Sony confirms PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility for the PS4

Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 4 now has PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility, with more games coming in the future.

"We are working on utilizing PS2 emulation technology to bring PS2 games forward to the current generation ... We have nothing further to comment at this point in time," said Sony.

As part of the new Star Wars: Battlefront PS4 bundle, gamers are able to download Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter and Star Wars Racer: Revenge and Super Star Wars, all available running in emulation.

In fact, the PS2 logo appears whenever you launch the old games and the button prompts are all mapped as if you are using a DualShock 2.

It will be very interesting to see which games are released next, but expect more bundles in the future.

Source:
Eurogamer

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 Nov 2015 19:39

beanos66

So will it read PS2 discs, or do I have to re-purchase the games I have from the download store?

22.11.2015 04:24 #1

DVDBack23

Originally posted by beanos66: So will it read PS2 discs, or do I have to re-purchase the games I have from the download store? Since it's emulation, I'd assume re-download.

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22.11.2015 13:18 #2

g_slide

Why would anyone honestly care to play an old PS2 game?

If I own a PS4, then I should be able to just sell my old PS2 games and/or system and use that money for a new release version of the game that was designed for a PS4 game.

I've been around since Atari and owned all gaming systems from Atari to present and there is no way I want to play those old PS2 games with the old horrible graphics and game play.

22.11.2015 20:11 #3

audvare

Originally posted by g_slide: Why would anyone honestly care to play an old PS2 game?

If I own a PS4, then I should be able to just sell my old PS2 games and/or system and use that money for a new release version of the game that was designed for a PS4 game.

I've been around since Atari and owned all gaming systems from Atari to present and there is no way I want to play those old PS2 games with the old horrible graphics and game play. Really surprised to hear this opinion to be honest. There are a ton of good games on PS2 that are still playable to this day. This is why I keep my PS2 consoles around. Some games are crappy compared to new versions and some do not age well. But that does not mean this applies to every game.

What I suspect is that Sony will make the games available via download only. This takes away a lot of headaches (disc read errors, etc) while making money (again) on the downloads. And they can simply list the games for sale instead of having to provide some kind of compatibilty like MS did with Xbox 360 for Xbox original. My guess is that similar to Xbox One, it will be a company opt-in and based on prior sales. So for example, I can imagine games like Final Fantasy X being top priority to get working, among some other PS2-exclusive big titles. But I do not see them making Madden 07 work, which seems kind of obvious as to why.

22.11.2015 21:11 #4

RichardvonBacon

Or if technically possible they could check the copy protection information on the original disc when you insert it in PS4 and then allow you to download the emulated version (or software setting for the emulator) for free. You can't really call it backwards compability if it's just an emulated PS store version version of an old game, can you now?

25.11.2015 11:01 #5

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