PS4 NOT backward compatible with PS3

[Jayro]

I'm glad the PS4 will be x86-based. Makes hacker's jobs that much easier. Hopefully this thing will get cracked wide open faster than the PS3. Emulator ports to the PS4 would be super easy, compared to the Cell and RSX chips.

 

[joelv6]

Really? Are you serious? Do you really think Sony doesn't add digital backwards compatibility just because they are haters? You are pretty new to GBAtemp, If I explain why it's not possible you'll probably never want to come back to GBAtemp. So I'm going to save the time...

honestly dude, chill, i been going to gbatemp for quite a while lol i just recently wanted to join because of this awesome community.
i like joke around so yeah, just to letting you know
anyway, its my fault for not putting some sort signal that it was a joke so yeah
so my apologies sir

 

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[Rydian]

So apparently history means nothing to you.

 

[Yepi69]

Lol figures this would happen.

After a few years they dropped the PS2 compatibility off the PS3 no wonder they would drop the compatibility with the PS4.

At least Nintendo keeps its compatibility

 

[Foxi4]

At least Nintendo keeps its compatibility

...along with their mad outdated architectures.

 

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[Veho]

History is very subjective. We'll never know the real reason as to why something has failed. We can theorise as much as possible, but ultimately we will never be able to jump into the minds of every single person in the world, and find out why they didn't purchase a particular item.

And yet, if the PS4 fails, you'll happily take it as proof of your particular theory.

 

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[Veho]

Here's some food for thought then: PS3 sales picked up after the backwards compatibility was removed.

 

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[Foxi4]

Implying that x86 isn't mad outdated.

Implying that amd64 with an on-die integrated GPU is ancient.

 

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[Foxi4]

The core fundamentals of the architecture is ancient. The stuff on top is obviously recent, but then the exact same argument can be used with the Wii U. If it's not dated to use a processor based on an old architecture with an integrated GPU on top, then the Wii U isn't used a dated architecture easy.

ARM all the way! Modern and efficient!

You don't seem to grasp what I meant.

For example, the WiiU's CPU carries the same stigma the Gamecube's CPU carried - crippled SIMD. It will always carry it for the sake of BC.

Changing the architecture for the PS4 means a farewell to CELL problems such as having to code in Assembly for particular cores. Coding for x86 is idiot-proof.

People should embrace change when change is for the better, and here it certainly is.

 

[KingVamp]

I don't know how efficient the Wii u architecture is in general, but , unless I'm misunderstanding something, couldn't they have fully emulated the Wii?

 

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[Guild McCommunist]

For the record, there is no evidence to say backwards compatibility really hampers sales.

However, time after time, it is evident that price does.

So when it comes between backwards compatibility and a lower price, everyone will choose the later option.

On the PS3, when it was backwards compatible, it had a high price and didn't sell. When it lost backwards compatibility for a lower price, it sold well. That's not just a coincidence.

When it comes to the PS4, between a lower price point and a backwards compatible device, everyone will want the lower price.

If the console is $599 and it's not backwards compatible then yeah, go complain about it, but otherwise, it's a trade off that everyone agrees on.

 

[Foxi4]

Everything depends on how you define efficiency. For a scientist "efficient" means "does the most at the lowest possible power consumption", but for a programmer, efficient would be "does the most with the lowest amount on input" and in this category, x86 obliterates all competition. It's fair to say that the architecture has a lot of legacy components to it that just keep stacking up, but more often than not, those components equate less pointless hurdles to deal with. Apple tried to incorporate PowerPC as a rival architecture for at least a decade and failed miserably because despite all the benefits PowerPC has, x86 "just works", and now better than ever with integrated GPU's so that it can lay off the floating point calculations at which it's crap to a more specialized unit, and not via a tunel all across the mother board but directly, via shared memory.

 

[Veho]

Again, subjective. Correlation does not mean causation. That's something a lot of you can't seem to understand whatsoever.

I was being facetious. And still am

"Correlation does not imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing 'look over there.'"

Either way, since correlation does not mean causation, actual sales numbers don't reflect people's real motivations to buy (and, obviously, vice versa), so your backwards compatibility theory is irrelevant: it doesn't translate into sales.

Sales of the PS3 may have picked up due to the price decrease

That means people prefer a lower price point to backwards compatibility.

Like I said, backwards compatibility only matters for the first couple of years. No point keeping BC once the previous generation of the console has been phased out of retail stores.

You'd think backwards compatibility would be more important after the older system is no longer available.

BC means the console has a large library at launch, but if you're selling the console at a loss you may not want to boost your sales too much. And it's only a valid sales tactic if you have funds enough to buffer the losses for a year or two - and Sony doesn't.

I am going to quote my awesome amazing self now:

a lot of people would like to see backwards compatibility (it's a really neat feature), but if they're not willing to pay for it, the point is moot.

Sony can't afford to have backwards compatibility and a low price tag at the same time (because they can't afford to eat the losses), and guess which one is more likely to bring in more sales.

 

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