Paying for online? Check. Paying $9.99 to download a ROM of your favorite PS2 game? Check.
 
So, any details on whether I can shove my PS2 discs in when the option becomes available? Or is it one of those BC situations where you have to rebuy a digital version to play it?

Cause if it's the latter, no dice Sony! Former would be a pain in the arse to implement anyway I guess.
 
Honestly, I'm just trying to basically forget about this news. I just know if I start anticipating this it's going to turn out to be disappointing in the end as they're probablynot going to be doing disc based stuff for whatever reason.

The games I really want will probably have little chance on showing up via PS2 classics.
 
Oooo boy the psx thread will be fun and sad at the same time. While I'll gladly pay $10 bucks for dark cloud and ape escape and any other hits they add...people hoping for disc based are about to get a wake up call
 
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