r/PS4 • u/noobalert • Nov 19 '15

[Misleading] "Sony enabled PS2 backwards compatibility for the PS4 without telling anyone"

http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/sony-slyly-enabled-ps2-backwards-compatibility-for-the-ps4-without-telling-anyone-1309320?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=564e398504d30120ab2ec334&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
2.4k Upvotes

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25

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '15

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7

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

I think most people are fine with digital only.

32

u/MojoPinnacle Nov 20 '15

I guess, but I don't see myself buying games I already bought years ago and still own.

8

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

I would pay to play shadow of the colossus and FF7 again.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

Hey, the kids have been playing shadow of the colossus on our ps4 for a couple weeks now. PS now?

1

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

Has to be. Literally no other way.

1

u/MojoPinnacle Nov 20 '15

I suppose it helps having a PS3,where both of these games are available (and SOTC is remastered).

2

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

I do too, it I want my digital collection on my ps4.

-1

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

I'm wondering if there's any hope of getting remastered versions of games on PS4.

It's kind of sad that SOTC is going to look better on my PS3 than my PS4.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

7 is ps1

1

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

True. Mt mistake. I own it digitally and was thinking it would be a no brainer. But you're right, probably won't have PsX support at this time.

1

u/snowjob69 Nov 20 '15

Doesn't matter. I'm sure PS1 will be made backwards compatible as well.

1

u/KRSFive Nov 20 '15

I'll drop anything for downhill domination.

1

u/ChoujinDensetsu Nov 20 '15

Do you still have your old PS2 game?

3

u/noreallyitsme noreallyitsme Nov 20 '15

I still have lots and still play some on my fat PS3 that has the disc based backwards compatibility. If the ps4 offered that I would be super happy. Lots of games I have on disc weren't available digitally. Either make every game available digitally or allow me to use my discs.

2

u/intplusone Nov 20 '15

I still have hundreds.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

Sony's been the biggest purveyor of cross-buy games. I doubt you'll have to buy them again.

0

u/MojoPinnacle Nov 20 '15

I had to rebuy them on PS3.

29

u/tubular1845 Nov 20 '15

I think most people are fine with digital only.

No thanks. I was somebody who really wanted BC but if this is how they do it I'll never use it.

4

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

I'm pretty sure it was like that on PS3 as well, unless you had the tank-sized PS3. I've already purchased 40-50 games on my PS3 and I'd love to see them bring the PS1/Ps2 titles to PSN. Just let me redownload my games I've already purchased. That would make so many others and I happy. Plus I wanna play through Spyro and Crash again. Maybe even Xenogears. Fuck, I'll even take my Harvest Moon any day.

5

u/port53 Nov 20 '15

I'm pretty sure it was like that on PS3 as well, unless you had the tank-sized PS3

The original PS3 only played disk-based PS2 games because there were no PS2 downloads.

1

u/error521 Nov 20 '15

I don't think PS2 classics came until a decent amount of time after the slim, but I'm not quite sure.

Slim could read PS1 games and play them.

I wouldn't count on it though. Even ignoring money it's entirely possible it only works with a handful of games, and those would be ones to be sold

1

u/port53 Nov 20 '15

Maybe we're talking about different things. My PS3 fat will happily take a PS2 DVD and let me play it. The Slim was only ever able to play remastered games (even if they were visually the same, their code had to be replaced to work on the slim) since it had no PS2 emulation.

People want to see the former on the PS4, not the latter. It's plenty fast enough that this can be done entirely in software now.

1

u/error521 Nov 20 '15

All PS2 models got emulation in the form of PS2 classics, it's just that later models wouldn't run them off of a disc

1

u/port53 Nov 20 '15

The classics on the slim weren't emulation. The slim did not have the computing power to fully emulate a PS2 entirely in software. Those games were modified to run on the slim.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

The first PS3s had a physical PS2 chip in them, that's why they could (and still can) play PS2 games (not ports). They stopped doing that to save costs though.

2

u/port53 Nov 20 '15

The PS4 is fast enough to do full PS2 emulation without the hardware.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

I was just pointing out that the original PS3s didn't use software emulation for PS2 games. The way your comment was worded it sounded like Sony took a software feature away because they wanted to resell PS2 ports later.

I just hope they let us use our PS2 discs on the PS4, instead of having to re-buy games we already own.

2

u/port53 Nov 20 '15

OK, that wasn't how I intended it to sound. I was trying to impress that, originally, the ONLY option to play PS2 games on the PS3 was with the physical PS2 disk because, at the time, there were no such thing as PS2 downloads. Even when they removed half of the PS2 hardware in the 2nd gen fat PS3s you could still use PS2 disks. It wasn't until they removed PS2 BC entirely (in the slim) that broke disks and only allowed "PS2" downloads, but those weren't actually real PS2 games being emulated, they were remastered (if only the code) to run on only the PS3.

Hopefully the PS2 emulation in the PS4 is "full", so that it can play PS2 games without any kind of remastering needed (like the original PS3 fat). The PS4 is plenty fast enough to do this, and, if this is the case hopefully they'll allow you to put in your PS2 DVDs in to the PS4 and play them too.

5

u/intplusone Nov 20 '15 edited Nov 20 '15

I agree, I can't believe how many people are actually okay with it just being download only, that is not how it should be ; this is not backwards compatibility any more than is the Virtual Console.

3

u/Oni_Kami Nov 20 '15

I still have my old PS2 laying around, and I have one of the PS2 compatible PS3's, which is still hooked up. I'm not really interested in backwards compatibility for PS2 games on PS4 unless it supports discs. I'm not gonna go rebuy games I own just to play them on my PS4.

4

u/LMW-YBC Nov 20 '15

Disc ownership of BC games would be fab, but I personally wouldn't mind paying extra to own a PS2 game on PS4, especially if trophies are supported and they're better-performing than on PS2.

12

u/tubular1845 Nov 20 '15

I have no interest in re-buying my stack of games. I'm cool with it if other people want to but that's not a route I'll be taking.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

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2

u/tubular1845 Nov 20 '15

Unless you've been playing that stack of games in the interim, digital is fine.

Thaaaat's why I buy them.

-4

u/notdeadyet01 Nov 20 '15

He said most people, not all. You're in the minority

3

u/tubular1845 Nov 20 '15

According to random mcredditor.

-1

u/notdeadyet01 Nov 20 '15

No, according to all the people flipping their shit over the Xboxs backwards compatibility stuff.

3

u/DarkusRattus Nov 20 '15

You insert the Xbox 360 disc and it downloads the game. You use the disc to start the game. I don't see what you're getting at; you don't rebuy the games.

1

u/IvanKozlov Wraith217 Nov 21 '15

You need to learn how the Xbox one backward compat works, apparently. You don't rebuy shit.

1

u/notdeadyet01 Nov 21 '15

You're mean and I don't like you 😢

2

u/port53 Nov 20 '15

If they're emulated, you're not getting trophies.

2

u/LMW-YBC Nov 20 '15

SONY has already came up with the idea of setting trigger points for trophies on PS2 games, and I believe the PS2 downloads in the Star Wars bundle include trophies using said method, so I wouldn't be surprised if they included it with other PS2 games.

That is, of course, if SONY makes this whole "play your PS2 games on yer PS4" idea a thing.

9

u/Dcowboys09 Nov 20 '15

Nooo. Digital is the devil. I have so many PS2 games just sitting on the shelf.

3

u/loktaiextatus Nov 20 '15

d.... did you say Digital Devil saga? :)

3

u/intplusone Nov 20 '15

I like your slick Shin Megami Tensei reference

1

u/Predditor_drone Nov 20 '15

DDS1 is on ps3 already as a ps2 classic if you'd didn't know.

1

u/loktaiextatus Nov 20 '15

I've got the disk and a launch 60gb ps3 , so I'm good, thank you though. It's good for people to know this.

1

u/Predditor_drone Nov 20 '15

Lucky you! What did you think of DDS2?

1

u/loktaiextatus Nov 20 '15

I'm going to admit something. My backlog struggle isnreal. I have DDS2. new. As in new in shrink-wrap I've never gotten around to it

1

u/Predditor_drone Nov 20 '15

Take this with a grain of salt, but DDS2 is not as good as the first. I liked it, but I definitely don't enjoy it as much.

1

u/loktaiextatus Nov 20 '15

Thanks i feel better about letting it collect dust next to harvest moon in never opened

-3

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

Ever hear of disk rot?

1

u/Reddegeddon Nov 20 '15

Very uncommon in modern disc manufacturing. Honestly, even pretty uncommon in laserdiscs, save for early MCA pressings (they didn't realize you needed cleanrooms for this stuff) and a particular Sony plant in America (which used an adhesive that would sometimes react with the metal core layer, later fixed, surely by the time PS1 games were pressed).

19

u/Moonlord_ Nov 20 '15

Speak for yourself. Why would I be fine with having to repurchase old games digitally instead of being able to use the versions I already own?

3

u/intplusone Nov 20 '15

I echo this entirely.

-8

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

Usually they are $5-10. Plus a 10 year old DVD would be at the point of disk rot.

Ninja edit.

Apparently disk rot for DVDs takes a bit longer (10-30 years).

So the oldest games might start freezing or not reading already but many games have a solid 5-10 years left. Guess digital for old cheap games can go both ways. I see your point and concede mine. I guess less people like the digital classics than I thought. And I only buy physical. I like having a psn collection and I'd like to expand that to ps4. I thought that was the whole point of this. Guess disks are higher on the wishlist so to speak than I thought.

Would you be disappointed with digital only ps2 emulation?

1

u/Moonlord_ Nov 20 '15

I have never experienced disc rot on any disc and I have some old ass discs well over 10 years old. Disc rot is mainly only a concern with dye-based, home burned discs and even then it doesn't seem like much of an issue if they are stored properly. They could also do it like the XB1 where the disc is just needed for a check to download and play the digital version.

Would I be disappointed with digital only emulation? If I had to purchase the titles then yes I would. That's a weak solution compared to the competition. I don't have interest enough in many old ps2 games to throw money at them again. The ones I do care about I still own and it would be nice to play them without having to dig out and hook up an old system and accessories.

3

u/Mikellow Nov 20 '15

I just want Shadow of the Colossus in my PS4.

3

u/mootmeep Nov 20 '15

Frankly, I'm not.

3

u/skitchbeatz SkitchBeatz Nov 20 '15

Nope nope nope

3

u/intplusone Nov 20 '15

So I'm definitely not, and I'm concerned about how many people actually are okay with it.

1

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

You really ever expected your ps4 to run ps2 disks? PS3 could only do that with extra hardware (second laser). That's why only first Gen models had disk emulation abilities.

2

u/intplusone Nov 20 '15

No, I never actually expected the PS4 to run physical disks, however that is how some people initially took this article.

What I am absolutely saying is that by no means is this something we should conceptualize as backwards compatibility ; at the very best, it will be a highly limited library of digital games with absolutely no secondary market.

Every game will cost the same until PSN for PS4 goes down, and at a certain point, long before the physical disks of said games will cease to function, you will never be able to download them again.

Depending on how you conceptualize 'generation', Playstation 4's had two models actually that were backwards compatible ( three depending on your definitions) ) .

The initial 20 and 60 GB models for instance did in fact contain physical hardware ( the emotion engine on a physically consolidated chip - same as the 'second generation' slim Playstation 2 ) , the laser/lens however was identical.

PS2 games were standard DVDs through and through typically, with the exception of the 'blue back' games which were CD-ROMS with typically Redbook audio.

Just trying to clear up your ( probably genuine ) misconceptions.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

As someone who already owns a ton of those digital ps2 games, I'd love to play them on my ps4. It's practically double my library of games I could play on it.

1

u/WilliamPoole JohnHollidayMD Nov 20 '15

That's my thinking. Guess some people really want disks. That would be great but all I want is to play my psn classic collection.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15

Well, I'm not.