I went shopping tonight, expecting to pick up a PS3, having just bought a new HD TV. I figured it’d be great to get it for the Blu-Ray as well as to replace my old, ailing original PS2.
Well, the dude at Best Buy tells me that they only have 80 and 160 gig models, and that the only one that was backwards compatible with PS2 games was the 60gig. He then told me that Sony doesn’t make them anymore, and so there is no longer a backwards compatible PS3. ACK! I think I missed the bus here. I purposely waited on buying a PS3 until I upgraded my TV and was ready to move on from the PS2. So now what can I do? Are they really not making anymore compatibles?
I was also wondering what was needed to play PSP games through a TV or monitor. I thought I heard about a cable or converter box that made this happen. Anyone know what it is?
yeah, the BC bus has rolled on. Ebay or used game stores are the way to go if you want one. Either the 20 or 60 gig models have full PS2 BC, they were the first models. With the 40 gig version, they removed the PS2 chip and went w/ software emulation. I hear it’s pretty good, but have no personal experience. Every model after that has no PS2 capability. But, all PS3 models have PS1 compatibility. And if you get one, you can upgrade the HD with an off-the-shelf drive.
you need a PSP 2000 or greater for external video playback, and then you need a cable. The cables come in component, S-vid, etc.
If you can find the MGS4 bundle 80 GB PS3, that one has BC (software) built-in. That’s how I’m playing FFXII on my PS3. That was released last June. Not sure if any place would still have the models around, though, with the new SKUs that have come since.
I seem to recall that the PS3’s software BC was more widely compatible and functional than the 360’s, but why bother with BC that may or may not be compatible with the games you want to play when PS2s are cheap and 100% compatible with PS2 games (…most of the time.)? The hardware BC was the real deal but that’s done and dead.
Well, I really wasn’t looking for the software emulator. I was hoping more for the direct hardware BC version. Also, I’d rather not buy another PS2, if I can get the PS3 I want. I’d like to minimize the number of consoles I have set up at one time.
Seems there’s a bunch on Ebay, so that might be my best option. Thanks for the information.
I have the 80gb mgs edition, and while the backwards compatibility is fine for most of the ps2 games I’ve played on it, it’s not reliable enough to fully replace a ps2. At least, not in the games I usually play, which rely on not having crashes in order to make distant save points only somewhat annoying. I guess unreliability is better on the 360 and PS3 titles when the games tend to save all the time, but it’s definitely a characteristic that does not go back to PS2 games well. It’s too bad, because the dual shock 3 is definitely superior to the straight sixaxis controller, and both are better than any wireless ps2 alternatives I’ve tried.
The 20/60gb might your best bet, and the hd is painless to upgrade from what I understand (as compared to the 360). I just couldn’t deal with paying that much for a used console, not when I still had two 100% functional ps2s left after giving the third away (long story).
Also, factor in the cost of the ps2 memory card cable. It’s cheap, but if you want to be able to pass over old saved games and pass back new ones, it’s not functionality that came with my ps3.
(1) Like others have said, only the original 20GB & 60GB PS3s had HW-based PS2 backwards-compatibility. There was also an 80GB model with SW BC, but it’s discontinued at this point. The 40GB, current 80GB, and 160GB PS3s have no BC.
(2) You need a PSP component video cable to hook up a PSP Slim to a TV. The original PSP didn’t have video output, so if you buy a used PSP, make sure you’re getting a Slim.
(A) Some people would prefer to have fewer consoles on their shelves, especially if they’ve run out of space and/or TV inputs.
(B) I’ve read reports claiming that the PS3s w/BC did a better job of upscaling PS2 games than the PS2 did, so they looked better on HDTVs. I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison myself, though, so I couldn’t say.
The original 20 and 60 gig machines had full compatibility because they contained two chips. The Emotion engine and I think the CPU.
BC was removed from the 40 (I believe) and the first 80 was given partial BC because Sony removed one of the two chips. (I think it’s the CPU)
The 40 became the new 80. And the 80 became the new 160 and BC was removed from all.
So it’s not just software emulation, because if it was, they would add it back for everyone. There is some hardware that is missing that prevents you from using BC unless you have one of the earlier models.
In both cases you want a hardware-BC model, then. Software BC will not cut it as a PS2 replacement. That’s my point. And really, if you’re already going to the effort of tracking down specific older models, you may as well go all the way.
That’s correct. The Emotion Engine CPU can be effectively emulated by the PS3’s Cell processor. It’s the Graphics Synthesizer and its embedded memory that cannot be emulated at this point and was included in all models with PS2 backwards compatibility.
I think it’s likely that a pure software PS2 emulator (PS1 is already emulated in software on all PS3 models) is still being worked on as a pure research project. The PS3’s VRAM has something like half the memory bandwidth as was available on the GS embedded memory, so that’s a significant challenge that would require lots of advanced techniques. I’d say there’s an outside chance such an emulator will be released in the next 3 years, but the research could be applied to emulation on a Cell based PS4 and even game specific emulation for the sale of downloadable PS2 titles through PSN.
I’ve decided to break down and get a PS3 along with my upcoming surround sound system, just cos I can’t see using my damn 360 as a primary DVD player or media player considering noise issues. So I did a little research and there appear to be two versions out now. 80 GB, no game, and 160 GB, comes with Uncharted. Now Uncharted is one of the very few games I’d be apt to pick up (donno what else, though, gotta look into some of our ‘Must have PS3 games’ threads) but is the extra 80 GB really worthwhile? Does the PS3 have much stuff that eats up memory like full installs on the 360? And is it even necessary, given the ability to just hook up a cheap external HD? Uncharted is still $60 most retail places, so I guess the difference between the two, assuming I’d get Uncharted, is only about $40.
Oh, and do they still come with Spider-Man 3 on Blu-Ray?
As for the extra hard drive space, I would say get the smaller one and upgrade later if you need to. By the time you fill up 80Gb of space (which isn’t impossible, you can have demos, DLC, full games, as well as copy movies and music from any machine or memory stick to the system) you will be able to buy a 500+GB internal hard drive for a good low price and never have to worry about space ever again. External hard drives can be used for media stuff (photos, movies, pictures) but not game stuff (saves, demos, games).
Those damn mandatory game installs add up eventually, but it’s not that hard to do some routine cleanup. And replacing your PS3’s HDD is supposed to be pretty easy, though I’ve never done it.
BTW, can anyone recommend a decent cheap-ish PS3 controller? Wireless a plus, but not necessary.
