Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Sony PS3 has PS2 backwards compatibility problems

According to IGN.com, the PS3 has approximately 200 of its PS2 games that won't play without issues on the PS3, with problems ranging from "from simple sound issues to more dramatic freezing issues."

Sony's response (via IGN.com)?
"Sony's PR department pointed out that it, from the start, expected backwards compatibility to be less than 100%. It was also good enough to point out that some people can put up with playing games that lack sound."
IGN.com rightly calls this an "arrogant response", but also rightly points out this will likely be fixed in a future update (a firmware update will already be required when you first get your PS3 online).

Because of the size of the PSOne/PS2 library, 200 deficient titles likely means Sony will still have far more previous gen titles to play than Microsoft does for the Xbox 360. However, Sony touted full backwards compatibility as a differentiator between it and Microsoft, and Microsoft's is arguably fan service (thank you, Emulation Ninjas!). I'd be curious as to what the percentage of titles per console life cycle turns out to be. I expect Sony to still be higher, but the gap to be smaller.

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