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Sony - this is how you do PS2 emulation on PS4 properly
- Thread starter Taker34
- Start date
almostjuliuscaesar
Member
PS2onPS4 games make too much money 
. But idk why they don't think those & BC can coexist side by side. People are willing to pay $10-21 for updated visuals, trophy support & sometimes added content. Not to mention they have a working PS2 (and PS1) emulator for older hardware. I don't think we will ever get CD based BC though, they've decided it isn't worth the hassle
. But idk why they don't think those & BC can coexist side by side. People are willing to pay $10-21 for updated visuals, trophy support & sometimes added content. Not to mention they have a working PS2 (and PS1) emulator for older hardware. I don't think we will ever get CD based BC though, they've decided it isn't worth the hassle pla-pla-place holder
Member
Adding it as something u get for subbing to playstation plus would work also
I'd be happy if they just added a PSP/Vita and PS classic emulator or some kind. It's awfully stupid that the only way to play PSclassics on my tv is to either leave my 11 year old PS3 hooked up OR find a PSTV somewhere (a device which was discontinued like 18 months ago).
This idea of adding a PS2 emulator is also a good one but I don't think Sony or third party pubs would go for it because they'd rather be able to charge you on a game by game basis. I mean, many of those old PS2 titles can be found for 5$ or less in flea markets or retro game shops all over the place and the few rare ones out there that people want .. well those people probably hung on to original hardware and don't care.
Also - I genuinely believe the reason that ps2 classics are fairly paltry in selection AND psp/vita/ps1 isn't in some way available to play on PS4 is because a short sided executive doesn't think those old games look good enough. They'd rather go back and remake those games and sell them for 60$ then let people play them in their original format.
This idea of adding a PS2 emulator is also a good one but I don't think Sony or third party pubs would go for it because they'd rather be able to charge you on a game by game basis. I mean, many of those old PS2 titles can be found for 5$ or less in flea markets or retro game shops all over the place and the few rare ones out there that people want .. well those people probably hung on to original hardware and don't care.
Also - I genuinely believe the reason that ps2 classics are fairly paltry in selection AND psp/vita/ps1 isn't in some way available to play on PS4 is because a short sided executive doesn't think those old games look good enough. They'd rather go back and remake those games and sell them for 60$ then let people play them in their original format.
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
On second thought, OP, I think Sony couldn't charge for this...
If they did they'd have to guarantee that every PS2 games runs perfectly on the emulator. I'm not sure that that would be possible, as developers did some funny things with low-level optimisations for games on that platform.
Sony should release this emulator free of charge.
If they did they'd have to guarantee that every PS2 games runs perfectly on the emulator. I'm not sure that that would be possible, as developers did some funny things with low-level optimisations for games on that platform.
Sony should release this emulator free of charge.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
Emulation conflicts with their PS Now service. Ergo, it will never happen.
Uno Venova
Banned
It'd be easier to just get over the fact that it's never coming.
shawnbuddy
Member
They will never do this because they'd simply make less money this way. No reason to give up the opportunity to sell you games again.
There are no PS1 or PS2 games on PS Now.
Nor should there be, total waste of bandwidth when you can sell a one-time download.
ArkhamFantasy
Member
Last i checked psnow is select ps3 titles only.
autoduelist
Member
Because, honestly? It's not just them pushing a button.
It's coding a solution.
It's constant tinkering whenever they find a game with a bug in emu.
It's maintenance of the app.
They're certainly capable of doing it. But a price is fine by me, if they determine it's required. I'd rather be able to pay a fee than not have it at all, and it's not because I'm a 'sucker' [or have been 'trained' to pay for stuff] as some people suggest, it's just that I don't mind choosing to pay for other people's work in general. I'd prefer they did it for free as a 'value added' proposition, but that's their decision [subsidized by the sale of digital games].
What I want is something quite different:
A portable PS2.
Imagine a Vita 2 [new name for marketing purposes].
Re-engineered for:
1) Remote Play improvements
a) any networking improvements they've developed over the years since Vita.
b) All triggers and buttons designed for console play
2) PS2 digital play
a) preferably all PS2 games on PSN [both ps3 w/o trophies and ps4 w/ trophies]
b) 1a's buttons will also be helpful here.
c) QoL improvements like emulators might have, like a quick save system outside the game, etc.
3) Ability to play Vita and PSP games
4) New software? Optional. If they want to market it as a completely new handheld, then definitely.... if they want to market it as a portable PS2, I'd be fine with simple Vita/PSP/PS2/PS1 bc.
5) Dual boot with Android would be a nice to have, though unlikely.
I think Sony is more interested in unifying their ecosystem at this point, they want everything in a PS4 game wrapper on a PS4 licensing agreement with pubs. They probably goofed with licensing contracts in the PS3 era, not to mention the hardware compatibility issues that came from that. Hopefully things shake out better this gen.
PS1 and PSP stuff is getting remade/ported, PS2 stuff is remastered if the pub wants to, can go up on PS2 classics otherwise.
PS1 and PSP stuff is getting remade/ported, PS2 stuff is remastered if the pub wants to, can go up on PS2 classics otherwise.
Please educate me about the technical and financial aspects. I took into consideration that a PS2 emulator is already running on PS4; in fact it was running on PS3 too. PS1 titles ran on every other Sony console and handheld as well. So what's the holdup?
You only pay for the emulator so there wouldn't be any license issues on that part -> you still have to purchase your own physical games.
If anything this thread wasn't meant to be serious, as everyone has thought about this concept already. We should have this discussion though. I don't like their current pricing model and that's what I wanted to say. I just had too much time on my hands and wanted to do shitty mockups as well.
ArkhamFantasy
Member
There are like ten thousand ps2 games and maybe 100 of them are remastered. An hd emulator would be huge for alot of people. Id happily pay a fee to play shadow hearts in hd.
AcademicSaucer
Member
They are going to do this right after they let people change their PSN names
Oh, well then it shouldn't be a problem. I'm still in the mindset that region locked discs are a bitch to play because of disc reader firmware. But I've not really put any effort into researching it since like 2005
ArkhamFantasy
Member
How do i buy shadow hearts on psn? They dont even give me the option to give them my money!
I want free shit and I want it NOW
The emulator wrapper is without a doubt highly customised on a per game basis. Look at PCSX2 and all the different tweaks and hacks that went into bringing some games up to full speed. If you think Sony will be able to match the workflow of a community of unpaid hobbyists to get a universal PS2 emulation solution on PS4, I've got some bad news
Lionel Richie
Member
"Single fee" LMAO.
NormalFish
Banned
How many people do you think it would take to run QA on every PS2 title to date on their emulator?
MaximumSpider
Banned
Whenever I see things like this, I just wanna cry because I know it will never happen.
Just like being able to redownload the PS1 and PS2 games I bought years ago...
Just like being able to redownload the PS1 and PS2 games I bought years ago...
pretty done
Member
This is nice and all, but Sony don't give a shit about BC. They'd rather trickle out 5 PS2->PS4 games per year and sell us shit we already bought. Would never happen.
DeuceGamer
Member
I'm still disappointed that they don't have at least PS1 backwards compatibility on the PS4. Really no reason PS1 and PS2 discs don't work.
I still have my OG PS3 with BC and guess I just expected the PS4 would offer the same at some point but at this point it seems clear that Sony just doesn't have any interest in making it work.
I still have my OG PS3 with BC and guess I just expected the PS4 would offer the same at some point but at this point it seems clear that Sony just doesn't have any interest in making it work.
Strangelove77
Member
I'm trying hard not to just shitpost with a simple lol, but....
Lol
No seriously, this sounds great for me and you, but not for Sony. If I were them I wouldn't do it.
Also, this might be a dream situation for you collectors out there but most people don't own PS2 discs anymore and buying used from Amazon and EBay is a bigger money sink than just buying them from Sony. Sure, you can buy Vice City for $5, but something like Shadow Hearts or Xenosaga 3? Like, all the good games people really want? The sole existence for this feature.
Fuck that.
Lol
No seriously, this sounds great for me and you, but not for Sony. If I were them I wouldn't do it.
Also, this might be a dream situation for you collectors out there but most people don't own PS2 discs anymore and buying used from Amazon and EBay is a bigger money sink than just buying them from Sony. Sure, you can buy Vice City for $5, but something like Shadow Hearts or Xenosaga 3? Like, all the good games people really want? The sole existence for this feature.
Fuck that.
omgwtfbentime
Member
BC is a value addition, PS4 is dominating and doesn't need more perceived value over Xbox, Sony will trickle out overpriced digital only PS2 re releases with trophies.
This is not going to change until Xbox surpasses Sony. This is the same company with a giant backlog of PS1 games they've already relicensed that they can't get on PS4 nearly 4 years after launch...
This is not going to change until Xbox surpasses Sony. This is the same company with a giant backlog of PS1 games they've already relicensed that they can't get on PS4 nearly 4 years after launch...
I think one of the many issues with this is that they don't run a single emulator for PS2 games on PS4, it's dealt with on a game by game basis and doing that takes time and that incurs costs.
The single emulator approach is what was used on the PS3 and it was really poor, people quite correctly complained endlessly about that way of dealing with emulation. I wouldn't pay a single penny to go back to the old way of doing these things due to how poorly it worked and yet I have quite a collection of PS2 games on the PS4 and they were easily worth the money that I paid for them.
The single emulator approach is what was used on the PS3 and it was really poor, people quite correctly complained endlessly about that way of dealing with emulation. I wouldn't pay a single penny to go back to the old way of doing these things due to how poorly it worked and yet I have quite a collection of PS2 games on the PS4 and they were easily worth the money that I paid for them.
Good thing OP had you covered then in their post that you obviously paid attention to.
PS2 Classics emulator on PS3 managed to play most of the PS2 library just fine so eh, I don't think it would need as many tweaks and hacks as you think.
autoduelist
Member
That's simply not true. They're very different markets at their core, and doesn't PSNow only have ps3 games right now anyway?
If you take this post above, and then figure in this post below:
... one of the several [big] issues appears. Emu is a constant source of maintenance, fixes, etc, and offering puts Sony right in the middle -- can you possibly charge for games/services where games might be buggy or crash [no way to even test them all easily]? Not really. But it's too much work -not- to charge. It's one thing for a hobbyist emulator to crash here and there, but it's not okay if you're Sony charging.
This isn't the only issue, and it's not a completely insurmountable issue... but it is an issue that many people in this thread seem to gloss over [namely, the it should be free but it isn't because Sony hates us kind of posts].
I wish we had the PS3 solution for digital PS2 games, although I understand why they decided [with modern tvs] that they needed to upgrade them visually and add trophies. I don't -like- that decision, but I get it.
A overaching emulator that runs the original disc wouldn't have to deal with the licensing issues that MS does with the XB1. MS has to worry about that because the games need to be redistributed (same with the current PS2onPS4 games).
Zelenogorsk
Banned
"PS4 has backwards compatibility for PS2, behind a paywall" is bad optics if you ask me.
Sorcerer Supreme
Member
sony is too greedy to ever do anything like this or the way xbox does BC.
The Pet of the Month
Member
To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the remaster ran the same.
It's not like The Last Guardian wasn't a slideshow or anything.
But you have no idea what kind or amount of work was done on a per-game basis to get them running without issues. The software backwards compatibility that came with the second wave of PS3s was decent but about 1/3 of the games had multiple emulation errors, some of them being game-breaking. That kind of solution isn't feasible and would just create more frustration than anything (which is why they dropped it)