Is backward compatibility such a big deal??

[Parasite X]

I am with you I love backwards comptibility I use it on all of my games the thought of having a console that can use backwards compadability is amazing .The reason I am skipping PS4 is because it lacks any & all backwards compatibility which is why I got WiiU instead.

Backwards compatibility is a big deal. For example, I wouldn't have bought a 3DS if it didn't play DS games. My line of thinking was: "I want to play DS games but why not invest a little more in a more powerful system that can run DS games as well?"

Now, people got to realize that backward compatibility has a cost, it increases the console price you're not getting it for free. Even in the case of the Wii which has a very similar architecture to the gamecube, you still pay for the controller and memory card slots. That's one of the reasons Nintendo releases non-BC versions of their console later in their life, it decrease production costs, which allows them to increase their profit and/or decreasing the retail price.

Now, if the person is interested in buying a PS4 for playing PS4 games, the lack of BC shouldn't be a problem and it's not a big deal at all

 

[DinohScene]

Probably...

BC for me is quite neat.
But since I got every Ninty console (no Wii U)
Xbox and Xbox 360
PS2 and PS3.
I don't really care that much about BC.

I can emulate PS1/NES/SNES/N64/DC/Other Sega consoles/Atari games on me PS3/Xbox/Wii/360/PSP and play them on the original consoles if needed.

No, BC compatibility for me isn't needed.
It's nice to have it (love Xbox games on 360 controller) but it's not needed.

 

[Sakitoshi]

thinking about it backward compatibility is like getting 2 consoles for the price of one, and the ps3 did something similar but was like 2 consoles(ps2 already plays psone games) for the price of 3.

 

[Coto]

From what I can remember, yes. the A2600 hardware was all off-the-shelf parts without anything in the way of an OS, so it was perfectly legal to build your own version. Colecovison did that.

http://www.the-liberator.net/site-f...-expansion-moduel-no-1-atari-2600-adapter.htm

But by seeing the pics, they didn't seem to re-use logic from atari, but did they made their own way of "atari" logic?? wow, that's some love for assembly, and atari.

 

[Fishaman P]

The main thing is that I sometimes skip a generation between consoles, and I don't want to miss out on all the great games.
What would a Wii be without Melee or Sunshine?

Also, new features + old games = YAY.

ex. Play modded GC games through USB, region free, etc.

 

[Isaac]

Well, yes. Consoles are.... clunky. When I got my 360, I still used my original for games that don't work on my 360. I also have an old CRT telivision with one plug set, so I had to swap cords to play certain games.

 

[Parasite X]

I agree with you bc is the best being able to play N64 vc on Wii is awesome.

 

[duffmmann]

Like the title says, backard compatibility on game consoles has been something every whine about when absent, but is such a feature really necessary??
if you have a console and want to buy the successor, why want said console to have compatibility with a console you already have?? is not that you previous console dissapear once you buy the new one.
in handhelds is comprensible because your pockets cant hold all the gameboy and ds family, and psp/psvita??? holy shit you'll need a fucking truck to take a walk with the two of them.

people buying the new console without have the previous one dont have a reason for bc because dont have games of the old console, and buy a new console to play the old games is silly, just buy the old console instead.

backward compatibility is also the real reason why the wii and wii u are underpowered, old hardware cant scale up that much, thats why ps3 and xbox 360 are limited in that aspect, sony attempted to do bc with ps2 but failed because ps3 hardware is very different and was to expencive to maintain the old hardware inside the ps3, microsoft played safe and built a emulator with limited compatibility, and no one cared about the original xbox anyway.

well, the topic is set, now is time to discuss.

Let me put it this way, if I have a PC that plays plenty of great games, but as time goes on becomes incompatible with newer and more demanding games, I decide to go and buy a new higher end PC. I expect that my new PC will be able to play all the old PC games as well, as they still are PC games. And not to my surprise, just about every old PC game works on my new PC as well as the new games that wouldn't work on the old PC.

Why then is it stupid/wrong to look at consoles the same way?

 

[trumpet-205]

I agree with you bc is the best being able to play N64 vc on Wii is awesome.

That is NOT BC. That is emulation.

There is a big difference between emulation and BC.

If you have no problem with VC you certainly won't have a problem with PS4. Sony plans to stream PS1/PS2/PS3 games over the internet to PS4.

 

[duffmmann]

That is NOT BC. That is emulation.

There is a big difference between emulation and BC.

To those that notice the differences sure. But to the average person, its really not much of a difference. Yes, by definition you are absolutely right. But that doesn't change the fact that I can play NES, SNES, N64, etc. games on my Wii. The Wii is backwards compatible with old games even if it is through a means of emulation.

 

[WarMachine77]

Yes, it is.

I have 40+ games (yeah I know, it's not a whole lot compared to some people), but it's like spitting in my face and those that have purchased games for me as gifts.

We've pretty much hit a ceiling in terms of graphics, and got all the fighting games we need.

 

[WarMachine77]

Yes, it is.

I have 40+ games (yeah I know, it's not a whole lot compared to some people), but it's like spitting in my face and those that have purchased games for me as gifts (PS3)

We've pretty much hit a ceiling in terms of graphics, and got all the fighting games we need.

 

[Foxi4]

I disagree with the whole "BC is important on portables" idea - what's the big difference between a portable and a home console outside of the form factor and the fact that one needs to be connected to the mains and the TV and the other does not? If a home console can push through without BC provided it has a great launch title list, so can a portable.

 

[Parasite X]

quote="trumpet-205, post: 4641978, member: 153216"]That is NOT BC. That is emulation.

There is a big differen

That is NOT BC. That is emulation.

There is a big difference between emulation and BC.

If you have no problem with VC you certainly won't have a problem with PS4. Sony plans to stream PS1/PS2/PS3 games over the internet to PS4.

This is exciting news but I just got my WiiU not to long ago I might just skip out on PS4 any way because I still have to re buy my physical disk in digital form if I want to play them so bc is still a big deal to me.

 

[Foxi4]

Backwards Compatibility comes at a cost. People fail to understand that to include it in the PS4/XBox720, one would have to literally put an entire PS3/Xbox360 onto the motherboard of the Next Gen system due to massive hardware differences. These things can't be virtualized, there's too much of a gap.

You'd end up with two behemoths, both suffering from huge cooling problems, both costing well over $600 since they would have to cover the costs of both the last and the current generation hardware. This is not an ideal situation.

Again, Backwards Compatibility is a neat feature, but not when it comes at a huge price - both in the financial and design sense.

 

[The Catboy]

I actually don't mind if a system isn't backwards compatible, it's annoying, but not a deal breaker for me.
Personally I enjoy keeping my old systems and buying them because I am collector of them and don't mind having them around. Not everyone feels the same though.

 

[Clydefrosch]

by the time a successor console appears, the old one is usually close to breaking down one way or another. i mean, i actually bought 2 ps2's and gamecubes back in the day, because both stopped working (mainly laser issues i guess) and both are not working anymore. i never got a ps3 though, we bought a final 3rd ps2 slim.... thats already giving me trouble with the dvd lit thing. if that one breaks, i guess ill just throw out all my ps2 games and forget about the good times we had.

until the 3ds was released, me and my brothers all went through about 2 ds's each. eventually, the L/R buttons would stop working, also sometimes the left and a buttons. and the highes... on the ds lite, those things were a mess. now we've got 3ds' and I'd have been pretty pissed off if i would have had to buy another ds to play the 40something ds games i bought.

at least half the reason to buy a wii was that it still used my old controllers and played my old games. i also didnt have much space left to put up another gamecube, so this was pretty good.

so in general, space issues and the fact that electronics seem to be manufactured to break, are quite the reason to complain about lack of backwards compatibility.
also, it opens up the library a lot and gives people a way to get a few new games for just a few bucks. with the money you need to pay for one new ps3 game, you can easily buy between 5 and 10 ps2 games... and not even bad ones. just yesterday i saw metal gear 2 and 3, both for 5$ and DMC3 for 7$

 

[Sakitoshi]

I disagree with the whole "BC is important on portables" idea - what's the big difference between a portable and a home console outside of the form factor and the fact that one needs to be connected to the mains and the TV and the other does not? If a home console can push through without it provided it has a great launch title list, so can a portable.

certainly there is no difference other than that, but is about the convenience of going out with just one handheld and not a bag full of them, imagine carrying all the pokemon main series with you, you'll need to lug around a gameboy a gameboy color a gameboy advance a ds and now a 3ds.
other thing is that portables need low power consumption, and re-use the same chip plus a new one is a smart idea because the old chip will feature lower power usage and less space on the board and can be used as a co-processor, meanwhile the new chip act as the main processor, that is what nintendo has been doing with all of their handhelds.

 

[Foxi4]

certainly there is no difference other than that, but is about the convenience of going out with just one handheld and not a bag full of them, imagine carrying all the pokemon main series with you, you'll need to lug around a gameboy a gameboy color a gameboy advance a ds and now a 3ds.
other thing is that portables need low power consumption, and re-use the same chip plus a new one is a smart idea because the old chip will feature lower power usage and less space on the board and can be used as a co-processor, meanwhile the new chip act as the main processor, that is what nintendo has been doing with all of their handhelds.

The exact same principle can be applied to home consoles though. Sometimes this can be done without losses - for example the GBC's CPU was re-used as a sound chip on the GBA. That way, full Backwards Compatibility was achieved at no additional expense. This is not always the case though and if Backwards Compatibility is pursued againts reason, it may lead to crippling the end product.

For example, imagine the PSVita with a UMD drive. The handheld already has pitiful battery life - with an optical drive would drain the thing twice as fast. This is why Sony opted for Digital Only when it comes to PSP Backwards Compatibility - so that the feature doesn't handicap the end hardware in any way.

Think of how much BC-related guff would be required to add native Game Boy/Game Boy Colour/Game Boy Advance functionality on the 3DS and how hideous it would look like. Seeing that the hardware is strong enough to pull off spot-on emulation, there was no need to add such funtionality.

As I said earlier, Backwards Compatibility is a great feature, but it should not be implemented if it would handicap the hardware in any way or hold it back. The Wii's Broadway legacy is the core reason as to why the system didn't get a lot of multiplatform titles - it was a generation behind and the Wii U appears to have similar problems despite having much, much more processing power.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

In my opinion the largest selling point for BC is being able to play the last gen games on a new console while you wait for the new games to come out.

I played a ton of PS1 games on my PS2 while I waited for games to come out, don't get me wrong there where a couple of awesome launch PS2 games but once you get bored with the 1-2 good launch games having access to the hundreds of games from the last gen can really help out.

On my Wii-U, one thing that kind of disappoints me about the BC, is that I really feel like the pad should work as a Wiimote. Yes I have many wiimotes but switching controllers just feels awkward and I think the Wii-U pad would work just fine as a wiimote for some games (Mario Kart, Excite Truck ect.)