Sony blunders with PS3 in Europe

[danrok]

http://www.aoaforums.com/frontpage/content/view/2049/1/

Comments?

[skool h8r]

This is a real FFS moment. Sony screwed us over again.

[danrok]

They certainly know how to take the shine off the Sony name.

[Favu]

Wait! Wait! This is news!?

[fantomfreq]

I saw this video yesterday, and it seemed strangely appropriate.

Destructoid

[skool h8r]

Lol, nice video. $ony P$3 i$ taking the pi$$!

[danrok]

Originally Posted by fantomfreq

I saw this video yesterday, and it seemed strangely appropriate.

Destructoid

LOL that about sums it up.

[Aedan]

I was thinking about this a bit more. Would you rather have emulation done in hardware or in software? If it's performed in hardware, and doesn't quite emulate 100% accurately, then you can't fix it, like the PS2's PlayStation emulation. That couldn't emulate a PlayStation entirely accurately, hence there were some PlayStation titles that would not run on the PS2. On the other hand, the PS3's cell processor is more than powerful enough to emulate a PS2. So, emulate in software, and if something doesn't work, then it's not such a big deal, as a software update can fix that, in the same way that UltraHLE did. Does it really need seperate PS2 hardware to emulate a PS2, or is software better?

After all, the Xbox 360 doesn't have XBox hardware in it - it emulates the Xbox entirely in software. MAME on a PC emulates most arcade platforms happily in software. So, I put it to people that the PS3 running software emulation isn't really bad news. Sure, there'll be things that didn't work in the beginning, but that was the case with the Xbox 360 as well (and just about any other emulator!).

[skool h8r]

Also, with purely hardware emulation, it seems to be slower than having software with hardware "assistance". Kinda like having a graphics card without drivers or DX.

[Gizmo]

Properly done hardware emulation should always be able to perform the same task with fewer resources than software emulation.

However, as Áedán points out, if you get the hardware emulation wrong, it is a lot harder to fix than if you do it in software.

[GrahamGarside]

I thought the ps3 had what was basically a full ps2 in hardware form in it so there would never have been any emulation compatability issues, something thats going to be introduced now thanks to using software emulation.

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by GrahamGarside

I thought the ps3 had what was basically a full ps2 in hardware form in it so there would never have been any emulation compatability issues, something thats going to be introduced now thanks to using software emulation.

I'm afraid that all forms of emulation, including hardware, introduce compatibility issues. If you think about emulation and how it has to fit in with the PS3, even hardware emulation cannot be complete. For example, rendering stuff to the screen and reading back will not occur at the same speed or same way as the original PS2 as there's different hardware and different memory. The same goes for the PS3 controllers - reading them takes vastly less time than reading a PS2 controller. Any software that relies on how quickly the hardware performs certain tasks is going to hit problems.

[GrahamGarside]

But I thought it wasn't actually emulating anything and had the full blown emotion engine whatsits inside.

[Aedan]

There has to be some emulation, as the PS3 doesn't have the same input or output as the PS2 has. The full blown PS2 system doesn't know how to talk HDMI, nor how to communicate with the PS3 controllers. Thus there is emulation going on, which is why Sony has not claimed that the PS3 will play all PS2 games. There are known titles that will not run on the PS3 even with hardware emulation due to subtle differences between the systems. When the PS3 was launched in Japan, there were about 200 PS2 titles that did not run quite as expected on the PS3.

[keithwalton]

I was tempted to get one as the 6 axis controller sounded interesting and it came with a bundle of the new f1 game (there hasnt been a new f1 game in years now ) i was hoping it might actually be good.
Then i saw the pre-order price tag, proceedid to choke on my lunch then decide that no a console with one game and a fancy controller for £499 (http://www.game.co.uk/ViewProduct.as...487&mid=330576) no thanks. I thought the expected launch price of £425 was bad enough!

I got my xbox 360 premium with 2 controllers and 4 games and vga out cable for about £350 6 months or so ago.

I think i'll be waiting a long while yet, and hoping that sony loose there exclusive f1 license / allow someone else to make an f1 game for another platform

[danrok]

Amazon have them for £425.

[aghastpumpkin]

I may get one - and whack finance on it. But not for a long while yet.