ps3 mods?

[TH0R]

why are they making all new ps3's w/out backward capability??? is there any way to open up the beast and install the needed hardware that's missing?

[nectarsis]

"Cost saving" blah blah blah...not sure if the mod is possible/feasile though.

[PCEngineHell]

I dont think it is unless you are a highly skilled tech at reverse engineering on complex levels. Its ok though, just buy a PS1 or PS2.

[rolins]

I dont think it is unless you are a highly skilled tech at reverse engineering on complex levels. Its ok though, just buy a PS1 or PS2.

Second that. If you have the money to afford a PS3, then surely you can spare a couple dollars on a PS2.

[Joe Redifer]

No hardware is missing.  The majority of PS3s have their PS2 capability work by means of emulation.  For the PS3s that don't have this capability, they are literally only robbing you of the emulator itself, and it amazes me that they don't sell it on the PSN store.

[albinoMithos]

IIRC the original 60/20gb PS3s had no emulation as far as ps2 games go.  They used an integrated ps2 motherboard to play ps2 games.  (Don't quote me on that but I remember that being the case)  Now if you're gonna try to mod your PS3 for backwards compatibility you're looking at taking apart a PS3 and like others said reverse engineering the hardware and if you don't need to do that then you're looking at cracking PS3 security measures to run custom code for an emulator which you yourself will have to code.  It'll be less pair albeit less interesting to just get a ps2 and go on with life.

[TH0R]

  ...yeah, you'd think they would sell something on the network and make even more money... damn those rich bastards making things soo inconvinient   

[NecroPhile]

Sony stopped including their emulator because it sucked - it only supported a fraction of the available PS2 games and was buggy on some of the titles that it did support.  They didn't want to keep spending money on improving the emulator when people can go buy a brand new PS2 for cheap (relatively speaking), so they killed it rather than listening to people bitch about incompatibilities and bugs.

[ooPo]

PS1 emulation is software based and should work on all models.

PS2 emulation was handled at least in part by hardware:

20GB - Hardware EE + GS, no wifi.
60GB - Hardware EE + GS.
80GB - Hardware GS.
40GB - Nothing!

I have a 20GB model and it does a great job since upgrading to the 2.0 firmware. Compatibility is very high. It renders at normal resolution and upscales that for output so there isn't a lot of improvement but the upscaling quality is a lot better than most/all HDTVs.

You can't mix and match hardware in the PS3. I tried adding a wifi board from my 40GB model to the 20GB model and it didn't work. The board worked fine, it just ignored the wifi parts.

[NecroPhile]

So the emulated PS2 compatibility still relied on some hardware, eh?  For the 40gb, newer 80gb, and forthcoming 160gb versions to be backwards compatible, Sony would have to completely rewrite their emulator, and there's not much financial incentive for them to bother with that.

[SignOfZeta]

No, that's not the sort of thing a person can put back it.

[guyjin]

sony sucks. 

[Arkhan Asylum]

sony sucks. 

Golden Axe on PS3 = <3

my 20gb ... which is now a 250gb does a fine job of playin PS2 stuff.

I play FFXI on it.

[TH0R]

damn, i got a ps2, system only with cables on ebay for $12 bucks. with shipping it was less than $30 ... it prob won't even work...seller said it worked good...we'll c

[Joe Redifer]

There were PS3s that ran PS2 games on hardware and there were PS3s that ran them via emulation.  Not all PS3 backward compatible models are the same!

[NecroPhile]

There were PS3s that ran PS2 games on hardware and there were PS3s that ran them via emulation.  Not all PS3 backward compatible models are the same!

From what ooPo said (and which further intrawebz research has confirmed), all PS3s offering backwards compatibility rely on hardware.  The original models contained both the CPU (emotion engine) and GPU (graphics synthesizer); subsequent models kept the GPU and dropped only the CPU in favor of emulation; and the 40gb and newest models lack both the CPU and GPU, hence no backwards compatibility.

[SignOfZeta]

sony sucks. 

Yeah, Sony sucks, but honestly the amazing level of complexity in modern consoles makes backward compatibility hard to pull off. When a new machine comes out they either have to more or less build the old machine inside of it (what Nintendo usually does with Gameboy stuff), make an adaptor that basically has the old machine inside of it (Master Base Converter, not very cheap) or you have to do it with emulation. Unless the time between generations is very large, then the hardware you have to build in is going to cost some significant money, or the emulation is going to suck. The 360 is in a similar state, although its less relevant given that there are only about 5 good Xbox games anyway and the system is worth about $0.50 now.

The PS3 is already a huge money loser so I imagine they are doing whatever they can to get that kit-bash monster to a reasonable price. What they should have done, what Nintendo always does, is look further down the road during the design phase and have a plan for making the machine cheaper as prices on components drop. They probably never should have put PS2 compatibility in it in the first place. I just don't see how Sony will ever be able to make a $129 PS3.

[Joe Redifer]

make an adaptor that basically has the old machine inside of it (Master Base Converter, not very cheap)

Are you talking about the Power Base Converter for the Genesis which allows you to play Master System games?  First of all, all of the SMS hardware was inside the Genesis already.  That hardware could even be used by Genesis games (many Genesis games featured PSG sound in addition to the FM for more instruments) and the Z80 CPU that powers the SMS typically ran the sound side of things in the majority of Genesis games.  Secondly, the Power Base Converter was less than $30 at the time of its release.

[SignOfZeta]

make an adaptor that basically has the old machine inside of it (Master Base Converter, not very cheap)

Are you talking about the Power Base Converter for the Genesis which allows you to play Master System games?  First of all, all of the SMS hardware was inside the Genesis already.  That hardware could even be used by Genesis games (many Genesis games featured PSG sound in addition to the FM for more instruments) and the Z80 CPU that powers the SMS typically ran the sound side of things in the majority of Genesis games.  Secondly, the Power Base Converter was less than $30 at the time of its release.

OK well...fine.

I change my example to the 2600 adaptor for Colecovision then.

[TH0R]

are there different versions of the ps2 as in performance? i'm looking at these two and they're slightly different. some outer parts are different and placed differently...

[ooPo]

Nope, all PS2 models play the same games at the same speed and quality.