PS3 price cut

[Night]

yeah does that mean you can't play PS2 games on the 80gig version?

I'd imagine it would be the same as the European models of the 60gig version? This is similar to the 360. Rather than the dedicated chip (or whatever it was) the harddrive contains emulation software, and so is nowhere near as good I think this is simply so their models are consistent worldwide, which will cut down on costs.

[Raww Le Klueze]

yeah does that mean you can't play PS2 games on the 80gig version?

There's a compatability list somewhere, most games are listed as "Runs with some problems" or to that effect.

Heard some people had trouble with Suikoden V though.

[Zeikcied]

yeah does that mean you can't play PS2 games on the 80gig version?

I'd imagine it would be the same as the European models of the 60gig version? This is similar to the 360. Rather than the dedicated chip (or whatever it was) the harddrive contains emulation software, and so is nowhere near as good I think this is simply so their models are consistent worldwide, which will cut down on costs.

Exactly. It will be like the European versions. And it is to cut down on system costs.

Back near the end of last year, some analyst/company estimated the cost of manufacturing a PS3, and the costs were estimated at over $800 per unit. So, obviously Sony is doing everything they can to cut down on costs, while trying their best to reduce the impact on system performance. I would expect that the 80 Gig units may have lower compatibility, but that it will be remedied by system upgrades.

[thcrock]

From what I've read, all the PS3s were originally planned to have software emulation for PS2 games. When it finally was time to manufacture the PS3s, the software engine wasn't good enough, so they decided to stick a PS2 in every PS3. By the time of the European release, they had improved the software emulation enough to include it. It's only logical that they would include it in the next new model.

[Night]

Ah, that makes sense. I can back up what Raww said though: the majority of games will have some problems (plus, for us at least, you have to be online to download the first update to play ANY PS2 games). Much simpler to keep a PS2 on hand, and their trade-in value isn't that great anymore either.

[Zeikcied]

Ah, that makes sense. I can back up what Raww said though: the majority of games will have some problems (plus, for us at least, you have to be online to download the first update to play ANY PS2 games). Much simpler to keep a PS2 on hand, and their trade-in value isn't that great anymore either.

All PS1/2 games I own have no listed problems on Sony's official compatibility list.

The only problem I've had was GTA San Andreas crashed when I tried to use a Codebreaker with the game.

[Night]

Ah, that makes sense. I can back up what Raww said though: the majority of games will have some problems (plus, for us at least, you have to be online to download the first update to play ANY PS2 games). Much simpler to keep a PS2 on hand, and their trade-in value isn't that great anymore either.

All PS1/2 games I own have no listed problems on Sony's official compatibility list.

The only problem I've had was GTA San Andreas crashed when I tried to use a Codebreaker with the game.

Having checked the list, it does seem to be much better now. I wonder if they've improved some of the emulation patches for some games? Either way, it seems I was wrong. They've certainly done a lot more patches since the last time I checked, churning them out far quicker than Microsoft did.

[Zeikcied]

Ah, that makes sense. I can back up what Raww said though: the majority of games will have some problems (plus, for us at least, you have to be online to download the first update to play ANY PS2 games). Much simpler to keep a PS2 on hand, and their trade-in value isn't that great anymore either.

All PS1/2 games I own have no listed problems on Sony's official compatibility list.

The only problem I've had was GTA San Andreas crashed when I tried to use a Codebreaker with the game.

Having checked the list, it does seem to be much better now. I wonder if they've improved some of the emulation patches for some games? Either way, it seems I was wrong. They've certainly done a lot more patches since the last time I checked, churning them out far quicker than Microsoft did.

The difference between Sony and Microsoft is a simple one. Sony owns the technology used in the PS1 and PS2. So they're able to write full-fledged PS1 and PS2 emulators that run on the PS3. Once they get the hardware fully emulated, they can go through and squash any bugs in individual games. Many times, fixing a bug in one game can fix a bug in another, or create a bug in another. But this process will, ideally, make all games playable.

Microsoft, on the other hand, does not own the technology for the original XBox. NVIDIA holds full ownership of the XBox graphics chip. Meaning that Microsoft can't write a generic XBox hardware emulator for the 360. Instead, they have to go game-by-game and create an emulation patch for each individual game. Which will eventually make all XBox games playable, but you have to wait until your game is supported. And the patch takes up extra space on your hard drive (though that space may be minimal).

One thing I find interesting about the PS2 emulation on PS3, though, is the listing for Suikoden III. I haven't tried it myself, but shortly after the US compatibility list was posted, I checked Suikoden III on the list. It said that it plays without any problems, but that Suikoden II data cannot be imported. I found out why when I got my PS3, as the virtual memory cards won't allow a PS1 save on a PS2 virtual card, even though the actual PS2 memory cards allowed that. Recently I checked Suikoden III again, and they removed the thing about the Suiko2 save, but I still can't transfer my Suikoden II save from my PS1 virtual card to my PS2 virtual card. Strange, isn't it?

[KFCrispy]

maybe you can load the virtual PS1 card directly into Suikoden III, since it's all emulated?

[nephlabobo]

I'm just not even going to screw around with software emulation.

SE is rubbish.

I'm getting a 60gig, higher hard drives be damned. I want the EE.

[Night]

I'm just not even going to screw around with software emulation.

SE is rubbish.

I'm getting a 60gig, higher hard drives be damned. I want the EE.

No no, that's the model that's been discontinued (or is about to be). All future PS3s of all different hard drive sizes will come only with software emulation. I hope that's what you meant anyway, I wasn't entirely sure what 'EE' stood for!

[Zeikcied]

I'm just not even going to screw around with software emulation.

SE is rubbish.

I'm getting a 60gig, higher hard drives be damned. I want the EE.

No no, that's the model that's been discontinued (or is about to be). All future PS3s of all different hard drive sizes will come only with software emulation. I hope that's what you meant anyway, I wasn't entirely sure what 'EE' stood for!

All future PS3s will only be 80 Gig.

Once the 60 Gig units run out, that's it. Thus, the remaining 60 Gig units have the Emotion Engine. But, once they're gone, they're gone. And 80 Gig $600 (with Motorstorm) is all that's left. In the US, at least.

Software emulation can be as good as hardware emulation. If given enough time. The only reason emulators on the PC may not always be up to par is because they're made with either public documentation of the hardware, or by reverse engineering. Sony knows exactly what the hardware is, and can emulate it with almost 100% accuracy. Once given enough time to work out the kinks, which seems to be relatively soon.

(Note: Keep in mind that the PS3 units with the Emotion Engine only use partial hardware emulation. And, in fact, future firmware updates may bypass the hardware entirely as the software emulation improves. There is no way to avoid software emulation in this case.)

[EternalOnslaught]

One question has been bugging my mind.

Is Sony going to make a 100GB Hardrive version, and make the new 80GB HD version $499? And keeping doing it until it reaches 120GB, the same as the Xbox elite. Also, the price drop has actually boosts Sony sales a lot, I believe worldwide the units sold worldwide is around 40 million. Apparently this stragedy might be working.

[Zeikcied]

One question has been bugging my mind.

Is Sony going to make a 100GB Hardrive version, and make the new 80GB HD version $499? And keeping doing it until it reaches 120GB, the same as the Xbox elite.

I doubt it. Sony will eventually stop. Or, at the very least, they'll keep several months in between each version.

Also, the price drop has actually boosts Sony sales a lot, I believe worldwide the units sold worldwide is around 40 million. Apparently this stragedy might be working.

Maybe 4 million, but not 40 million. The 360 hasn't even hit 12 million yet. We won't see any console hitting 40 million for at least two more years, if not longer.

[Night]

Here we go:

http://www.psu.com/Worldwide-PS3-sales- ... 785-p0.php

A total of 4.48 million PS3's have been sold at retail thus far

That was from July 27th. Sony estimates (hopes for) sales of 14.5 million by March 2008.

The Wii is at 9.27 million worldwide (July 25th).

The 360 is at 10.14million (July 19th).