Console Backwards Compatibility

[Anteaus]

This thread isn't about BC in regards to any present day or next gen consoles or about the virtue of it. I just wanted to remark that Sony must rue the day they decided to include PS1 support with the PS2. With a couple of exceptions (Gameboy on Nintendo, etc), BC was generally nonexistent on mainstream consoles. It was the PS2 that catapulted BC into a mainstream feature that many people feel should be mandatory. That simple decision of what was regarded as a positive feature has cascaded into PR nightmare for Sony 13 years later.

Anyways, I just wanted to draw attention to how some business decisions can have a dramatic impact to the future.

I doubt many gamers will actually walk the walk in deciding to buy or not buy a particular console because of the lack of a feature, because let's be honest there are a lot of talkers out there who by their own words shouldn't have purchased a PS3 or 360 based on their own rhetoric. That said, many would rather game with a grievance than not game at all so let's not act like any of the hard core gamers are going to sit next gen out. I just hope next gen ends up being far less controversial than many would have it.

Just throwing that out there.

Have a good day everyone.

 

[purbeast0]

it's a nice feature to have but definitely has 0 to do with my decision to buy a next gen console or not.

 

[Aikouka]

it's a nice feature to have but definitely has 0 to do with my decision to buy a next gen console or not.

I didn't really care that much in the past, but now I tend to care a bit more, because I own a lot of games for this generation. Obviously, buying a new console doesn't immediately make me surrender my old console, but the problem is... do I want to waste my entertainment center space and the hook-ups on my AVR on these old systems? I'm not even sure if my receiver has two spare HDMI connections!

So, the idea of backwards compatibility is a bit nice. If the PS4 allows me to do backwards compatibility via Gaikai as long as I have the PS3 disc inserted, I'd be fine with that too.

 

[FallenHero]

Meh, not important to me at all. I find myself, with each generation, stopping play on the current generation about one year away from the next generation release. I just get tired of lack of graphic improvements and gameplay always seems to go down as devs start gearing up for the next gen. anyway.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I didn't buy a 360 or a PS3 and don't feel I missed out on anything. I do have a Wii, but that was due to the wife wanting one (which she played maybe a week tops).

As for BC, not important, but handy...however on the big consoles always seems to be buggy. I remember on PS2, it never worked on the games I actually wanted to play.

I do disagree with how Sony introduces all these features on their initial product, then takes them all away in later iterations (and you can't buy those versions except used either). They did this on the PS1, PS2, and PS3.

Nintendo on the other hand to my knowledge has always kept the features and added more.

Have no idea about MS, although I always thought the 15 different versions of Xbox's sold at the same time was retarded.

 

[etrigan420]

We weren't that heavily invested in "last gen" stuff (Xbox, PS2), so the jump to the 360 and PS3 weren't that burdensome.

But now that we have 40 or so PS3 games that pill might be a little more difficult to swallow.

Plus the PS3 brought Blu-Ray to the table, which we use *daily* (not that the 4 wont...just that it doesn't bring that "new tech" to the forefront like the last gen did).

We'll get a PS4, but it will probably be a year or two after launch when there is a title that I *have to have*. Until then...nope.

 

[Aikouka]

Have no idea about MS, although I always thought the 15 different versions of Xbox's sold at the same time was retarded.

The 360 uses software-based emulation that may not necessarily work as I think it's technically done on a per-title basis as some titles may require more work to get them to function 100%.

Here's a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games_compatible_with_Xbox_360

 

[Sulaco]

Not a big deal to me at all. But I'm slightly abnormal, in that I never trade-in consoles. Just not worth the few extra bucks they give you.

 

[Tweak155]

I use the PS1 capability on my PS3 on occasion. If it had PS2 I wouldn't have bought one.

 

[Anubis]

it's a nice feature to have but definitely has 0 to do with my decision to buy a next gen console or not.

this

 

[mmntech]

BC has been around for awhile. Sega had the Power Base Converter, which allowed the Genesis to play Master System games. For some bizarre reason, the ColecoVision was also compatible with Atari 2600 games via an addon. Though I believe the PS2 was the first system to integrate BC as standard.

Sony's inclusion of full hardware PS2 BC in the PS3 was brilliant but I think it hurt them more than it helped in those early days. It made the PS3 overly complicated, which contributed a great deal to the system's high cost.

The PS4 is very much a system that has learned from those early growing pains of the PS3. Adding no frills, like BC, keeps the cost down and forces developers to the new platform. A new platform that's designed around making the development process as simple as possible.

 

[Skel]

I haven't bought a new console at launch before, but it would help sway my purchase only when the console launched. Too many games would be coming out for the old console that I'd want to play and the last thing I need is another 2-3 consoles sitting under my TV. It becomes a lot less important as time goes on. Having said that, I'm such a gaming whore that I'll still buy this round at launch because I'm not a kid and broke all the time anymore..

 

[gorcorps]

gameboy color played gameboy games

But yeah, the PS2 was really the first console to luckily use the same size of media which probably helped backwards compatibility. Everything else basically was using cartridges which they changed every generation. The ps2 moved from CDs to DVDs, but I still think that both being disc based had a hand in Sony offering BC in the first place.

That said, BC isn't a big deal for me. I could see it being a bigger deal with families where the kids might want to play one of their favorite (older) games, but doesn't understand why they can't anymore. This isn't a big deal if you still keep the old console though.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Typically I don't sell my old system right away. In the past what has happened was I didn't buy the new console immediately. By the time I did the library was big enough that I didn't think much about playing my old games any more. I got a PS3 about a year and a half after release, right around when things started picking up games wise. I didn't care if it played PS2 games then because I had enough to look through on the PS3 itself. With the Xbox 360 I got one on day one. There wasn't much to play so if I wanted to sit down with a game it was an older title. So having Backwards Compatibility could help in that case.

Now that I think about it. I never worried about playing NES games when I got a Genesis or SNES. Those who have been around the industry long enough remember this. We, probably as kids, didn't really think much about the old system any longer. The new one was so fresh and the games looked so much nicer. I think certain people kind of expect BC due to the PS2. Then again with the Xbox 360 and somewhat with the PS3 and Wii (playing PS2 and Gamecube games respectively). It should really have no bearing on whether someone is interested in the new system. After all, we buy the new systems for the new possibilities and new games using the latest technology available to consoles right?

 

[waggy]

backwards compabilty is huge for me. It was one of the main reasons i got a PS3. I have a bunch of PS2 games.


IF the next Xbox whatever. Has it it would be a huge selling point for me. there are a ton of old games.


Same with the new Playstation. i have a ton of ps2 and ps3 games.

 

[American Gunner]

I like the idea of BC, but never really used it. That said, I would like it next gen because I just want one console in my living room but still want to play my 360 games. It wouldn't break me if it didn't have it, but would be a nice bonus.

 

[cmdrdredd]

backwards compabilty is huge for me. It was one of the main reasons i got a PS3. I have a bunch of PS2 games.


IF the next Xbox whatever. Has it it would be a huge selling point for me. there are a ton of old games.


Same with the new Playstation. i have a ton of ps2 and ps3 games.

It's almost guaranteed to not have this ability. Not for cost reasons only, but because the whole CPU is now on x86 architecture which is not compatible with old code. It's very unlikely that they will spend a significant amount of resources to build emulation. In Sony's case they would like to resell you the games again via PSN or do the whole streaming thing.

 

[RedRooster]

If they could make the gamesaves from the previous systems compatible too it's maybe worth it, but once the new system comes out with its way better graphics and more advanced systems the last thing I'll be thinking about it playing a ratty old previous gen game from scratch. Unless I was REALLY attached to it like Red Dead or....I can't think of anything else I'd want to play next gen once the new flow of games starts coming.
Backwards compatibility is a 0 on the "must have" feature list for consoles, for me.

 

[Misutiku]

Kinda like we are paying the price that everything has to be motion controlled now when all we want is a normal controller.

 

[exdeath]

Don't really care. Original software on the original hardware is always superior to emulation or BC attempts.

Even PS2 with PS1 hardware can't run PS1 games correctly.

Currently playing Final Fantasy Origins - Final Fantasy I on a PSOne in RGB on a CRT. :awe:

It's epic.

 

[MichaelBarg]

It's not a huge deal, but it will definitely impact the timing of when I buy a new system. No backwards compatibility means no purchase until I see a true must-play title on the new one. With BC I might well buy close to launch to check it out and even get a couple games that I otherwise wouldn't.

 

[Nintendesert]

I don't like it if it raises prices on the new console. If I want to play all the PS2 or PS3 games that I have then I'll take the time to simply hook up the console I have sitting in a box. So far it's been a very rare thing to play any of the old PS games or PS2 games.

 

[Sohaltang]

Mehh.. I don't play console games long enough to care about BC. Unless your into online FPS or sports most games are toast after a few weeks. I do replay sports but I never ever play last years version, better yet any crap that was released before that. We own 4 ps3s and will keep one or two as media players for a while. Ill replace the main two with ps4s as games come out that I really want.

 

[clok1966]

Im not sure.. but I don't think it was took out so much for the reasons everybody thinks.. Yes the hardware costs money ( or a good emulator). But Person A has 200 PSone games, 100 PS2 games.. 50 PS3 games, and the PS4 plays um all for $100 more.. Sony gets $100 (some or all in hardware of dev, so actual extra cash is almost zero). But you don't include the BWC and person a can buy at just $9-20 a pop each of those games again on a Vconsole.. sony makes a ton more money. One of the reasons the 360 quit bwc.. just buy it again online.. why make it free to play if you own it? No money in that.

 

[SlitheryDee]

It's a factor for me. I kinda want to play the halos that came out for the xbox360. If I'm going to buy a console, I'd prefer the latest one, which is soon to be the xbox720. If the xbox 720 doesn't have backwards compatibility, I'll just wait for it to come out and pick up an xbox360 hopefully much cheaper than it is now. If it does have backwards compatibility that at least works with Halo 3 and 4, they'll get me with the xbox720 and I'll be wide open for possibly buying all the new games that come out for it as well.