The "Sony Games" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
The playstation 2 includes support for running original playstation games, through the installation of an I/O processor which is compatable with the existing PSX. This is a first for consoles, and a great idea. But I want to know, how far is this going to go? Is it going to fall into the same trap as the PC, with developers unsure of what components are going to be available. For example, if sony would like to remove components, or change low-level design on the "playstation 3", are we going to see them incorporating extra hardware to maintain support? Pushing the cost up, and forming the same sort of 'legacy' problems we see on the PC? Anyway, we shall see! (BTW, I dont even own a PSX - and I would rather have X-Box than a PS2, double the spex and hopefully great cross platform conversions with the PC, but also Microsoft have got their mucky mits in it, so we might see lockups and crashes enter the console world!)
I would imagine that the decision for Sony to make the PS2 backwardly compatible was only taken because it was relatively cheap and simple to include a chip that emulates the 5 year old PS1. If it would have involved a complex arrangement of components, I'm sure they would have deemed it as infeasible and not made it backwardly compatible.
As for the PS3, unless it's vastly superior, then I don't even think they would even consider trying to emulate the PS2! I guess they will monitor PS2 owners and see how many actually continue to play their PS1 games on it. It seems a good idea in theory to make a console backwardly compatible, but I would think that the novelty of playing old, low resolution games would wear thin very quickly.
On paper, Microsoft's X-box does seem to be impressive, but remember that processor clock speed is a misleading figure when it comes to the power of a computer or console. The efficiency of the PS2 processor may be better than Microsoft's, and so could offer comparable processing power even though it's clock speed is lower. Also, the CPU isn't the be all and end all of the performance achievable on a system. Custom chips are often included which specialise in various areas, such as graphics and sound. Remember the old Amiga/Atari debate? The Atari had the faster processor, but the Amiga had custom graphics and sound chips which arguably gave it the edge.
If Microsoft include a port of the Windows operating system in some form or other then it's possible that there could be problems. Having said that though, the Dreamcast uses a version of Windows CE, I believe, and I've yet to hear of any problems on that front. Of course, if the X-box uses a completely new operating system, there's scope for a whole new lot of bugs! Only time will tell...
As for the PS3, unless it's vastly superior, then I don't even think they would even consider trying to emulate the PS2! I guess they will monitor PS2 owners and see how many actually continue to play their PS1 games on it. It seems a good idea in theory to make a console backwardly compatible, but I would think that the novelty of playing old, low resolution games would wear thin very quickly.
On paper, Microsoft's X-box does seem to be impressive, but remember that processor clock speed is a misleading figure when it comes to the power of a computer or console. The efficiency of the PS2 processor may be better than Microsoft's, and so could offer comparable processing power even though it's clock speed is lower. Also, the CPU isn't the be all and end all of the performance achievable on a system. Custom chips are often included which specialise in various areas, such as graphics and sound. Remember the old Amiga/Atari debate? The Atari had the faster processor, but the Amiga had custom graphics and sound chips which arguably gave it the edge.
If Microsoft include a port of the Windows operating system in some form or other then it's possible that there could be problems. Having said that though, the Dreamcast uses a version of Windows CE, I believe, and I've yet to hear of any problems on that front. Of course, if the X-box uses a completely new operating system, there's scope for a whole new lot of bugs! Only time will tell...
The playstation 2 includes support for running original playstation games, through the installation of an I/O processor which is compatable with the existing PSX. This is a first for consoles, and a great idea. But I want to know, how far is this going to go? Is it going to fall into the same trap as the PC, with developers unsure of what components are going to be available. For example, if sony would like to remove components, or change low-level design on the "playstation 3", are we going to see them incorporating extra hardware to maintain support? Pushing the cost up, and forming the same sort of 'legacy' problems we see on the PC? Anyway, we shall see! (BTW, I dont even own a PSX - and I would rather have X-Box than a PS2, double the spex and hopefully great cross platform conversions with the PC, but also Microsoft have got their mucky mits in it, so we might see lockups and crashes enter the console world!)