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Sony confirms PS2 emulation coming to PS4
- Thread starter Edge_Maverick
- Start date
GTR R35_Supra RZ
Banned
Is PS3 emulation a possibility? got huge PS3 collection of sealed physical copy's. But not sure I wanna go back to peasant graphics.
They'd be the same graphics if you were playing those games on PS4.
googleplex
Member
Nope not possible.
flatearthpandas
Member
Thank god. Never really doubted but I've got a couple digital PS2 titles I never got around to and don't have my PS3 anymore. Never imagined it would take so long to get PS2 classics up, but we don't even have folders or the ability to remove useless applications from the UI yet.
Yeah, we'd have to wait for PS5 or PS6 for PS3 BC.
Unless Sony has some voodoo magic or some PS3 add on.
tiebreaker
Member
Honestly, I can already use emulation on my pc but I haven't really used it. The thing about old classics are that they are very expensive nowadays, if they are good. Quick search on ebay give me Shadow hearts listed for 70. The price will only go up if a disc based emulation is announced.
So I don't think I will use a disc based emulation that much if any. But, If Sony could bolster their PS2 library on PSN, then maybe I will have some use for it to play some classics that I've missed.
So I don't think I will use a disc based emulation that much if any. But, If Sony could bolster their PS2 library on PSN, then maybe I will have some use for it to play some classics that I've missed.
Probably, yeah.
I don't really have much faith in getting the games I want in English, sadly.
shadowsdarknes
Member
Budokai 3 for me.
Disc kept freezing upon load up, but I imagine that doesn't matter for emulation.
Fried Food
Banned
What are the chances we don't have to rebuy the game if we have the disc?
0 % chance
Too much hassle and too much work for Sony to verify if you have the discs.
-100%
And "region free" would be a drop the mic and moonwalk off the stage moment.
Im actually very hopeful!
The timing of this makes it feel like a direct response to XBO's BC. And ps3 BC is simply impossible, but ps4 should pull off PS2 BC through software emulation quite nicely. And it simply cant be an answer to what MS is offering without disk support...
The CD based games wont work... but the DVD ones will be legally readable.
Xenosaga and Silent Hill may be in my PS4/Vita future!
The timing of this makes it feel like a direct response to XBO's BC. And ps3 BC is simply impossible, but ps4 should pull off PS2 BC through software emulation quite nicely. And it simply cant be an answer to what MS is offering without disk support...
The CD based games wont work... but the DVD ones will be legally readable.
Xenosaga and Silent Hill may be in my PS4/Vita future!
It's possible I just don't think it will be so easy.
From making the remasters Sony should already know how the code needs to be recompiled to run on PS4.
There's no "verification" involved in the process. The emulator would just load the data from the discs. It's exactly how the PS3 plays PS1 games.
It's probably going to be a matter of whether or not this emulator is accurate enough to run a plurality of PS2 games. Otherwise it would actually take MORE work for Sony to lock out discs.
it isn't, the cell bbe can handle a much bigger load on single threaded operations, and PS3 games, especially the latter ones, used the SPU's extensively to offload GPU features and maintain performance, emulating that would require an intrusive approach to splitting the cpu/gpu tasks on the cpu, something the PS4's APU just doesn't have the beans for.
Also I think you're oversimplifying the work needed to port a classic to the PS4 as a remaster/re-release, isn't simply a case of recompiling for a different target platform.
Checking for the correct disk is as simple as reading the SYSTEM.CNF file from the disk and checking the boot value, which would for example be something like:
BOOT = cdrom:\SLPS_014.90;1
the first section, BOOT = cdrom:\ is the same for all games, the last section, ;1 is also the same for all games, that leaves the disks executable and ID data, SLPS_014.90 or SLPS-01490, which can be compared to their own game database to confirm that the correct disk is inserted.
This is a very basic check, combine it with reading the security sector from the disks wobble gap and you have a simple, small block of code for confirming if you have the game on hand, combine it with the ability to use the disk being present as a way to enable a timed activation (7 days, 15 days, or a month), and you have a pretty solid system in place.
For the record, PS2 disks contain the exact same boot line and SYSTEM.CNF, with the exception of a 2 after the BOOT text, and a 0 after the cdrom
Eg:
PS1 game - BOOT = cdrom:\SXXX_NNN.NN;1
PS2 game - BOOT2 = cdrom0:\SXXX_NNN.NN;1
Recompile the single threaded PPU code into multi-threaded PS4 code & send the instructions that was being sent to the SPU's to the async compute pipelines.
not that simple but I don't think it's impossible.
I don't recommend doing that.
Karspankey
Banned
I'm just sitting here thinking of my wishlist of games. Some are Dark Cloud 2 (pretty much confirmed), Destroy All Humans 2, Silent Hill 3, Simpsons Hit and Run, God Hand, and more.
I'm sorry both of you had to write out these long replies. I wasn't talking about disc-based emulation, I was talking about how in case only digital distribution was available like what Sony did with Vita and UMD support.
IrishNinja
Member
while i agree with this, who here kept the games but not the hardware?
there's tons of PS2's about on the cheap, and a decent component cable can't run much either. i get wanting the fabled all-in-one solution, but if you cared enough to keep the games, why bother wanting to settle for forms of emulation?
man, ive been sitting on this copy of Timesplitters 2 i picked up when GS was liquidating years back! might finally gotta give that a go...and Warriors was good?
Windle Poons
Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
Erm.. I kept all my games and the hardware!
Warriors was dope. Definitely one of R* gems. if you loved old school co-op beat em ups like Streets of Rage, the Warriors is just that.
Damn I miss that game.
IrishNinja
Member
*dap* this guy knows what's up - no one's gonna keep me from playing some of those classics
wait, like SOR? shit, now you got me lookin at ebay man....
BradleyLove
Member
Yes, obviously I'm talking about PS2 Classics. I don't see why discussing the implications of BC in PS3 should mean anything but given the very limited number of PS3s that included PS2 hardware for emulation purposes.
Yeah but only in a 3D world as opposed to the side scrolling in SoR. Been a min since I browsed Gaf Hop fam.. you never fucked with the Warriors movie?
Warriors was honestly one of my personal fav couch co op games back then, along with Halo CE and TimeSplitters. Try it out breh. With a buddy if possible.
brickarts295
Member
Since the Vita is (undeniably) going too get dropped from PS+, would it be to crazy to think Sony could give member 2 PS classics a month?
Although the SPEs were very good at parallel computation and that's exactly what a lot of the tasks that were executed on them essentially did, the programs were still in sequential form. Unless you solved that problem (ayy lmao), your translated threads are going to run extremely slowly with almost zero GPU utilization even before we start worrying about things like how the characteristics of Cell's internal memory architecture would carry over.
As far as what could realistically be achieved, I'd imagine you'd get many times better performance running a translated Cell instruction stream on a Jaguar core than a GCN CU.
odhiex
Member
What? Is the vita has no more games to offer?
Do you say this from a position of knowledge or just your own expectation?
I'm just wondering because I want to hope, but if there's no point I'd rather just know now.
IrishNinja
Member
honestly, if you're inclined to buy PS2 games, go for it! most are still cheap
its funny, Warriors & Bruce Leeroy Last Dragon flick were always on, so i felt i saw bits of them enough to say i saw the flicks several times over, haha. i just didn't fuck with the game cause too many 3D beat-em-ups felt more like Fighting Force than i wanted, you know? but i can find this one on the cheap, so your co-sign will make that happen
its funny, Warriors & Bruce Leeroy Last Dragon flick were always on, so i felt i saw bits of them enough to say i saw the flicks several times over, haha. i just didn't fuck with the game cause too many 3D beat-em-ups felt more like Fighting Force than i wanted, you know? but i can find this one on the cheap, so your co-sign will make that happen
Hesemonni
Banned
The whole emulator is awesome and could potentially offer great things, but I know EU is going to get shafted with those 50Hz PAL-copies due to licensing and stuff :/
And I don't want to create another PSN profile for US copies either. I want my trophies in one account damnit!
And I don't want to create another PSN profile for US copies either. I want my trophies in one account damnit!
Trophies are awarded to the account you are logged into when you play a game, not the account you purchased a game using.
God I hope not. I remember to have downloaded Bully on ps3 and Jeez the fps was AWFUL for the PAL bullshit. I hope to no to see 50hz again in the pal version because ruins completely the fps. Sony should be smarter this time.
RiccochetJ
Gold Member
That's one hell of an assumption.
If Nintendo got away with it, I'm sure Sony think they can too.
Hesemonni
Banned
w000t !
Frankly, I guess it's not about being smart, but the realities of the industry. I bet it would be a legal and licensing hell if they tried otherwise. Unfortunately :/
I really doubt licensing has something to do with 50hz. The 50-60hz setting existed in a lot of ps2 games. Just depended to the developers interest at the ps2 time.w000t !
Frankly, I guess it's not about being smart, but the realities of the industry. I bet it would be a legal and licensing hell if they tried otherwise. Unfortunately :/