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It's 2023 - Let's Talk About Backwards Compatibility for PS3 Games

Celcius

°Temp. member
It's no secret that the PS3 had unusual hardware architecture with it's CELL cpu and nvidia RSX gpu. To this day, it's the only PlayStation where it's games haven't been available to play on a newer PlayStation system. There are many gems on this system that have never been available on a different platform like Metal Gear Solid 4, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Tales of Xillia 1 & 2, etc...

Microsoft has done incredible work over the years making it's xbox 360 games playable on all newer xbox hardware and many times even enhanced (for example, the Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy). If MS can do it for x360 games then it makes me think that ps3 games shouldn't be too niche for Sony to care about.

Now that it's 2023 I think it time to revisit the topic - will Sony (or even, CAN Sony) get PS3 games running on PS5 hardware? Do you think it's technically feasible to do so? Will Sony ever care? If Sony did the work and then charged like $30 for enabling the feature, do you think it would be worth it?
 

Saber

Gold Member
They aren't even releasing the PS1/PSP emulated games properly, let alone asking for PS3. I really wish they could do it... but I guess those greedy bastards have other priorities and no interest.
 
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ManaByte

Member
If MS can do it for x360 games then it makes me think that ps3 games shouldn't be too niche for Sony to care about.

The X360 ran on a PowerPC CPU with an ATI (now AMD) GPU. That's much easier to reliably emulate than the Cell. MS had one team working to emulate the CPU and another on the GPU and the combined their work to make an emulator wrapper that emulates a full 360 (OS and all) in a VM.

PS+/Now games aren't running on an emulator. They're using actual Cell hardware in the network blades.
 

Meicyn

Gold Member
Yeah, related to your other thread regarding switching over to digital games, this is where I ran into problems. My PS3 had the yellow light of death and I don’t plan on buying another one.

It sucks that we don’t have access to so many PS3 games, and the ones we do via PS Plus suck in my opinion since the stream bitrate is merely adequate, and the latency is very noticeable.

I wish they’d just license RPCS3 or whatever and get it running on PS5.
 

Golgo 13

The Man With The Golden Dong
The main purpose behind Xbox creating backward compatibility with Xbox 360 games was to garnish gamer goodwill. Remember - at the time Microsoft was coming off multiple PR disasters including the relatively underpowered Xbox One with mandatory Kinect, the entire DRM disaster, etc.

Sony is in no such position - they’ve got market share, they can’t manufacture PS5’s fast enough to keep up demand, and they just released a mega hit with God Of War: Ragnarok.

If you want to play PS3 games, you’ve got your options in the Sony ecosystem - stream them or play them on original hardware. Both are shitty options compared to PC emulation. Sony will not work on PS3 BC because honestly it has no reason to.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Xbox BC is awesome, IMO, because Sony's PS4 absolutely destroyed the Xbox One. If you want PS3, PS2, and PS1 BC, y'all better stop buying PS5's and start buying Series X's. Competition is the only thing that will make Sony spend time and money on bringing back their phenomenal back catalog.

No, I don't think so. If anything Microsoft's BC program proved that BC is ultimately a non-factor in console sales (unless it is available at launch anyway). So if everyone started buying Xbox then BC would not be the remedy Sony would look to.
 
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AmuroChan

Member
1. X360 did not run on the Cell architecture, which literally no other machine uses except for the PS3.
2. Microsoft's engineers are better.
3. Sony doesn't care about BC. They rather remake the games and sell them again for $70.
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
Wish I had bought an original phatty with PS2 bc, but I joined the PS3 party late, and only have a slim and super slim.
I had a phat ps3 but it died after like 3 years with the YLOD while playing GT5. The replacement ps3 (a v1 slim) is still going strong to this day, 13 years after I bought it.
 
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I had a phat ps3 but it died after like 3 years with the YLOD while playing GT5. The replacement ps3 (a v1 slim) is still going strong to this day, 13 years after I bought it.
That's probably the only thing that kept me from trying to ever get one, as I heard they mostly had short shelf life.
 

TexMex

Member
Not happening. They don’t care and honestly while it’s appealing for people on this board the public at large couldn’t care less. I’m sure they’ve run the numbers and it’s probably just not enough from an ROI perspective to do it.

As a side note I tried ps3 streaming for the first time since Plus Premium launched. Huge improvement. It’s certainly no replacement, but it was serviceable playing infamous on there.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Not happening. They don’t care and honestly while it’s appealing for people on this board the public at large couldn’t care less. I’m sure they’ve run the numbers and it’s probably just not enough from an ROI perspective to do it.

Its also worth considering that the ROI calculation is not static either. The upside is constantly depreciating as the product ages.

When MS started their BC effort the expense could be justified, not just because they needed catalogue titles, but because that content still had some market value. It was only a single generation adrift and the technological delta wasn't so big. They didn't pursue or promote OG Xbox titles with anything like the same vigour, and not just because of rights concerns, but because their age made them perceptually less valuable.

Add to that the way that gray-market emulation doesn't have to concern itself with monetization, rights clearances, or commercial level quality control... its almost insurmountable competition.
 
I use to think backwards compatibility was a huge deal. And back in the day when our access to entertainment was very limited and much slower moving, it was. But today, most people just don't care. We're flooded with so many games, movies, shows, people hardly have time to look back. Everyone's just constantly trying to keep up with the now. Look at how fast the internet is moving. Look at how fast the world is moving. Going nowhere fast sure, but moving fast all the same. If you're talking discs, only niche collectors go hunting for games like that anymore. Digital games? Lots of PS3 games aren't even available digitally. The no profit part is obvious, but there's not even good will so why the hell would Sony do this.
 

Quasicat

Member
The day they announced that PS3 was not happening on PS5, I took some of the Covid money I just received and bought a Super Slim on Amazon for $400. It was pricey, but worth it to be able to play through stuff that you can’t play natively anymore.

I was really hoping for PS3 backwards compatibility though.
 

sainraja

Member
This thread made me look up the RPCS3 emulator and I discovered that they have it for the Mac as well. That is pretty neat!
 

baphomet

Member
At this point it should be crystal clear that Sony isn't concerned about backwards compatibility.

If you want to play PS1/PS2/PS3 games youre gonna have to have the systems.
 

Ozzie666

Member
I really have to wonder what level of emulation Sony professionals could pull off. Considering where PS3 emulation is as of now without official documents. I'll give Microsoft credit for figuring out emulation and spending so much time on it. But this is one case where Sony arrogance still reigns supreme. They don't think it's worth the time. I honestly don't know outside of gaming forums; how much casual people would care about it.

It's a pity they couldn't continue to shrink the cell and get Nvidia onboard to make a SOC, which they could use for years to come. I am sure they could find an audience that would pay for PS3 re-releases. A PlayStation legacy console that played everything would be interesting. Toss in some specific CD addons, UMD addons and cartridge slot. I know in the real world; it would cost millions upon millions. Emulation still seems the cheaper route.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Dogshit and will continue to be dogshit.

If you want to play PS3 games in all their glory then build yourself a decent gaming PC, there's no other option.
or just buy a PS3 lol, those things are 150 bucks on ebay, can't go wrong with em

I've owned mine since 2021 and they've brought me quite a lot of joy. youll get more value out of having one in your home locally than using any terrible streaming alternative
 
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bender

What time is it?
Not happening. They don’t care and honestly while it’s appealing for people on this board the public at large couldn’t care less. I’m sure they’ve run the numbers and it’s probably just not enough from an ROI perspective to do it.

As a side note I tried ps3 streaming for the first time since Plus Premium launched. Huge improvement. It’s certainly no replacement, but it was serviceable playing infamous on there.

100% this, sadly.
 

GymWolf

Member
Not happening. They don’t care and honestly while it’s appealing for people on this board the public at large couldn’t care less. I’m sure they’ve run the numbers and it’s probably just not enough from an ROI perspective to do it.

As a side note I tried ps3 streaming for the first time since Plus Premium launched. Huge improvement. It’s certainly no replacement, but it was serviceable playing infamous on there.
When did you tried? I literally tried infamous 1-2 like a month ago and they were a couple of frames and lines of resolution away from being a fucking scam basically, unplayable unless you only play on switch, but even that one perform much better.
 
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TexMex

Member
When did you tried? I literally tried infamous 1-2 like a month ago and they were a couple of frames and lines of resolution away from being a fucking scam basically, unplayable unless you only play on switch, but even that one perform much better.

I did inFamous about a month ago. Worked pretty much perfect. I'm assuming a lot of this is connection dependent but I'm on fiber and hard wired. Other games, like Hot Shots Golf, looked fine but when it requires that precise of an input (because of the 3 click swing mechanic) the slightest bit of latency made it rough.
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
PC has backwards compatibility which is way better than anything PS5 could've had. Not everything is 100% playable, but it's getting there, slowly but steadily.
 
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VAVA Mk2

Member
Xenon is similar enough to Cell in architecture that if MS could do BC for a large number of 360 games, Sony surely can figure out BC for PS3.
 

Akuza89

Member
Not going to happen, it would need to be essentially a remaster and at that point is there enough money in it for them? more than likely not...

A crying shame for some of the ps3 games on there.. though this is all the more reason to keep hold your ps3 systems or to start a ps3 collection!
 

GymWolf

Member
I did inFamous about a month ago. Worked pretty much perfect. I'm assuming a lot of this is connection dependent but I'm on fiber and hard wired. Other games, like Hot Shots Golf, looked fine but when it requires that precise of an input (because of the 3 click swing mechanic) the slightest bit of latency made it rough.
I have a wired 100gb connection dude, unless they heavily fixed the whole streaming system in the past 30 days then we have wildly different meaning of what constitute "pretty much perfect".
 

TexMex

Member
I have a wired 100gb connection dude, unless they heavily fixed the whole streaming system in the past 30 days then we have wildly different meaning of what constitute "pretty much perfect".

Well, dude, I wonder if maybe we're just having a different experience? Or maybe it has to do with my internet being 10x faster than yours? Idk - maybe I'm just completely making it up to defend a service that I don't like for no reason whatsoever!
 

GymWolf

Member
Well, dude, I wonder if maybe we're just having a different experience? Or maybe it has to do with my internet being 10x faster than yours? Idk - maybe I'm just completely making it up to defend a service that I don't like for no reason whatsoever!
Why are you reacting like this? Maybe you are just used to play on portable console where low res and unstable framerate are a common thing so you are more used than me? There could be a chance of a patch released after i did my test, everything is possible.


Also, i sincerely doubt that you have an internet connection nowhere near close to be 10x times faster than mine but ok.
 

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
PS5 desperately needs an Enhanced BC program like on Xbox.

I mean, look at Killzone 2 emulated at 4k/60 on PC. It looks fantastic:




It'll never happen though. What a shame.
 
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McCarth

Member
Honestly, the demand simply isn't there. The PS360 gen was IMO easily the worst we've had, has aged the worst and frankly, the vast majority of solid titles that generation had are either already available via Xbox BC/PS+ or have been remade/ported.

What are we really missing?
 
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RAIDEN1

Member
Sony stopped caring about backward compatibility going back to the PS3 days where at one time that console was compatible and then the later PS3 models, were not.....and they have been the same since...so we are talking about maybe 2007/2008 here....back when the PS4 was relatively new they didn't give a dam about B.C then either...and for me that is the BIGGEST drawback on the PS5....as I've mentioned in multiple threads that games from the PS1-3 era have not been bettered to this day despite the massive advancements in technology...
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
It's not possible, if it were Sony would be selling you the games on PSN now.
 

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
Honestly, the demand simply isn't there. The PS360 gen was IMO easily the worst we've had, has aged the worst and frankly, the vast majority of solid titles that generation had are either already available via Xbox BC/PS+ or have been remade/ported.

What are we really missing?

Off the top of my head, Resistance 1, 2 and 3, Killzone 2 and 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, Motorstorm, Motorstorm Apocalypse, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, inFamous 1 and 2.

It's not possible, if it were Sony would be selling you the games on PSN now.

There's people doing it literally right now on PC.
 
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Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
The X360 ran on a PowerPC CPU with an ATI (now AMD) GPU. That's much easier to reliably emulate than the Cell. MS had one team working to emulate the CPU and another on the GPU and the combined their work to make an emulator wrapper that emulates a full 360 (OS and all) in a VM.

PS+/Now games aren't running on an emulator. They're using actual Cell hardware in the network blades.

At some point they will need to replace them with PC blades (so they need to tackle the emulation issue) and at some point PS6 should be powerful enough to run the games without a lot of per title work by Sony, maybe PS5 is fast enough, but when people say as “oh no, works just fiiiine in RPCS3, Sony should release it all like this” I hear something that makes me as confident as when I hear a developer answering “dev done, code works just fine, zarro bugs on it, no need to test it”… but at some point Sony has to make it work.
 
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Majormaxxx

Member
Off the top of my head, Resistance 1, 2 and 3, Killzone 2 and 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, Motorstorm, Motorstorm Apocalypse, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, inFamous 1 and 2.



There's people doing it literally right now on PC.
Heavenly sword
 

Zathalus

Member
PS3 emulation may not be fully possible on the PS5, but the PS6 should have AVX 512, so that should handle it better
 

McCarth

Member
Off the top of my head, Resistance 1, 2 and 3, Killzone 2 and 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, Motorstorm, Motorstorm Apocalypse, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, inFamous 1 and 2.



There's people doing it literally right now on PC.
Can't all those except MGS4 be played on PS+?
 

Majormaxxx

Member
Honestly, the demand simply isn't there. The PS360 gen was IMO easily the worst we've had, has aged the worst and frankly, the vast majority of solid titles that generation had are either already available via Xbox BC/PS+ or have been remade/ported.

What are we really missing?
It was fantastic for single player games... Ps1 gen aged worst, not ps3. You are right that a bunch are made available though.
 
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