PS3's Back-Compat Loss Explained, Analyzed 266
The news came down last week that future low-end PS3s won't have any backwards compatibility features, and that surprised a lot of onlookers. In response, Sony UK's Ray Maguire has attempted to clarify their logic. Essentially, in Sony's view, the money spent on back-compat features is better spent on developing new games or reducing the price of the console. "When PS3 first launched, Sony felt that backwards compatibility was an important feature as there were relatively few games for the new system, Maguire explained. 'So it was a big decision," he said of facility's removal, 'and we know it is a very emotive subject as lots of people think that backwards compatibility is high on the agenda and yet few really use it.'" For more on this, Joystiq has a few words on the implications of Sony's decision, while Kotaku says the 40GB unit will be arriving in the US on Nov. 2nd. For those of you who already own PS3s: would you have purchased a unit if it didn't have BC? If you don't have one yet, does the removal of BC make you less likely to buy one?
Re:How does this save money? (Score:5, Informative)
That doesn't mean they can't change their minds, but years of unofficial emulators has show how much work it is to emulate a chip with good speed, especially when the architecture is different. IIRC, you need 10x the CPU power to emulate a different architecture at full speed.
Re:but... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:are they emulating? (Score:4, Informative)
I will not comment on these facts, as I will be called a troll again
Re:Beh. (Score:4, Informative)
For the record, so does the 80GB PS3, soon to be the only backwards-compatible PS3 available at retail.
Re:Has anybody else noticed... (Score:2, Informative)
On the Sony Online Store I complete disagree with you. Maybe it is because I am a late comer to XBox Live (I bought one with Halo 3 last weekend) but I hate how MS has done online except for gamer points. I don't want to pay to use live, I hate their points system (why don't they just use real money?), I hate the way the interface is done. I love how simple the Sony Store is. Except that they don't have as many games yet, but for online store that is changing fast.
Frankly, I think people who have been used to Xbox Live hate the way PSN is different. I however, having started out on PSN, hate the XBox Live.
In all, as long as they can deliver on good games, I think Sony has made good bets with the PS3 as well as the PSN.
On the topic of this thread, I am certain they will offer two SKU's : one with and one w/o BC eventually on all markets to satisfy everyone.
Even less likely to buy a PS3... (Score:4, Informative)
1. I have a ton of PS2 (and PS1 for that matter) games that I both continue to play, have not finished, and am waiting for the price to drop down far enough on, so I can snap them up. The only saving grace of the PS3 as I saw it was consolidating 3 boxes down into one, and that's pretty much nonexistant now.
2. There are now so many different versions of the PS3, I don't feel comfortable trying to figure out what exactly I'm freaking getting if I go get a refurbed/used PS3. The guy behind the counter at GameStop might tell me this is one of the ones that would play PS2 games, but do I know that for sure? Do I want to chance the day or more of frustration returning it would incur for me if the one I got turned out to be a version that wasn't what I was promised?
I don't have any of the three next-gen consoles. The first one I get is most likely going to be a Wii (100% backwards compatible, interesting controller and gameplay, way cheaper). However there are some games coming out that are making me think about one of the more powerful consoles (since I don't feel like upgrading my PC anymore) and Sony is making it harder and harder for me to make that purchase a PS3 instead of an Xbox 360, even with the rampant hardware failures on 360s.
Re:Has anybody else noticed... (Score:3, Informative)
Nintendo what? Perhaps you're unaware that the Wii uses: SD cards, wireless, USB peripherals, Bluetooth etc.
They'll have that option until the European 60 gig sells out of stock (it was discontinued) after that the 40 gig with no BC is all Europe gets.
Re:How does this save money? (Score:3, Informative)
It's a pretty nice media player, but it's got some funny limitations on what it'll stream... I spent this weekend playing with settings to figure out how to make ffmpeg trancode it properly. For anyone else trying to figure it out, this is what I use in a bash script:
ffmpeg -i "$1" -acodec libfaac -vcodec libx264 -r 23.97 -profile aac_main -level 41 "$1".mp4
If you leave out the framerate, you'll find it doesn't play because ffmpeg wants to see the old rate as '23.98' and that's not valid, apparently. I assume you can also use other valid rates like 24, 30 and 29.97, but I haven't tried them. Or maybe you just have to set it... I dunno, and now that it works, I'm happy enough. Since I had a heck of a time figuring each little piece out, I figured I'd share.
Re:Has anybody else noticed... (Score:5, Informative)
On the PS3:
1. Turn on console
2. Get a message that a system update is required. Doesn't take you anywhere.
3. Try to remember where system update is. It's under 'system' in the menu.
4. Choose whether you want to udpate from disk or server.
5. Wait for it to download. And the updates are either HUGE, or their servers are slow, because it takes a while.
6. Press the PS button to confirm a console restart.
7. Read through the EULA, hit okay.
8. Update FINALLY starts going.
9. Restart system again.
10. If you're lucky, you can carry on. If not, you have to plug your controller with a USB cable.
On the 360:
1. Boot up
2. Get a message that an update is available. Asks you if you want to update or not.
3. If you choose yes, you see a download progress bar, followed by an install progress bar.
4. System reboots, you're set.
Takes about, ooh, 10 seconds on the 360, and 5-10 minutes on the PS3. You also neglect to mention that the 360 also has quality, original IP in their store that follows certain UI standards (ALL arcade games have 'exit to arcade option' to quit, all PS3 downloadable games have their own exit option that often isn't very clear on what it will do). The 360 interface for downloadable content (the Live subscription which you have to pay for is only for playing multiplayer games, FYI) was designed from the get-go for a console. It also has options for latest updates so you don't have to go looking for them, and doesn't expect you to use your analogue stick as a mouse to find content.