Play Station 3 backwards compatibility w/ ps2 and ps1

[billdeg]

I have found the PS 3 to NOT be compatible with some PS/2 games, esp the 80GB version. I have in the past owned the 60GB PS3, but I returned it due to lack of PS/3 games. I decided to try again, but it seems like the 80GB version is LESS compatible than the 60GB version was??? Beware if you plan to buy this system and use old ps/2 games. I am probably going to return my unit, what's the point of owning a ps/3 if it's not compatible with ps2 games like they said it was supposed to be.

I have done all the firm ware upgrades, and I disconnect from the internet while playing ps/2 games to help reduce these as variables causing the issue.

Anyone have suggestions/tips?

SSX 3 and SSX Tricky are the two worst.

bill

[Vlad]

Its tricky. Some of them use Software Emulation for backwards compatibility and some have the Emotion Engine from the PS2 to use. Some have NO backwards compatibility at all. Its hard to determine which is which, but the wikipedia article might help. Sadly the hardware ones were dropped from production so backwards compatibility is almost non existent beyond the buggy software system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS3

[Trixter]

I have found the PS 3 to NOT be compatible with some PS/2 games, esp the 80GB version. I have in the past owned the 60GB PS3, but I returned it due to lack of PS/3 games. I decided to try again, but it seems like the 80GB version is LESS compatible than the 60GB version was??? Beware if you plan to buy this system and use old ps/2 games. I am probably going to return my unit, what's the point of owning a ps/3 if it's not compatible with ps2 games like they said it was supposed to be.


Actually, I have a friend who is in the market for a PS3 and has a huge PS2 library, but when we went looking for the 60g and 80g versions we couldn't find them for sale! Where did you find them? All places like amazon and bestbuy etc. only have the 40g new in box (he doesn't want to buy a used 60 or 80). Are they available?

[Mike Chambers]

trixter what type of hard drive is in them? couldn't he just buy the 40g version, pull out the drive and replace it with something bigger? or do they not let you do that?

[carlsson]

As far as I know, the 60GB version had the Emotion Engine which allows for hardware emulation of PS2. The 40GB and probably 80GB versions lack this hardware, so you have to rely on software emulation which is less perfect. Buying a 40GB machine and install a larger hard disk thus won't solve this issue. Also I believe the hardware emulation only was available on NTSC PS3, that Sony dropped the technology for the European release, but I could be wrong.

On the other hand: if you have some space, a loose PS2 (original or slim) won't take up much space and lets you play all your old games. That's the way how most video games and computers used to work, few were backwards compatible with the former generation and if they were it was more of a bonus than a prerequisite.

[Vlad]

There's 2 versions of the 60GB model. One had the EE, the other didn't. :\

[carlsson]

Yes, according to the Wikipedia page the difference lays between NTSC and PAL, as I hinted. It seems today only the 40 GB low-end and 80 GB software emulating models are available, but I dunno. My favorite Sony gaming machine might be one of the Hit-Bits although they were nothing spectacular compared to other MSX brands. I even own one or a few Sony branded game cartridges.

[Vlad]

the difference lays between NTSC and PAL, as I hinted.

Sorry, I was fully into insomnia by that point and probably read that 3 times and still managed to mess it up. No more sleep deprived posting for me XP

[Sharkonwheels]

I jumped off the Soy bandwagon years ago because of dumb stuff like that.

Not that I like Microsoft, really, but the Xbox rocks...

Last Sony unit I owned was one of the "fat" PS/2's, the one without the ethernet. Been on Xbox since.

EDIT: Now, for portable, I *SO* have PSP's - they are WONDERFUL for watching movies on airplanes.
I have an old-school hacked unit, and a newer slim for gaming. The fat one has (4) 4GB mem sticks for games/movies.


T

[carlsson]

As for backwards compatibility, how many Xbox 1 games does the Xbox 360 run? I checked some web page a few months ago and while it had a detailed list, support also seemed to be limited to a few 50-100 games, all requiring individual emulation code to be downloaded to the hard disk.

I suppose it is always a tough decision to take when you move into new technology, how much backwards compatibility is allowed to cost. We can find examples even in vintage computing of those who tried and those who decided not to look back. Quite a few people were disappointed the Commodore Amiga didn't include a Commodore 64 compatibility mode. Technology wise, I have a feeling they have as much in common as the PS2 and PS3 have. Surely the 1 MHz 6502 CPU could quite well be simulated or emulated by the 7 MHz 68000, and throwing in a genuine chipset of VIC-II, SID and probably CIA chips might've made the Amiga compatible with the C64, but why?

[billdeg]

Update - When failures/freezes happen at random points, that tells me it's a heat issue or hardware issue, not software. I did more testing last night. The failure points are somewhat random. I can complete a race with no problem, it's the "showoff" events that cause the freezing, and only on certain events. It's possible that there is a memory issue too.

One thing that at first seemed to improve things - I have ROM update 2.3 and I turned off all of the default PS/2 emulation display options. At first this seemed to do the trick, but alas it did not last long.

Should I return the unit? I am still within the 30 days. I am leaning on keeping it, with hopes that a PS/2 emulator or add-on will come out that's more stable.

BD