Comments on: The Saga Of The Sony PlayStation 3

By: TeddyPig

TeddyPig — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:27:57 +0000

Well it’s a long story but it goes something like this.
Originally both high and low end PS3 models 20 and 60 gigs, I believe, had two PS2 chips specially used to emulate the cpu and the graphics. This was the hardware emulation when it first came out. I had this with my 60 gig PS3.

Then they got greedy and wanted to make the units cheaper to build so they brought out the 40 and 80 gig models with only the 80 gig I heard getting the graphics emulating chip and software to emulate the cpu of the PS2. You have this first generation 80 gig PS3.

Then they got even more greedy and just stopped even including that chip and stripped out any software emulation in the new 80 gig PS3 which I have.

So with each generation they have made the unit cheaper for them to make but less functional for those who buy the PS3. Which is something we saw in the PS2.

Remember the big clunky PS2 model that you could install a hard drive in if you wanted? Then next thing you know they had the really sleek small PS2 that had trouble reading some of the PS2 game disks and suddenly no hard drive and no support.

By: di

di — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:02:30 +0000

You confused me for a second. We have a 80GB PS3 and we can play PS2 games. Probably not as good as your original PS3, I’m sure. They did the emulation via software, rather than hardware. Then I looked and they have a new one out. The version we have was sold in the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle.

The SO’s company worked on the PS3 and he said they switched to the emulation in the software to save money/lower the price. Not sure why it’s totally gone now though… :-|

By: Erastes

Erastes — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:54:08 +0000

I’m still hanging on to the PS2 like billio. I agree with you that I’d need to see about 10 games that I have to have. Right now there’s only about 3, MGS4 (weeps for the loss of it) Big Little Planet and the one I can never remember the name of, was pretty much a launch release with a male Lara Croft.

The price is still too much for me. around £300 still – perhaps I’ll be able to afford it when the PS4 comes out. *glum*

By: TeddyPig

TeddyPig — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:21:10 +0000

Right now I have one for work data only. So I guess time to buy another.

By: Angela James

Angela James — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:09:38 +0000

USB hard drives are wonderful things so you should have one anyway. You can download TV shows to it, hook it to your PS3 and away you go. I actually have two portable hard drives because I use one for traveling and leave one at home. It’s nice since the Asus doesn’t have a cd drive or much memory, I can take movies and such with me while I’m traveling.

By: TeddyPig

TeddyPig — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:00:17 +0000

Boy did it suck. Especially when the hard drive got reformatted. Oh man, Jason was seriously pissed. I need to look into some way to back up the data but that means spending more money on a USB hard drive or something.

By: Angela James

Angela James — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:58:40 +0000

Oh, I actually empathize with you. I guess I wasn’t really clear on that. I think it completely sucks that that happened.

By: TeddyPig

TeddyPig — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:56:08 +0000

Angela,

I am just saying I had all that plus a working Backwards Compatibility with all the PlayStation 2 games.
I also have to say… What is Sony telling us when they actually rip functionality out of their top of the line players instead of trying to provide people paying the most money for their products more machine?

By: Angela James

Angela James — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:48:59 +0000

I didn’t know they were going to release a patch!

We have a PS3 80 and one of the things I was disappointed about was no backwards compatibility with our PS2 games. But we do still have our PS2, so I couldn’t make too big a deal out of it. It’s just inconvenient to have to hook up both those game stations (in addition to the Wii–I know, everyone should have my “problems”).

I am happy with the PS3 for it’s gaming, and for the BluRay, though I don’t love that I can’t hook it up to my Logitech remote with my other devices. The whole thing of using bluetooth technology for the PS3 is just silliness to me.

And I especially love that I can hook my portable hard drive up to the PS3 and it will read all the avi files on there of TV shows I’m trying to catch up on!

By: Katrina Strauss

Katrina Strauss — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:19:56 +0000

We were holding off on the PS3 but then the PS2 died this past fall, so we figured we’d upgrade with an early Christmas present for the kids. Still waiting on that downloadable backward-compatibility patch that was supposed to be released last month….