Backwards Compatibility For PS4 and Xbox?

by Antwand Pearman Editor In Chief on March 5, 2013 at 12:55 PM EDT

Follow me on Twitter: @BlackBible

No Backwards Compatibility For PS4 and New Xbox?

That’s Bull@%#!

Backwards Compatibility

The lack of backwards compatibility really affects more then consumers. It affects the small and independent, developers and publishers as well. In this video Antwand Pearman talks about the pitfall of backwards compatibility, and how console creators such as Sony could fix this issue in a fair way. Business is business so I understand the move by companies like Sony and microsoft. Never the less as a consumer, or small developer this put us in a jam. Some developers have invested in the current gen for this year. That’s why I proposed limited Backwards compatibility. Here’s my question, what was the point in buying the recent HD collections if I’m not going to able to play them if I move to Next Gen?

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dakan45

ofcourse not. Why? because like many other thigns this gen, they found a way to make you pay for more, lose even more ownership of the game. Why play used games when you must buy them? Why play killzone 2 and 3 or infamous 1 and 2 when you can just make people buy a console.

I just wanna see how long this will be till people go to pc gaming.
- http://gamerfitnation.com BlackBible
  
  See I can understand this move to a point. The really didn’t give us an adjustment period. Some said this to me “This is the equivalent of being angry that your DVD player didn’t come with a VHS tape slot and a LaserDisc drive and a 8mm film spindle. Seriously.” My reply ” Companies created DVD, and VHS Combos units when DVD’s launched. To create a adjustment period.
  - dakan45
    
    On second thought i am wrong, the reason why there is no backwards compability for ps4 is becasue it is based on x86 architecture. Which is pc architecture. It is completly diffirent than the previous cell processors. Therefore giving you backwards compability will be like trying to port every singe ps3 game to pc.
    - DarthDiggler
      
      EXACTLY! Thank you for having a voice of reason and intelligence that seems to be a very rare commodity on this website.
      - dakan45
        
        what are you talking about? bluray is an evolution on dvd which is an evolution on cds/ All row video. There is no VHS here. All those are optical disks. The hardware used for rendering and processing in the other hand is very diffirent. hell there are few cases of pc games that dont work in new pcs due to a bug. Still pc has maximum compability i can even play ds and snes games.
Shady

I disagree. Backwards compatibility is cool and all but it makes no sense. Why would console makers want to put in backwards compatibility if they are trying to get you to buy new games? What the hell is the point of buying new hardware and not actually using it for the games it was made for? Is it really so hard for people to turn off their PS4 and turn their PS3 on? like seriously? Next-Gen software sales would be in the gutter and all the devs and publishers would be put out of business. it’s like buying a brand new 80″ OLED TV and watching analog 480i channels on it.
- http://www.facebook.com/gwwampler Gregory William Wampler
  
  “Why would console makers want to put in backwards compatibility if they are trying to get you to buy new games? ”
  LOL really? The answer is…. to buy new games. LOL You can’t buy new games without the new hardware. Being able to play old games doesn’t stop you from wanting new games. Does buying NHL12 make you NOT want to buy the newer NHL 13? No…
  - Shady
    
    “Does buying NHL12 make you NOT want to buy the newer NHL 13? No…”
    
    Idon’t think you get what i meant. Why would they want you to play
    last-gen games on their new hardware? How would they profit off their
    next gen game sales like that?
    
    I’m sure it’s gotten to the point
    with them where its like why do backwards compatibility from PS1/2/3?
    that’s a lot of damn work and takes way too much time and effort when
    the focus of the new hardware, is the new hardware.
    besides they new
    tech is completely different and that’s to help the devs out, which will
    probably cut down a little on development time
    - Tamaracked
      
      A few contentions
      1. PS1 and PS2 emulation is NOT a lot of work, these are both relativity simple and as you can already do this on PC there is really no excuse. PS3 emulation is a little harder but with 8 gigs GDDR5 Ram this should not be a problem.
      
      2. Tech is different but emulation is the same.
      3. As for why they would want to do it as a company see my prior comment.
  - DarthDiggler
    
    You are not considering feasability which is what I really dispise about your articles here. They just “play dumb” or you guys don’t understand technology enough to understand the limitations of tech prevent this in an economic sense.
    
    Hell if money were no object (and Sony acted like that with PS3) I bet the PS4 would do all games. They could put a cartridge port in for SNES! Pop a cassette deck on it so I can rock me some Commodore games! Load “OldShitGame” ,8 ,1
    
    While the BC feature would likely get a decent amount of use early on, the feature would largely be forgotten about when the new game systems get a price drop and hit their strides. Why should Sony and MS implement a feature that will largely be outdated by a healthy library of next gen titles?
- Tamaracked
  
  Here’s why, when you have a new console by a manufacturer, generally you want people who owned the last system to upgrade. Without backwards compatibility people have far less incentive to stay with their console of choice; Ie oh my PS4 won’t support these PS3 games, well maybe I’ll check out then xbox 720 then, or the other way around.
Guest

The fact is backwards compatibility is a feature that costs money and resources. The last time Sony insisted on this feature we were greeted with a $700 console.

They could introduce this at a later date. I would much rather see an emulator become available in the store post launch at an additional cost than pay for the feature day 1 and know that they didn’t use those resources and money on the actual next generation features.

The Cell CPU and the x86 are just too different for PS4 to be compatible with PS3 out of the gate.
- Danaracked
  
  This is simply untrue, people have been throwing this comment around the internet for the past two weeks. I agree with you emulation of the PS3 should not be a problem as we already see PS3 emulation on PC architecture. The problem that I have thought is about adding the feature directly into the system. Why not simply have 2 SKU’s, one that plays older games and one that doesn’t. Simply fix all parties are satisfied.
  - DarthDiggler
    
    Simply stating it is untrue doesn’t make it untrue. The fact is Backwards compatiblilty costs money, lots of money for hardware BC. Software BC is not as expensive but not as strong as hardware compatibility. Either way they both add to more support costs.
    
    The fact is most gamers don’t use BC, Sony and MS know this, they have data about this from their user base this generation.
    
    “Why not simply have 2 SKU’s, one that plays older games and one that doesn’t. Simply fix all parties are satisfied.”
    
    Why not have 10 SKUS? You could make a PS4 with a Toaster so people could cook their Pop-Tarts when playing some Killzone!
    
    Adding SKUs adds costs, a good product line is a very simple one. You are speaking about things that you don’t have a very good understanding of.
    
    I want Sony to focus all money and resources on delivering a 100% next generation system and not make the same costly mistakes they made with the PS3. Which nearly cost them their place in the Video Game Industry.
    
    Keep your PS3 and you can have backwards compatibility.
http://www.facebook.com/carl.mawson Carl Mawson

The problem with backwards compatibility for the PS4 lies in the completely different architecture of PS3: just like the launch PS3 needed a separate chipset included for PS2 compatibility (that was what drove the price extremely high and why we saw a massive price drop when it was removed), the 4 would need one for the 3. You would, essentially, be buying two consoles in one machine and would thus have to pay the price: take the current cost of a PS3 and add that to whatever price we see for the 4 (I’m thinking about £300-£400). Ironically, it would probably be relatively simple to make the 4 backwards compatible with 1 & 2, but I could see that been a store or Plus software add-on.
- Cantored
  
  You right expect, this doesn’t rule out emulation in any way shape or for, therefore PS1, 2 and 3 games should all be possible
  - John
    
    With a SHITLOAD of programming required that doesn’t really bring them any more revenue. What a whiny and uninformed author of this article.
J B

I want to bitch and moan about backwards compatibility, but I can’t. I like the idea, but at least for me, I rarely revisit my “old” games. However, I still play, for example, NHL Hitz on my original Xbox. I still break out my PS2 to play some SSX, but I’d be lying if I say I do it often. It’s a nice option at best. If it keeps the price of a consoles down, I can live without backwards compatibility. Nothing is “relevant” for long, but that’s one of the greatest benefits of gaming on my PC. I can still buy decade old software (if I want) and still play it (not always flawlessly, granted) on my up to date PC. Maybe then giving people the most choice available (e.g. backwards compatibility) is a selling feature even if it’s not a useful one. Bring on next gen either way.
http://twitter.com/ListenToTeacher Mr. Beard

Master System Convertor for Megadrive

Super Gameboy for Snes

DS

Atari 7800

Wii U

And the list goes on…….

Partial backwards compatibility will be a part of the new consoles. So I wouldn’t panic.