Sony confirms PS2 emulation is coming soon to the PlayStation 4

[Scorpus]

Sony has revealed that the PlayStation 4 will soon be able to play PlayStation 2 games through an emulation system, confirming previous reports that the console is partially backwards compatible.

In a statement to Wired, Sony said that they "are working on utilizing PS2 emulation technology to bring PS2 games forward to the current generation." The company didn't reveal when the PS4 will officially be able to play PS2 games, but it appears as though the company is already testing the technology in the wild.

As discovered by Eurogamer, EA recently re-released three classic Star Wars PS2 games on PS4 alongside the launch of Star Wars Battlefront, and all games appear to be emulated rather than ported.

The three games – Star Wars: Racer Revenge, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, and Star Wars: Bounty Hunter – all launch with a classic PlayStation 2 logo. On top of that, there's a memory card emulation system in place, along with a resolution boost, and remapping of controls from the DualShock 2 to DualShock 4 controllers.

Sony's statement indicates there are further plans for PS2 emulation on the PS4, though it's not clear what those plans include. It would be awesome if you could simply insert a PS2 disc into the PS4 and play games through emulation, but it seems more likely you'll have to purchase digital versions of older titles instead.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/62861-sony-confirms-ps2-emulation-coming-soon-playstation-4.html

 

[3volv3d]

Still disappointing that Sony and M$ can't build a system that is backwards compatible without crying about apparent "back doors and piracy", but are then happy for you to buy your games again, as they take your back door and help themselves to more of them reddies in your wallet.

Part of me thinks it should be law that its backwards compatible. Or we either, give up on our old nostalgia all together, but no way should we have to keep paying for stuff we bought once.
And I am sick to death of digital prices, RRP or like £50 or more. I mean WTF. No physical copy, no distribution costs, of wear and tear on trucks, and fuel, etc. But you wanna take all that pie ? FU all of you over priced digital content providers.
You would think we should be encouraged to buy digital content that surely does less damage to the planet right ? Although with having to buy a back catalog of games for the new consoles, we have to dump the now worthless DVD's of games unless there is some poor shmuck on eBay. So now 30 thousand copies of Halo a day are arriving in a landfill... Maybe another law is that if these companies are not going to let us use our physical older gen copies, we get to trade them in to a recycling point, and same with films as they push HD and UHD on us. VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray. It goes on and on. They just keep changin the rules and fkn us and the planet over.
Bring on the Save the world and my wallet campaign to every city, say no to these money pilferers!

 

[psp100travis]

Still disappointing that Sony and M$ can't build a system that is backwards compatible without crying about apparent "back doors and piracy", but are then happy for you to buy your games again, as they take your back door and help themselves to more of them reddies in your wallet.

Part of me thinks it should be law that its backwards compatible. Or we either, give up on our old nostalgia all together, but no way should we have to keep paying for stuff we bought once.
And I am sick to death of digital prices, RRP or like £50 or more. I mean WTF. No physical copy, no distribution costs, of wear and tear on trucks, and fuel, etc. But you wanna take all that pie ? FU all of you over priced digital content providers.
You would think we should be encouraged to buy digital content that surely does less damage to the planet right ? Although with having to buy a back catalog of games for the new consoles, we have to dump the now worthless DVD's of games unless there is some poor shmuck on eBay. So now 30 thousand copies of Halo a day are arriving in a landfill... Maybe another law is that if these companies are not going to let us use our physical older gen copies, we get to trade them in to a recycling point, and same with films as they push HD and UHD on us. VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray. It goes on and on. They just keep changin the rules and fkn us and the planet over.
Bring on the Save the world and my wallet campaign to every city, say no to these money pilferers!

What do you expect when the hardware is vastly different compared to the previous console. I expect PS5/XB2 should have no problem playing their previous consoles games as long as Sony/Microsoft stick to x86 hardware which would allow native backwards compatibility instead of emulation.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

This is supposed to be good news when console games are way to expensive? If they sold old PS2 titles at a 10th of the price then it would be better.

 

[psycros]

Imagine if they added PC game emulation along with k/b and mouse support. Logically, it wouldn't be that hard for AMD to have their video chipsets emulate something like a Radeon 7900. Screw Steambox - this is what we really need.

 

[LNCPapa]

No one if forcing any of you to buy anything. If you've already purchased the PS2 version then play it and quit complaining about it being better on another platform - even if it's just emulated.

Too many people these days feel way too entitled. Do something, make your own money, decide what is worth you spending that money on and feel good about your purchase. Just remember that no matter what, something better will come out later and you can decide then what you want to spend your money on.

 

[Victor38077]

You will not be able to use your original game discs, you will have to buy an emulated game title. That is how both Nintendo and Microsoft make money on the games you already own. Sony will do the same.

 

[Gopal Bhat]

You will not be able to use your original game discs, you will have to buy an emulated game title. That is how both Nintendo and Microsoft make money on the games you already own. Sony will do the same.

If the game disc is on the backwards compatibility list Microsoft allow you to insert the game disc you already own, install it and play.

 

[cliffordcooley]

The game disc should (my opinion) grant access to the emulated version.

 

[LNCPapa]

The game disc should (my opinion) grant access to the emulated version.

I agree - but I doubt that's how they will do it. I don't know if there is anything unique being added to each game that is emulated, but if there isn't then it would be a great "gift" for them to allow this.