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PlayStation (Games) Sony

PS3 Details Slowly Emerging 169

Posted by Zonk from the more-fuel-for-the-fire dept.
The Playstation Magazine (PSM) has a feature coming up in the next issue which discusses Sony's new console with a few new details. Both Maxconsole and Ferrago have a look at the piece. From the Maxconsole article: "We've received a lot of letters asking about how PS2 will be backwards compatible with PS2 and the original Playstation if it doesn't have memory card slot. Well, we have an answer, and it's both good and bad. First, the bad news: All of those old memory cards you have won't be usable with PS3. Okay then, wha's the solution? Sony has actually decided to only use Memory Stick Duo cards(the same format PSP uses) for PS3 save data. However, if you play a PS1 or PS2 game on PS3, the system will treat the Memory Stick like it's a normal memory card."
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PS3 Details Slowly Emerging More

PS3 Details Slowly Emerging

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  • Oh come on people... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Godeke ( 32895 ) * on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @12:25PM (#13231945)
    OK, so there I am on the prior story saying how much I look forward to the PS3 because of the backwards compatibility and here comes an article telling me that my save files are junk. Good grief, they couldn't put a *single* reader slot for the old cards? I wouldn't care if they made me copy the data over prior to use, except for those few games with "protected" save files that you can't move are still in trouble. I wouldn't even care if it was on the back or something silly, since I would only copy the files once.

    Please tell me that they aren't this stupid? I have games from the PS1 that I haven't finished (turn based strategy games may look bad, but still play great) and a lot of games on the PS2 in progress.
    • Please tell me that they aren't this stupid? I have games from the PS1 that I haven't finished (turn based strategy games may look bad, but still play great) and a lot of games on the PS2 in progress.

      Sony is, by a very large margin, the absolute worst company when it comes to memory storage. They sell the most expensive flash memory around, and you're lucky if it doesn't go obsolete within two years. I'm sorry, but they really are this stupid.

    • Re:Oh come on people... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by WaterBreath ( 812358 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @01:02PM (#13232363)
      Please tell me that they aren't this stupid?

      They aren't "this stupid". "This stupid" would be to guarantee full backward compatility at every step, tying themselves indefinitely to ancient, obsolete hardware and software.

      We should be thanking Sony for even bothering to support the PS1 at all. It's two generations back now. Heaven forbid you should have to start a game over. We're lucky we'll even be able to play them at all. I certainly was surprised.

      I have games from the PS1 that I haven't finished...

      PS1 machines aren't going to magically stop working once the PS3 comes out. Keep your PS1.

      ...and a lot of games on the PS2 in progress

      PS2 machines aren't going to magically stop working once the PS3 comes out. Keep your PS2.

      Sorry to sound snide. I just don't understand where you're coming from with this complaint. Are you really outraged, or just disappointed? Either way, I don't think it's fair, or correct, to call it a stupid move.

      • Re:Oh come on people... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Godeke ( 32895 ) *
        Yes, I can keep the PS2, but when I got the PS2 I gave the PS1 to relatives. I already have four consoles under this roof and making it so I can't just swap it out means I probably will just wait that much longer to buy, since I already have a library of games that I play. A lot of the games have unlockable content and when you are on the next to last mission of Ring of Red you don't want to start over. It isn't the new memory architecture, it is the inability to migrate to the new memory architecture whil
        • Maybe this doesn't matter to the "look shiny" crowd who doesn't play 100+ hour strategy games...

          In the interest of clarification, I'm not in the "look shiny" crowd. I got my first PlayStation for free from a friend who was done with his. That was just 4 years ago. I recently picked up a used PSOne (for $30) at Gamestop because that old one broke. I bought my first (and only) PS2 just 1 year ago.

          And the reason I even bought the systems at all was so that I could play through all the great SquareSoft

          • Another advantage in staying "behind the curve" is being able to buy the games dirt cheap. There are very few I pay full price for, (Mostly Atlus stuff which usually doesn't come down in price) since most triple-A titles drop down to $20 eventually. Most of my purchases have been buy 2 get one free (POed)meaning 3 for around $15-$20 bucks. 6 or 7 games for the price of one new one means there are more then enough titles to keep me occupied until the new releases drop in price. Honestly I can't even keep up!
      • God forbid he's not "fair" to poor wittle Sony.

        We're lucky we'll be able to play those older games?! You've got that backwards, man. They're lucky if we buy their console, and having backwards compatibility is one of the ways they'll use to entice us to do so.

        Now excuse me while I go "thank" Sony for selling me something I don't even need.

        • having backwards compatibility is one of the ways they'll use to entice us to do so

          Yes, it might entice you, or I, to do so. But what about everyone else? It's just as arrogant to think that Sony owes it to you to meet your obscure demands as it is for a company to put out a product without doing market research. Don't like it? Don't buy it. But in this particular case, I doubt it will be any skin off Sony's nose if vintage game geeks like you and I don't buy, or buy late. And therefore, it's not stu

          • One of them. Not the only one. Sony wants to have as many features as they can, especially since they are not going to be first out of the gate this time. Sure, the fanboys will stick around, but what about everyone else?

            Either way, the golden rule here is to give more options.

            I personally couldn't care less about backwards compatibility. (Honestly, I don't care much about the PS3 either.) But, Sony bothered to tell us about dual video out for crying out loud, and there's a much smaller audience there

          • How many people that own SUVs actually use their off-road capabilities? Now compare that to how many people buy SUVs because of the off-road capability they will probably never use.

            A feature can entice people to buy a product even if that feature is never used.
          • There are a lot of young (mid-late 30's) parents with 12-15 year olds who are purchasing a new (not hand me down) console for their kids for the first time. It's a big selling point to them that the youngest or middle kid (johnny) can have the PS2 in his room, while all the kids can share the PS3 in the living room, and when Johnny's big brother's out of the house, Johnny can play gran turismo 4 on the big screen downstairs on the PS3, or that Johnny's big brother can play all his old hand me down PS1 and 2
          • I'd like to find out what percentage of the people who own PS2's actually use its PS1 compatibility.

            I'd say the percentage would be about equal to the number of people who owned a PS1 before owning a PS2.

      • My playstations have frequently magically stopped working.

        I've had 3 Playstation 1's and 2 Playstation 2's die on me so far, while an origional NES still chuggs merrily along (with an occaisional cleaning)

        Sony VCR? dead. Samsung VCR that was used even more? Still working.

        Sony TV? dead. RCA TV I bought before it needed a repair once, but still works.

        add to that how badly Sony screwed up Everquest (Raising prices AND reducing customer support, on a product that should have gotten cheaper to provide with decre
    • Don't worry. By the time PS3 comes out you'll have beaten even the longest of your PS2 games.
      • After reading your comment, I ran some numbers. I've got enough games that I still want to complete that I figure I should be done just in time for the next Duke Nukem title.

        Wait a minute.................
    • Re:Oh come on people...

      Come on yourself .. Whats the big deal with re-playing your game again?

      or, are game-saves some sort of trophy/reward/win/pose thing?

      you can still save stuff on the new slots .. so i applaud sony, actually, for taking that risk. its the 3rd revision of their game system, they know how many game-saves there are in the world, they're sorta saying .. why don't you play the games .. again .. on your new system ..

      game-saves. should it be forever, or just when you're playing?
      • are game-saves some sort of trophy/reward/win/pose thing?

        What is really happening is he never played them to begin with. He just copied some friends game saves so he could beat the game real fast and then brag about it.

      • Nothing's stopping him from keeping his save games. If he wants to play his PS1 games, he should use his PS1 or PS2. Same with the PS2 games. I mean, god forbid he should have to switch like, one cable from one machine to the other.
    • Given people's obsession with finding out the secrets of the PS2 and the PS3 and given the lucrative market, I'm sure that GameShark or ActionReplay will come out with a device or software to do this migration for you. For example, a version of the SharkPort that works on the PS2 to take the games from it and move them to the PS3.

      Just because Sony won't support this in the console doesn't mean that it won't be supported by third parties.
    • "Please tell me that they aren't this stupid? I have games from the PS1 that I haven't finished (turn based strategy games may look bad, but still play great) and a lot of games on the PS2 in progress."

      They aren't that stupid. They'll be selling PS1 and PS2 memory card readers at some obscene markup to make up some of the losses they take on the PS3.

      And if Sony doesn't make it, Interact will.
      • Backward compatibility is never 100%. There were PS1 games that never worked for PS2. I know first hand.... my PS1 Mortal Kombat Trilogy was one example. I was so angry, I threatened to piss on my shiny new PS2.

  • I predict 100% backwards compatibility... (Score:4, Funny)

    by It doesn't come easy ( 695416 ) * on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @12:26PM (#13231947) Journal
    We've received a lot of letters asking about how PS2 will be backwards compatible with PS2 and the original Playstation [...]
  • How long would it take to make a hack that gets saves from the old memory cards onto the new memory cards. Not long by my guess seeing as there are already ways to get PS1 and PS2 saves to a computer. All it would really take is a PSP hack to get the saves on the new sticks.

  • All of Sony's electronic products exist just to... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rokzy ( 687636 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @12:32PM (#13231994)
    ...sell Memory Sticks.

    it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't keep updating the specs so you can't use new high-capacity sticks in previous-generation electronics.

  • Compatibility (Score:4, Funny)

    by BigZaphod ( 12942 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @12:36PM (#13232022) Homepage
    "about how PS2 will be backwards compatible with PS2"

    Boy, I hope they are compatible! I'd hate to buy a PS2 and find myself with a suddenly obsolete PS2 when the PS2 comes out a week later or something. That'd suck.

    • Your sig ("Be incomprehensible. If they can't understand, they can't disagree"), oddly enough, applies perfectly well in this case.

  • The article was a bit scarce on details, but they made it sound like the Compact Flash and SD slots announced at E3 [gamer-talk.net] will not be used. I hate these stupid "leaked stories"....

  • What doesn't it do? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @12:36PM (#13232029)
    A TiVo style peripheral will enable TV programmes to be saved on to the optional mini hard-disk.

    So it plays PS, PS2, and PS3 games, can play Blu-ray movies if they ever come into frutation, can display 2 HD outputs, used to serve as a router (functionality removed), supposedly it will run Linux out of the box, and other impressive features.

    Unfortunately, it doesn't take old PS and PS2 memory cards (I found it annoying that you could save PS data onto a PS2 card, but this just really sucks). Dance pads and other old PS2 periphels won't work on it (I guess I can laugh at my brother for buying a $300 DDR dance mat that won't work with a PS3). Next thing we know, it won't even play games.

    Is anyone else disappointed that the PS3 is becoming less and less of a game machine and turning more and more in to an all-in-wonder-box? I recall when Sony talked about how MS was basically releasing a PC with the Xbox, and now it seems the tables have turned. Some part of me honestly hopes that Nintendo and MS kick the crap out of Sony this round.

    • Is anyone else disappointed that the PS3 is becoming less and less of a game machine and turning more and more in to an all-in-wonder-box? I recall when Sony talked about how MS was basically releasing a PC with the Xbox, and now it seems the tables have turned. Some part of me honestly hopes that Nintendo and MS kick the crap out of Sony this round.

      You're dreaming if you think Microsoft won't go all batshit dreaming up non-gaming things for their console to do. It's the way things are going to be going
    • first of all I think you might be looking for the word fruition, maybe. also I hope Nintendo kicks the crap out of Sony and MS. Nintendo has shown that they are really the only one of the three that cares about gaming and innovation. Sony and MS seem to just follow the trend of high power. I think they are going the way of the Pentium 4, which I would no longer touch with a 10 ft pole once they moved passed 2 GHz. Give it as many "features" as you want, you still have a steaming (literaly), inefficient

    • Re:What doesn't it do? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by oGMo ( 379 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @01:15PM (#13232495)
      Unfortunately, it doesn't take old PS and PS2 memory cards (I found it annoying that you could save PS data onto a PS2 card, but this just really sucks).

      Yes, because it's so hard to transfer files to a Memory Stick Duo. I might even be able to do that with a $10 USB interface. (And you've been able to transfer PS1/PS2 savegames [lik-sang.com] for ages.)

      Dance pads and other old PS2 periphels won't work on it (I guess I can laugh at my brother for buying a $300 DDR dance mat that won't work with a PS3).

      Sure, because even though they already build a PS2->USB box for $13 [lik-sang.com], building either a bluetooth-based box or just connecting your dance pad to the PS3 USB port will be impossible. After all, it's clearly in the best interests of Sony and Konami/Bemani to alienate all those users. That's why they're ensuring backward compatibility in the first place.

      Next thing we know, it won't even play games.

      Sure, dumbass.

      • Re:What doesn't it do? (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Sure, dumbass.

        Ha! Who's the bigger dumbass, me or the people that modded me as insightful?!

    • Re:What doesn't it do? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @01:26PM (#13232617) Homepage Journal
      "Is anyone else disappointed that the PS3 is becoming less and less of a game machine and turning more and more in to an all-in-wonder-box?"

      It didn't really bother me until the rumored $465 price tag. Then I start thinking about things like "You know, I never got around to playing Metroid Prime..."

      Then again, I think launch is a terrible time to buy a system. That's when it's at it's most expensive, most likely to break, and when the fewest games are launched.
      • You missed out on Metroid Prime? It's definitely worth picking up, as is the sequel, Echoes. I actually enjoyed the second one even more than the first.

        One tip though - the first thing you want to do on starting a new game is turn off the "hints." They're on by default, and nothing ruins a good metroid game like knowing where to go next. 8P

    • I guess I can laugh at my brother for buying a $300 DDR dance mat that won't work with a PS3

      Did he buy the mat specifically for the PS3 or did he buy it for the PS2? Goodness. I just don't follow your logic.

    • Re:What doesn't it do? (Score:5, Funny)

      by nunchux ( 869574 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @02:06PM (#13233047)
      I guess I can laugh at my brother for buying a $300 DDR dance mat that won't work with a PS3

      Let me get this straight... Your brother is dancing like an idiot in front of the TV set, and the reason you're laughing at him is because his dance mat won't work with the next generation consoles?
    • I could be mistaken, but I thought Sony had been saying for a while that the PS3 was a supercomputer*. Here we go, although the link's been eaten:
      http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/25/ 1758219&tid=233&tid=212 [slashdot.org]

      *for values of supercomputer made up on the spot
    • Is anyone else disappointed that the PS3 is becoming less and less of a game machine and turning more and more in to an all-in-wonder-box?

      Xbox 360 seems headed the same way. If anyone remembers the set-top box non-events (I'm sure MS was involved with one of them) or the '3D0 is the next VCR like appliance' type marketing from the early-to-mid-90s, it seems like MS and Sony are trying to revive the concept. The reason for the resurrection? HD tvs will make the web more readable than they were on standard
  • All of those old memory cards you have won't be usable with PS3

    I hope that someone will create a piece of hardware that copies information from the old memory cards to the memorystick.

  • at least I'll have a use for the otherwise useless 32meg memory stick that came with my psp.

  • Great. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bk_veggie ( 807894 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @12:43PM (#13232099)
    So I get to buy some kooky, expensive third party device in order to transfer my final fantasy, xenosaga and street fighter data to this expensive memory stick?

  • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:DexDrive (Score:3, Insightful)

      by DreadPiratePizz ( 803402 )
      That solution is unacceptable to many of us who do not own a Windows PC. The DexDrive does not have macintosh support, so I am out of luck.

      It's also terribly inconvinient to force your customers to jump through hoops like that just to play old saved games. This is exactly what I didn;t want to see, and that's partial support for backward compatability. It's all or nothing, and if you don;t have it all, it's not worth doing.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:DexDrive (Score:3, Insightful)

        by oGMo ( 379 )
        Oh pfft. So someone comes out with a USB addon for the PS3 that let you plug in your PS2/PS1 memory cards. $10-15 tops. Then you don't need a PC or Mac at all.

        Sony's not "forcing" customers to "jump through hoops"; as someone else said if you've got old save games, your old console doesn't stop working when you get a PS3.

        Sony gives you 2 consoles of backward compatibility, a ton of new features, upgrades to a more standard form of memory storage with far greater capacity and a lower price, and all ev

        • Sony gives you 2 consoles of backward compatibility, a ton of new features, upgrades to a more standard form of memory storage with far greater capacity and a lower price, and all everyone does is whine whine whine because they can't plug in their 12-year-old memory card. Typical.

          How about a one-month-old memory card? As for the "more standard" memory card with "a lower price," had Sony gone with SD I might buy that argument. Had Sony gone with the Memory Stick when they designed the PS2, I think folks

  • I'm gonna be hella pissed off if my old saves won't work on the PS3, or if I have to buy some crappy $30 gizmo to do it. I've invested well over 100 hours into some of my RPGs (slow summer, give me a break!) and if Sony's gonna throw all those hours out the window... I'm gonna be one unhappy camper.

  • The Rub, 10 years down the road.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by telstar ( 236404 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @12:59PM (#13232319)
    I've got a great 36" Sony TV. Picture is beautiful. Nice HD display. Takes Sony memory sticks as the memory stick of choice ... but NOT the duo. Now, I don't really expect a TV to take ANY type of memory card, so it doesn't bother me that much ... but it was a brand new TV 2 years ago and it didn't support the Duo. The manual was even new enough to know that the Duo existed, but that it wasn't supported by my TV. Like I said, it doesn't bother me since I don't use memory sticks.

    Now Sony has billed the Playstation3 as a 10-year device. It makes me wonder if they truly intend to stop the evolution of their memory stick line at the form factor of the Memory Stick Duo. What happens if 4 years down the road, they come up with a new format with a new form factor that's incompatible with the interface of the PS3? Is everyone that's 4 years into a 10 year PS3 investment screwed?

    The ONLY reason Sony is obligating users to use the Memory Stick Duo as the storage media is that it allows them to recoup some of the loss they're taking on each machine sold. And while it may seem okay today ... "hey, it's their product ... they can do what they want ... right?" ... talk to me in 10 years, when a new storage medium has come out ... and your PS3 is still using a storage format you can only find used on eBay.
    • No offense meant, but I would imagine that the market for PS3 memory sticks would be significantly larger than memory sticks for a specific brand of TV. I mean, you even admit that you don't bother with a memory stick in your TV, because you don't really expect a TV to use one. As long as there's a significant demand and a significant ability to make a profit, I seriously doubt that any company, that's able, will stop manfacturing a product that's bringing them in a profit.

    • Re:The Rub, 10 years down the road.... (Score:4, Informative)

      by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @01:29PM (#13232660)
      Now Sony has billed the Playstation3 as a 10-year device.

      They've also said things about how the PS2/PS3 would be 200 times more powerful than their last console.

      If you believe them when they say it will have a 10 year life cycle, you should probably get your head examined. If anything, it seems that the lifespan of consoles is decreasing: (based on information from GameFAQs [gamefaqs.com].

      Nintendo: 7/83 - 11/90

      Super Nintendo: 11/90 - 6/96

      Nintendo 64: 6/96 - 9/01

      GameCube: 9/01 - 8/06 (guess based on current information)

      As you can see, the lifespan of consoles is decreasing as they become more advanced. The Xbox has only existed for roughly 4 years and it's already being replaced. People will still makes games for a system after a new one comes out, but most of the killer apps will be for the new platform.

      I think what Sony meant to say when they threw out the 10 year figure is that it has technology in it that will finally come into wide acceptance and be standard in 10 years. 1080p TVs, good luck finding those today, but in 10 years I think a lot of people will have HD TVs capable of making full use of the PS3's graphical output abilities. Blu-ray discs won't be heavily used now since most people are satisfied with DVDs, but in 10 years it's possible that they will have replaced the DVD as the standard. There is no way, however, that the PS3 will last for 10 years. That's like saying if you purchased a top of the line computer right now that it would still be competitive 10 years down the road. It might handle Doom 3 just fine now, but what about Doom 5?

      Essentially what we get is another bullshit figure pulled from the ass of Sony to get people to buy what they're selling. 10 is a nice round number and sounds impressive and somewhat believable after all the hype about the PS3 we've had thrown at us, but in 10 years I think we'll be looking at getting a nice new shiny PS5, which will replace our PS4, which 5 years before replaced the then almost pathetic PS3. Moore's law just won't allow something like the PS3 a 10 year life span.

      • If you believe them when they say it will have a 10 year life cycle, you should probably get your head examined.

        I believe if you weren't a Nintendo fanboy and looked at the lifespan on the PS1, you'd see it survived a decade. The PS2 has an easy 3 years left in it, which puts it close, and I wouldn't be suprised to see more.

        Nintendo: 7/83 - 11/90
        Super Nintendo: 11/90 - 6/96
        Nintendo 64: 6/96 - 9/01
        GameCube: 9/01 - 8/06 (guess based on current information)

        As you can see, the lifespan of consol

        • I won't dispute that you can still buy a new PlayStation and that people still make games for it (usually sports games like Madden and such are all that I can recall), but once the PS2 launched, most people slowly stopped making games for the PS. Games were still released for it (like Madden which has seen a 2005 release for the system) but nothing really great that I know of has come out for the PS since the PS2 launched, which is why we don't see GTA, GT, FF, or other big franchises being released for it.
          • The thing is, this is part of the cycle. The console isn't suddenly dead when the next generation gets released. Past its prime, yes, but it's still got a ways to go. Most people were still playing NES games when the SNES was out, same with the N64, etc.

            What I'm saying is that regardless of manufacturer, these things already have close to an 8-10-year lifecycle. Basically, Sony is playing up something that is fairly typical. Hype, yes, true, probably, big deal? Not quite as big as they'd like to mak

      • Nintendo: 7/83 - 11/90

        Super Nintendo: 11/90 - 6/96

        Nintendo 64: 6/96 - 9/01

        GameCube: 9/01 - 8/06 (guess based on current information)

        As you can see, the lifespan of consoles is decreasing as they become more advanced.

        Well, your dates are a bit off, first of all.

        The Nintendo Famicom was produced from 1983-2003. Yes, 20 years. The NES (which I guess is what you mean by "Nintendo") was produced from 1985-1995. So either way, your dates for it are completely wrong.

        Your basic premise could still be true, but f
    • "talk to me in 10 years, when a new storage medium has come out ... and your PS3 is still using a storage format you can only find used on eBay."

      Yeah, just like I have to go to eBay to find memory cards for the PSX used...

      I know it's not 10 years old yet, but I can still find memory cards for it in plentiful supply and they don't appear to be about to disappear any time soon.

    • Now Sony has billed the Playstation3 as a 10-year device

      The thing to realize about this is that it's nothing unusual for Sony. The PS1 was already 10 years (first shipped in 1994, still shipping millions in 2004 [slashdot.org]). The PS2 was first shipped in 2000, and as they're pumping out games for it today with no end in sight, it'll probably be 2008-2010 before we see the last PSTwo out the door. Backward compatibility of the PS3 helps to encourage this, since even if someone doesn't have a PS1 or PS2, if they

  • Eh, it's irritating, but it's not a HUGE problem. I'll just run MGS3 or something on the PS3 to get an idea what the save format looks like, then I'll use execftps to yank all my PS2 saves, then lastly hand-reformat them to the memory stick filr structure. Shouldn't be too hard-- chances are it'll use the same directory/file structure, so I probably won't have to do anything more than just move the files as-is.
  • for Sony to make a slot for the old Memory cards (doesn't need to be in the front, it could be hidden), and make a small function that reads the old saves and writes them on the new disk?

    They have the code.. they have the tech.. now all they need to do is implement this into the PS3 and save themselves a marketing nightmare.

    • Yeah, they could replace two of the three freakishly pointless gigabit ports and just slap a card reader on the back. Oh wait, sony doesnt care what you think. They just want to see what they can fit into one box.

  • Suicide (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SewersOfRivendell ( 646620 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @01:28PM (#13232639)
    Seems like Sony and MS are both playing "Let's see who can screw up the next console generation more!" This game may backfire if Nintendo's hardware beats expectations.
  • That was a pretty useless article if you ask me. Nothing new there and it was all speculation, speculation and more speculation.

    Call me when you get some concrete info from sony themselves, instead of this "a freind of a freind said at e3 that they said that..."
    • I almost wonder if rumors like this are not leaked by the company behind the game on purpose, but diffused through several layers. This way Sony can judge people's reactions to the rumor while maintaining deniability. If people seem to not care they can go ahead, but if there's a lot of negative reaction they can always add the slot on there and save face by denying that they ever intended the PS3 to lack a PS2/PS1 memory card slot.
  • Am I the only one who thinks it would be great if even just one of these manufacturers built a system that could save games to a USB flash drive? More and more people are buying them, they're based on a decade-old standard that's been, for all intents and purposes, perfected, and they could potentially open up new worlds of fan-modding for console games (trading maps, custom characters, saves, etc.) If they're that concerned about piracy, all I can say is that I've yet to see a 50GB USB drive.

    I know it ca
    • You haven't seen 50 GB USB drives?? Really, thats strange, because I have seen 50 GB USB drives, even sizes up to 250 GB. Granted they are external hard drives, but its still the same format as a USB Flash drive.
  • Man you people b@$ch about some stupid stuff. I mean seriously, people. At least the old games will still work at all. Look at the 360, you are going to have to buy the game again if you want to play it on the new system. I think having to play the game again > is not such a huge deal. I think having to spend another $20-$40?!? for the same game again would call for the "wah" sound, and maybe a little bitching. Microsoft has the code for those games and could easily make it somewhat backwards compatible.
    • What you say about buying Xbox games again for the Xbox 360 is just an old rumor - a lie, if I was less kind. According to the latest information available, the Xbox emulation in the 360 is planned to use the same discs already available, it will be optimized first for compatibility with the most popular games and will continue to be updated over time through Xbox Live as difficulties are worked out.

      X360 backward compatibility is not going to be ideal but it's certainly not the mess you claim it to be.

    • Definition of fanboy: See parent

      Honestly. No one has even said that you have to buy the 360 games anew, just that not all games will work. I'm sure that all the ones I give a crap about will work, it's been said that the low sellers will be those that they won't focus on. Makes sense, no?

      (At that, I don't have enough money for one HD screen at the moment, let alone two. AFAIK, it hasn't been said that FFIV will work with two anyways.)
  • Anyone wonder why Sony even bothers with using memory sticks at all? Havent we evolved enough in the console market to expect a built in means for saving game data? Sony gets to continue to bilk you for the price of buying these little one generation piles of junk. Why?
    • To be honest, I don't like being forced to rely on internal storage for a console. You can't transfer anything off an X-Box without a memory card. Those run $30. You can't FTP in (Without modding). And even if you do own a memory card, certain games are too large to fit on the Wimpy 8 Megs.

      My cousin's got an X-box that the DVD drive is making alarming clicking noises... he found a resale X-box for cheap, so he's been using that, but one of his gamesaves (Jade Empire?) is too large to be copied to his Mem

  • Memory Sticks - not that bad (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Master Of Ninja ( 521917 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @02:49PM (#13233652)
    I have to disagree with people here. The Memory Sticks are not that bad. OK its a different standard to SD, but SD is equally proprietory. The MS and MSD actually work fairly well if you buy Sony equipment so it is quite interchangeable. In response to another poster the Duos should work with normal MS ports with the adaptor that comes with them.

    The SD standard in itself if maybe a bit better as it does come slightly cheaper and is supported by more manufacturers. But the deriviatives are a joke - the miniSD and the b*stardised offsrpring the TransFlash. Especially for mobile phones it makes buying this haphazard as there is no guarantee that a standard will be in operation in the near future, especially with added 'convenience' of Nokia's reduced MMC.

    In this way Sony's MS and MSD (with the increasing concentration on the Duo) seem more sane. It just works across the product lines esp with the PSP and the PS3 coming out. I'm sure someone will make an adaptor to convert the old cards anyway (the PS2 one being essentially a different form factor memory stick).
  • Why does it seem like every announcement regarding the 360 or PS3 makes Nintendo look like they're doing the right thing?
  • Aside from the issues of having to find some sort of dongle to transfer saves, this is goin to hurt them at launch when their comptetitors are a little more backwards compatible. If the PS3 launch is anything like the PSP launch, there will be maybe 3 games total available at launch (and maybe 1 of them will be worth playing), so without the ability to also play the older library with older saves, there is no game-related reason to actually shell out money for the box at launch.
  • Nintendo was smart. They never even bothered with backward compatibility. No mem stick problems, no complaining. As that Korean guy said to me at the Korean market when I tried to return some bad frozen fish I bought there, "You no complain!" (true story)
  • To sum it up: Can't use your old ps1/ps2 saves without hokey pokey. Nobody cares. Almost nobody uses backward compatibility as it is. No old peripherals supported. Nobody cares. there'll be adapters for the few who need them. Specs aren't set in stone. Ok, that's nice. Let's hope what they add is more than what they will inevitably cut (router functionality anyone?) HDD won't be for games. Duh! else it'd be bundled with the console. HDD mp3 bla bla hub bla bla photos bla bla movies bla bla share bla bl
  • Just wait till Sony releases another Holiday Demo Disk that erases all your PS2 memory cards [com.com]. That should take care of all your worries of getting PS2 saves onto the PS3.

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