Sony advertise for software engineer for BC

[DJ12]

http://www.product-reviews.net/2008/01/18/rumour-sony-playstation-4-to-be-backwardly-compatible/

I cannot see PS3 BC really being that big of a problem for the PS4 as I suspect it will have a CELL CPU and Nvidia GPU combo just like the PS3 (although the generation of chips will be much advanced) but I am glad they seem to be interested in getting the PS2 emulated properly in software for the PS3.

I did however think they already had a team working on it somewhere in Wales? Maybe they aren't making the progress Sony Japan wants.

 

[inefficient]

I know there are a few teams working on PS2 emulators for the PC. Sony could probably recruit those guys to their side.

Taking away talent from the PC scene would also slow down the efforts on the PC emu side so it's win win for them.

I want emulation not just BC. So that we can get high res graphics with the old assets. Even if it only works for a fraction of library titles it would be worth it.

 

[archie4oz]

http://www.product-reviews.net/2008/01/18/rumour-sony-playstation-4-to-be-backwardly-compatible/

I cannot see PS3 BC really being that big of a problem for the PS4 as I suspect it will have a CELL CPU and Nvidia GPU combo just like the PS3 (although the generation of chips will be much advanced) but I am glad they seem to be interested in getting the PS2 emulated properly in software for the PS3.

I did however think they already had a team working on it somewhere in Wales? Maybe they aren't making the progress Sony Japan wants.

The initial software backwards compat work as far as I know was in Foster City. Or at least the lead developer was at least.

 

[ERP]

The initial software backwards compat work as far as I know was in Foster City. Or at least the lead developer was at least.

There were actually mulitple teams in different locations working on solutions.
But yes one of those groups is in Foster City.

 

[DJ12]

Seems like progress has been made.....

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/3181.html

There was never really any doubt the PS3 is more than powerful enough to fully emulate the PS2, I hope they have included some graphical improvements too. I bit of polish will do them no harm. Imagine playing GT4 with 4xAA appplied being rendered at 720p/1080p.

 

[Carl B]

Seems like progress has been made.....

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/3181.html

There was never really any doubt the PS3 is more than powerful enough to fully emulate the PS2, I hope they have included some graphical improvements too. I bit of polish will do them no harm. Imagine playing GT4 with 4xAA appplied being rendered at 720p/1080p.

Incredible if true... if true. Last I heard Sony had seriously scaled back its efforts in this realm simply due to the cost/benefit and complexity involved for a full general emulation environment. Per-title has been floated as a possibility however.

I mean I don't know, I would love it if true. From where I'm sitting it would certainly come as a surprise for a SW feature I had given up on.

 

[Arwin]

Another possible project for some of the London Studio guys to (continue?) work on now that Eight Days and The Getaway are off the table ...

 

[patsu]

I am not holding my breathe for this one. It sounds too good to be true (I have a 60Gb anyway )

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Incredible if true... if true. Last I heard Sony had seriously scaled back its efforts in this realm simply due to the cost/benefit and complexity involved for a full general emulation environment.

The possibility of opening up the full PS2 library as downloads has got to have serious appeal. Depending on what position they were in with their emulation, a full emulator could well lead to better returns than per-title emulation. The reason I'm sceptical isn't the cost involved, but the idea of a pure software emulator being up to the task!

 

[DJ12]

That's one thing I've never been worried about.

The only thing that really gets in the way of decent emulation is the lack of documentation on special features/hardware and even then the really good coders manage to get through eventually.

There are several emulators that are virtually perfect, it is not hard to believe that a team of emulation coders, with every bit of technical information they could possibly ask for) could create a perfectly acceptable 90%+ compatible software emulator considering the raw grunt available in CELL and RSX (compared to the GS in the PS2)

PCSX2 gets decent results on todays PCs which currently do not compare to the processing power available in CELL.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

We've visited this topic before, and though I know squat about the emu scene, looking things up back then I remember that emulation was very sketchy. A quick perusal of the PCSX2's compatibility list shows at best, ~50% of titles are 'playable' which they define as able to get from beginning to end without regard for quality. And a quick look for games that I know are more taxing, like GOW, BGDA and CON, GT3 and 4, MGS3, are all no-goers. I don't doubt a solid emulator is possible, but that 10-20% of difficult titles probably would encompass 90% of the titles people would care to play, because the devs are doing extremely clever things that an emulator would have to get spot on.

I still regard it as highly improbable.

 

[Nesh]

I ve noticed that BC compatibility on my PS3 has probably improved after some firmware updates although I am not sure which one

FF12 had problems with the cutscenes. Now they look perfect

 

[ninzel]

There were some PS2 titles I missed and wouldn't mind playing especially with a graphical upgrade,but it's no big deal if not.
So what about pricing for ps2 titles for download if it ever happens,what would you pay?

$15-18, $19-22??

 

[upnorthsox]

There were some PS2 titles I missed and wouldn't mind playing especially with a graphical upgrade,but it's no big deal if not.
So what about pricing for ps2 titles for download if it ever happens,what would you pay?

$15-18, $19-22??

$14.99 is what I see most often for used ps2 games at GS and it's a fair price, I'd rather give that to the dev who created it though.

 

[StefanS]

I ve noticed that BC compatibility on my PS3 has probably improved after some firmware updates although I am not sure which one

FF12 had problems with the cutscenes. Now they look perfect

That's because the European BC FAQ hasn't been updated in ages (lazy bastards). Just use the US BC FAQ for the 80GB model...

 

[DJ12]

We've visited this topic before, and though I know squat about the emu scene, looking things up back then I remember that emulation was very sketchy. A quick perusal of the PCSX2's compatibility list shows at best, ~50% of titles are 'playable' which they define as able to get from beginning to end without regard for quality.

If they knew what all the hardware was supposed to be doing, as Sony's team will do of course, then creating the emulator would be very easy. The fact they have got to 50% compatibility by trial and error is extremely impressive.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Very easy? I think you underestimate the challenge, which only goes to amplify their successes and brilliance!

 

[Fafalada]

There are several emulators that are virtually perfect

Name one that is emulating hw that is NOT 20+ years old.
PS1 emulation has had at least 10 years and while they created tons of functionality to "enhance" games, the core emulation is still not even remotely perfect (in fact the 'best' emulator is hacky as hell).

 

[PARANOiA]

Very easy? I think you underestimate the challenge, which only goes to amplify their successes and brilliance!

I think he meant that Sony would be in a far better position to create an emulator given they have all of the details around how the PS2 works at a low level, whereas a lot of other emulator work from the homebrew crowd tends to be reverse engineering. Comparing the homebrew scene's PS2 emulation efforts aren't really going to be a viable benchmark.

Having said that, I think the train of thought saying "PS3 is more powerful than PS2 so it can emulate it with ease" is something that's been demonstrated as being overly simplistic. To my knowledge there are big struggles getting most consoles released in the last decade on even the most powerful PC's today.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Understanding the hardware to be emulated is only a tiny part of the issue of emulating. You have to actually get hardware A to work like hardware B. To give an unoriginal and exceedingly coarse example, a 2008 F1 car is a far more powerful creature than a 1950s digger, but if the engineers of the digger were now working on the F1 cars, do you think they'd be able to get the F1 to emulate the digger? Okay, cars aren't as flexible as computers, but that's the gist of the challenge!

The emulating hardware has to be shaped to 'fit' the emulated hardware, and depending on differences, that can be extremely problematic. We only need look at XB for a great example. XB was, from an overview, a dead simple piece of PC-like hardware. So why is it hard for XB360, or other PCs, to emulate? Because of slight hardware and software differences. MS know XB inside out, but they have been unable to create an emulator that can get good results without per-title tweaking, and that's with hardware that's nowhere nears as far removed from XB as PS3 is to PS2.

I'm not saying full PS2 emu on PS3 is impossible, but if it does happen, it'll both surprise me, and would probably represent one of the greatest and cleverest pieces of software ever to be created on PS3 or indeed any platform this decade!