Oldies but goodies
Sony quietly released Firmware 3.0 for the PlayStation 3 yesterday, in anticipation for tomorrow's New Zealand launch of the lighter, slimmer and more power-consumption friendly PlayStation 3.
The most noticeable feature of the new firmware is a redesigned booting up screen which now features the new PS3 logo, and while there are a few other tweaks, it's nothing really earthshattering.
And digressing for a minute: Rockstar has just released a new trailer for GTA: Episodes from Liberty City, which features footage from The Ballad of Gay Tony, which you can find here: youtube.com/rockstaraustralia. As I watched it I thought "I've played some of this!" Golf cart and basejumping FTW! Check it out, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
OK, back to Sony. The Japanese company also announced this week the re-release of two of the decade-old PlayStation 2's best-loved games, God of War and God of War 2, on Blu-ray disk. Called the God of War Collection, the games have been upscaled to 720p, run at 60 frames per second and support PS3 trophies.
But I can't help wonder whether the re-release of these two games is some sort of peace-offering to gamers who have harped on about the fact that the new PS3 doesn't have the backward compatibility feature that the launch PS3 had. But, seriously, is not being able to play PS2 games on your new PS3 console really a big issue for gamers?
Wisely, I still have my slim PS2 hooked up to another TV and I can play all my favourite PS2 games on that, but I have never had the urge to load up a "last-generation" PS2 game on my PS3.
I don't know about you, but I want to play "current generation" games on my "current generation" hardware, not old games - many of which probably wouldn't stand up to scrutiny these days.
Of the PS2 game that I own, the ones I would be most likely to play again would be Shadow of the Colosus, GTA San Andreas, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and Hitman: Blood Money.
Do you ever get the hankering to get those old classic PS2 games out and give them a whirl? Or are you firmly committed to the "current generation"?
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No BC is a HUGE issue for me, I would have upgraded sooner if PS3 had BC and upscaling capability. I still have a few PS2 game lying around that IM still playing through, and yet to play. It really pisses me off to be honest, that Sony hasnt included BC.
As for PS2 gems I'd love to play again: God Hand, Metal Gear Solid 3
GTAIV base jumping? I've rocket jumped off the UN building and survived by landing in the river.
@Leo, of course, I'm talking about the very first 60Gb launch PS3, which was backwards compatible. I'm pretty sure that was hardware compatible, but then, I may be wrong ...
Think this is still on topic. I was blimin happy when I saw the classic PS1 game 'Vigilante 8' ported through to the 360 Arcade a while back. Spent many all-nighters battling friends and destroying environments in my second year at uni on my brand new PS1. Actually remember more about Vigilante 8 than I do about what I was studying. It's good when the classics come back. If the gameplay works, it's timeless.
Non-backwards compatability is Sony's blatant attempt at segregating the two (PS2/PS3) markets, ahead of the inevitable demise of the PS2. I'm opposed to it on principle. Clearly they could provide BC, thus doing their customer base a huge favour (and thereby engendering significant goodwill), but choose not to.
Besides, the quality of the PS2 back catalogue still far surpasses that of the PS3 library as it stands at the moment - let's be honest, the PS3 game selection took a helluva long time to look respectable, bar a few exceptions, with significant overall quality advances made in just the last year or so. Even now there's a lot of derivative pap being released for the new gen ("Wolfenstein": magical nazis on floaty scooters - you have got be freakin kidding.) While the graphics of PS2 games might not "stand up to scrutiny", there are a large number of classic PS2 titles with gameplay that still stands the test of time. GTA 3/Vice City/SA are great examples, which all arguably play better than GTAIV, for all the latter's graphical wonder.
I own a first-gen 60GB PS3 with BC, (and a PS2 and a PS1) so am lucky. But yeah, lack of backwards compatability on the new PS3 blows.
The 3.0 update wasn't anything special but when the 3D themes and new avatars start to come out in the near future it shold be good. I have a release PS3 that has BC but just don't use it only when my flats mates what to crack out singstar (which i try to avoid) does it's BC get used.
I don't know why sony changed the model after the release one, I like my 4 usb ports, multi media slot and BC so why remove these features?
Oh and who decided no jets and basejumping in GTAIV in the 1st place? Was great in San Andreas!
No go on the link Gerard...I cant go back once I have played the next gen the graphics always put me off going backwards.
Wonder what the change over price from trading in a old PS3 to a new on is...anyone know ?
Its not so much an issue for me, but more for my wife. Like Gerard, I prefer to play current gen games on my PS3, but my wife is nowhere near as fussy, and is a lot more tolerant of last-gen audio and graphics. She is always lamenting the distinct lack of her type of games for the PS3. She's a very casual gamer, who prefers cute platform or action games. For example, Ratchet and Clank is her favourite PS3 franchise, but she's already finished both of the currently available PS3 titles (and can't wait until the new one comes out).
Being able to also dip into the vast wealth of PS2 titles out there would be very welcome, and would allow us to purchase more games that she may be interested in. And yes, I have tried to get her to see the merits of other classic PS3 games in our collection such as Bioshock and Metal Gear Solid, but they bore her senseless. :-)
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I, like you, still have my PS2, tucked away at the moment. And yes there are PS2 games I would play again, or have not yet got round to completing. I just find it annoying having to have this last gen console hanging around, taking up space...
Oh, and your blog almost seems to indicate that pre-slim PS3's were backwards compatible, not so though, only the First Gen PS3, only released in Japan/china where properly compatible, the US/UK initial release was also compatible, but they had switched at this point to emulation as opposed to hardware compatibility, and then even that disappeared...
All in all not many PS3's are actually PS2 compatible, they are all PS1 compatible though... go figure :)