PlayStation 4 Abandons Backwards Compatibility

[Atmos Duality]

You're right. A new handheld gets a major boost when can play a game from a least the last generation. One thing in my pocket that plays new stuff and old is better than wearing bloated cargo pants after all. But , Sony dropped the ball almost ten years ago with a disk based handheld. Backwards compatibility on Vita would necessitate either either using that same expensive and power hungry UMD drive or adding it on the current Vita design. The Vita's guts take up enough juice as it is. They could helped the situation by letting us download our UMD titles like they did in Japan.

UMD was a disaster. A format only practically suited for sequential access (movies, basically), and not programs.
They made the right choice in moving towards a solid-state format (via downloads), but now they're really shooting themselves in the foot with all of this upcharging of hardware and obsession with owning the user's unit wholly.

If the Vita's release schedule were as consistent and frequent as their DRM updates, it'd be the best system in existence.

 

[Woodsey]

Yeah, no.
They have no excuse not to have a ps2 software emulator with all the processing power that thing has.
But then again, why have that out of the box on day 1 and give me an actual reason to consider getting that thing to finally replace my ps2.

No backwards compatibility, no purchase. half my favorite games are PS1 and 2, and my PS2 still gets more use than my 360.

You must be able to buy a PS2 for half a packet of Wrigley's and a Bic razor. What difference does it make?

 

[loa]

Yeah, no.
They have no excuse not to have a ps2 software emulator with all the processing power that thing has.
But then again, why have that out of the box on day 1 and give me an actual reason to consider getting that thing to finally replace my ps2.

No backwards compatibility, no purchase. half my favorite games are PS1 and 2, and my PS2 still gets more use than my 360.

You must be able to buy a PS2 for half a packet of Wrigley's and a Bic razor. What difference does it make?

Well I don't have to stow yet another box away to access my quite extensive ps2 library and the emulation might be at a higher resolution and/or have an option for anti aliasing to make the games look better on HD tvs.

 

[Woodsey]

Yeah, no.
They have no excuse not to have a ps2 software emulator with all the processing power that thing has.
But then again, why have that out of the box on day 1 and give me an actual reason to consider getting that thing to finally replace my ps2.

No backwards compatibility, no purchase. half my favorite games are PS1 and 2, and my PS2 still gets more use than my 360.

You must be able to buy a PS2 for half a packet of Wrigley's and a Bic razor. What difference does it make?

Well I don't have to stow yet another box away to access my quite extensive ps2 library and the emulation might be at a higher resolution and/or have an option for anti aliasing to make the games look better.

Still doesn't quite seem to cover the cost of a new console if you literally have no interest in the stuff coming out for it.

 

[EHKOS]

....Well I guess I'll just buy a Wii and play the exclusives I was missing out on. Thanks for helping with my backlog Sony. My avatar can tell you I loved that company, but I'm done with the new gen. It's not like they made games that were fun to play anyway. I think the PS3/360/Wii is the last gaming generation I'll participate in. It would certainly free up some cash.

 

[loa]

Still doesn't quite seem to cover the cost of a new console if you literally have no interest in the stuff coming out for it.

I'd most likely get ps4 games if I got a ps4, I'd just want it to be a permanent replacement for my ps2.
That would be an actual reason for me to get it just like it was my reason for not getting a ps3.

 

[Jumplion]

Someone may have already said this, and don't quote me on this, but I think Sony has hinted towards an online/cloud-service solution to backwards compatibility. At the very least they've said that they have some cloud-service stuff on the horizon that they haven't talked about yet.

Can anyone confirm this? I believe it's been rumored that if you have the PS3 game connected to your PSN ID, then you can put the PS3 game in the PS4 and it'll verify that you own the game, keeping the save files n' shit. It also might allow you to play PS3 games by checking its internal list, thereby verifying the game via the cloud.

Again, somewhat speculative, but I could have sworn I read that around the 'net somewhere.

 

[spartan231490]

And you just guarenteed that I will never buy a PS4.

 

[Roxas1359]

Good thing I'm definitely not getting rid of my PS3 or my PS2 anytime soon. I'm not going to be getting one until they are able to transfer the PSN but this isn't really a deal breaker for me. I'll just wait a while, like a year or two, before I get the PS4. I will however be getting a Wii U as I like the console and it's gonna be getting some fun games.

 

[bug_of_war]

Ok, yes, movies and music have also progressed in hardware, HOWEVER, every movie and every song was not tailor made to a specific system that changed every few years. Think about how big a deal it is to make all these HD remakes we are getting nowadays. It costs a lot, and, depending on the console, can be rather complex to get older games reworked to be compatible with new systems. Transferring movies and music to new hardware is not nearly as complex as transferring video games. This means that many, many video games will never get any kind of official re-release on new systems.

I also have all my old systems. I have a PS1, PS2, Gamecube, and an Xbox, all hooked up and ready to play. However, think about 20-30 years down the line. No matter how much care and effort you put into keeping your old PS2 working, it will eventually break, just like everything else. And Sony no longer makes the PS2. This means eventually it will be incredibly hard just to find a working PS2, just like it is now pretty hard to find a real Ford Model T. Once this kind of thing happens, PS2 game collections will fade into memory, underrated games that never had the chance to be re-released disappearing from the minds of all but the few die-hard collectors.

And one more thing, in all of cinema history, how many radical changes in hardware have they really gone through in all this time? First, we had VHS, then came DVD's, and now we are on Blue-ray? So, two hardware changes since the 70's. Compared to video games, which, according to Wikipedia, we are now entering the eighth generation. So that adds up to two hardware changes in 40 years for cinema, and SEVEN in 40 years for gaming. And I am seeing no slowdown whatsoever in the span of time between console generations.

THIS is why backwards compatibility is important. It's not the same as changing movie formats from VHS to DVD, and it's not the same as records to CD's. If this next generation of consoles were the last one for the next 20 years, sure, I suppose backwards compatibility would be less of a major point. However, as Ubisoft just recently said, they want new consoles even sooner than 6-7 years. So I see no end to this lunacy in the near future.
And with that, /rant

Yes, the PS1 and PS2 are slowly fading away into the depths of no longer working, as with all things they degrade over time. However, seeing as how the PSN is actually releasing PS1 and PS2 games for people to download on their PS3's, I can't see why this is a problem. Yes, there are limited amounts of games actually available, but this can always be expanded apon. Hell, we've been told that the PS3 will eventually have the PSN, so I can't see how eventually older games wont come to that.

As for consoles being faster spikes then film you can put it down to being technological speed ups. For example, whilst film does require technology, it does not require new technology. It is entirely possible to make a film that is good without ANY special effects and have it do well. Consoles however are much different. Consoles are basically a computer that can ONLY play games and has all the hardware it needs for that. The problem arises that after x amount of years the hardware become dated and stops publishers from being truly creative. Thus, a new console must be released so that the new hardware gives the developers something new to work with.

We live in a world where in the last 100 years we have made more technological advancements than in the last 6000. So while I am not happy that there is no backwards compatability, I am not pissed off because I would rather have newer innovative games to play then have devs push old hardware so much to the point where you get games that are unplayable on anything but a computer.

 

[Dumoras]

might be cost prohibitive and or tech issues. like having the tech for the old stuff would get in the way of the new stuff. "the past holding us back". if it isnt either then i dont know what good excuse there is.

 

[Joccaren]

I still play DOOM every so often on a computer that can play Skyrim on medium settings. Maybe I should sell my ps3 and 360 and go to Good Old Games.

Well, if you've got nothing you want to keep them for than that could work well. Get enough money for a few games, and lose some extra weight that could be hanging around your house. If you're interested in upcoming exclusives, or already have some you enjoy playing, thou, I'd probably side against the idea 'cause PS3/X360 emulation on the PC isn't working very well yet, and its a pain to emulate legally even when they become so.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

On a related note...

OP: Really Sony? You're just going to screw us all over like that?

 

[Ghaleon640]

From what I hear, backwards compatibility is a very expensive process. You are adding extra hardware into the system, boosting up the price. For how much people flipped about the PS3's price when it first came out, why would they want to make the PS4 any more expensive than they have to be?

Though it does disappoint me. I was hoping that I could get a PS4 to catch up on all the PS3 games I missed, having an xbox, I missed out on some pretty neat looking exclusives.