New Silver slimline PSTwo; issue playing some games, but why?

[Carl B]

Well, first of all I have to say I like the look a lot - silver suits the slimline very well.

What stands out here though is that the new SCPH-75000 PS2 model will not play certain PS2 titles. The list is short - seven PS2 games and 40 PS1 games - but why?

Obviously the reason is not that silver colored plastic has been used. So, what changes could have been made in hardware that would have such a negligible impact on the total playability of the entire Playstation library, but yet be worth making in the first place?

No site I've yet seen tries to analyze the reasons, but here's the original article I saw it on:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136191.html?

BUT, at least it looks good.

 

[ChryZ]

I bet they've finally axed the IOP.

 

[cam]

I would have thought that the games listed maybe would have come form a small batch, maybe within a month or so of each other, but the time spread of the games listed is pretty weird, unless there platinum tittles and have been re-coded slightly.

I did read at the time of gt4’s release of someone having slight slow down on a slim line model, saying that, it was a gt *forum* so take it as you like. I do wonder about how much heat the new models produce, unless I missed a cooling fan snuck somewhere.

 

[Guden Oden]

I bet they've finally axed the IOP.

You're trying to be funny? Without it, NO first-gen PS games would run...

 

[London Geezer]

Well, first of all I have to say I like the look a lot - silver suits the slimline very well.

What stands out here though is that the new SCPH-75000 PS2 model will not play certain PS2 titles. The list is short - seven PS2 games and 40 PS1 games - but why?
BUT, at least it looks good.

It's probably because she looks so good, and she knows she does, that she spends all day looking at a 3D model of herself saved in FlashRom somewhere inside it. Trying all the different lights, all different angles and poses.

 

[ChryZ]

You're trying to be funny? Without it, NO first-gen PS games would run...

OK, I should be more precise. Here ya go:

I guess, they've finally axed LSI's IOP.

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

DUDE, there's some high profile games on that list. Tekken 5, Chrono Cross, Biohazard 2... I wonder if the new version (this is version 13 right?) is implementing some new BC algorithm. A test for PS3 perhaps? Well, on a positive note they've fixed the laser problem the v12s had.

 

[akira888]

I can't believe someone would release a console revision that can't play one of the highest selling titles of the past year. Infuckingcredible. A new low has been reached, I'm afraid.

 

[London Geezer]

I can't believe someone would release a console revision that can't play one of the highest selling titles of the past year. Infuckingcredible. A new low has been reached, I'm afraid.

Well it's not like they knew! Imagine what Namco would say to Sony if they found out that Sony knew they were releasing a PS2 that can't play Tekken5. Ace Combat in real life, bombing Sony HQ's!!!

They'll fix that problem i'm sure.

 

[one]

As for Tekken 5, it's that sometimes it hangs at the save data screen when you select Tekken 3 in the ARCADE HISTORY mode so not completely unplayable. Looking in the details at http://www.playstation.jp/news/2005/051020_scph75000.html it seems most are sound / I/O related problems in PS2 games.

 

[akira888]

Well it's not like they knew! Imagine what Namco would say to Sony if they found out that Sony knew they were releasing a PS2 that can't play Tekken5.
.

If there were some dramatic changes to the hardware (and it appears there very well might be) some empirical tests might have been prudent - you need to ascertain whether or not the alterations brake any applications. I really can't believe Sony would let something like this slip; I'm frankly gobsmacked.

 

[akira888]

Looking in the details (...) it seems most are sound / I/O related problems in PS2 games.

That's interesting... hints at a problem with the IOP subsystem, as several have already speculated. Could be anything from a previously invalid opcode that returned "interesting" results (and was used anyway a la Motorola 65C02) being "fixed" to god knows what.

 

[Carl B]

If it really is just the IOP though, were the savings from switching/modifying enough to justify this press release? I mean - it just seems strange. I thought that with the launch of the slimline last year, there really wasn't any further 'fat' to be cut cost-wise from the system, but I guess I was wrong!

 

[Fafalada]

I thought that with the launch of the slimline last year, there really wasn't any further 'fat' to be cut cost-wise from the system, but I guess I was wrong!

IOP not being Sony's would always make it extra 'fat' in that sense. Replacing it with another cheaper chip would make sense, let alone having the further possibility of integrating the whole thing on one die with EE&GS.

Letting slip the high-profile titles is still a bit whacky though.

 

[Alpha_Spartan]

I can't believe someone would release a console revision that can't play one of the highest selling titles of the past year. Infuckingcredible. A new low has been reached, I'm afraid.

A harbinger of things to come, perhaps?

 

[Andy]

Do you guys even know what you are on about? As one said its only Tekken 3 in arcade history that sometimes has problems, the game is still very much intact. I think there are more things to be worried about than a dozen or so games that have a few problems on the latest V13 model PS2.

 

[Sis]

Do you guys even know what you are on about? As one said its only Tekken 3 in arcade history that sometimes has problems, the game is still very much intact. I think there are more things to be worried about than a dozen or so games that have a few problems on the latest V13 model PS2.

The news report reads differently:

To play these games, users will need to have a SCPH-70000 (or earlier) model of the hardware.

.Sis

 

[Thowllly]

Originally Posted by Andy
Do you guys even know what you are on about? As one said its only Tekken 3 in arcade history that sometimes has problems, the game is still very much intact. I think there are more things to be worried about than a dozen or so games that have a few problems on the latest V13 model PS2.

The news report reads differently:

To play these games, users will need to have a SCPH-70000 (or earlier) model of the hardware.

So you'd rather belive the newspost based on the official page, than the official page itself?

This is what it says about Tekken 5, according to babelfish:

When ' iron fist 3 ' it selects in ARCADE HISTORY which can enjoy the successive game, after the saving picture, there are times when the picture stops.

I think that if T5 itself didn't work, they would have mentioned that.