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NEWS: Sony Previews PS2 Emulation for PS4 in Video

noigeL wrote:

They were okay with it in the PS2 era and in the initial PS3 era? They worked with Sony to fix problems that were occurring with certain PS2 software on the PS3 before Sony itself decided to rip that backwards compatibility out of subsequent PS3 models.

There's a difference though between Sony working with publisher's to make their games physically playable on next gen tech since the publisher's are able to still make a profit on the sales of the games still being manufactured and sold.

Than Sony along with many publisher's deciding to offer digital versions of their back catalog of games for free with little or no profit.

Look, I understand gamers can be awfully entitled and expect to get everything handed to them on a silver platter for next to nothing, but I don't believe asking Sony for backwards compatibility, something they used to offer, is out of line in the least.

Tuor_of_Gondolin wrote:

If someone has already purchased the game, and they still have the disks, then Sony should do them a solid and give the game to them for free on the PS 4. Yes, they'd lose some money, but they'd gain a lot of goodwill, which while intangible, is still useful.

I'd don't think they'd have a problem with that compared to the Atlus's, Sega's, EA's, Capcom's, & the Square Enix's of the world that might feel some type of way about their games being offered for free or next to nothing.

noigeL wrote:

Look, I understand gamers can be awfully entitled and expect to get everything handed to them on a silver platter for next to nothing, but I don't believe asking Sony for backwards compatibility, something they used to offer, is out of line in the least.

I don't think it is either, it's the expectation though that publisher themselves are going to basically go along with it with no issue. This all starts and ends with them and as it's stands they have little to no reason to play ball especially with money being involved.

I'd don't think they'd have a problem with that compared to the Atlus's, Sega's, EA's, Capcom's, & the Square Enix's of the world that might feel some type of way about their games being offered for free or next to nothing.

Sony can negotiate with them, if that's what it takes. And if they refuse, Sony can point to those companies that refuse as the reason, and *still* gain some good PR out of it. "We tried to give you want you wanted, but these companies refused to get onboard." I think *some* of them would probably go for it, though, which might draw others just to avoid the PR hit.

While they (presumably) would have to renegotiate with various companies to do it the way MS is (repackage individual games for download), Sony could just release a base emulator (either as a free update or paid download) for the system that runs straight from the disc.
Since there's no change for the software being played, they could (presumably) do it without needing to speak with any publishers.

So they have to get all their permissions again to play it on the XB1. Sony would need to do the same, just need their permissions.

enurtsol wrote:

So they have to get all their permissions again to play it on the XB1. Sony would need to do the same, just need their permissions.

One wonders why though why we still don't have games like Maximo Army Of Zin in the PS2 Classics section though but Europe has had it for awhile.

No, Sony would still have to re-speak with the publishers. Microsoft runs into the same issue with their XB1 backwards compatibility:

• After the technological breakthrough that got backwards compatibility working, the next step was to figure out how to license all this content, originally released on Xbox 360, for Xbox One.

"Very specific deals" can mean if it's for the X360, it means specifically only for the X360, whether it's from the publishers or developers or licensors or players or actors/actresses, etc. So they have to get all their permissions again to play it on the XB1. Sony would need to do the same, just need their permissions.

enurtsol wrote:

No, Sony would still have to re-speak with the publishers. Microsoft runs into the same issue with their XB1 backwards compatibility: After the technological breakthrough that got backwards compatibility working, the next step was to figure out how to license all this content, originally released on Xbox 360, for Xbox One. "Very specific deals" can mean if it's for the X360, it means specifically only for the X360, whether it's from the publishers or developers or licensors or players or actors/actresses, etc. So they have to get all their permissions again to play it on the XB1. Sony would need to do the same, just need their permissions.

Sorry, but I believe you're missing the key point; the games are being re-released for XB1 (as mentioned in your quote). That is why they need to re-license the games. That's completely different then running the original software in an emulator.

What matters is what is being released and/or changed. The way MS is doing it, they are releasing (essentially) new software just using the discs as activation keys.