[quote name='Kendal']Sorry, but multiple disc games are still as they are intended. Was Metal Gear Solid not they was it was intended since it was on two discs? Who cares about multiple discs? It really wasn't a pain back on the PSX, I could care less now.[/quote]Yeah, but MGS4 needs a dual layered blu-ray disc (which is 50GB) and that's equal to 5 dual layered DVDs. Some games switching disc wouldn't be bad, but for a racer, a game with massive worlds, etc., switching disc isn't a good option. For a game like Uncharted, I don't think I'd want to switch disc. If Ratchet were using several disc, we'd probably see a screen saying (please insert disc 1 to visit one world) and so on. Part of the reason multiple disc were used during the PS1 era was FMVs taking up a lot of space. However, many next gen games don't use an extensive number of them (more so real time graphics taking up the space), and that's where switching disc may be a pain.
Why can't they add software BC in the newer $400 model? Isn't it all just a program and none of the guts from the PS2? I really don't understand how the software emulation works on the PS3. Why did they cut it all together?
Actually, the 80GB PS3 is 50% software and 50% hardware. Although the EE is emulated, the GS chip is still required. Currently, there is no good emulator out there which can emulate both the GS/EE, and obtain around 80% or so BC. The PS2 hardware, similar to the Saturn hardware, is VERY complex. Trying to emulate the complex hardware isn't really possible due to all the different ways games were developed (which the software emulation just can't do for everything). The only way for Sony to have PS2 games running on PS3 would be to emulate every game as a driver (kind of like MS does). Due to the vast number of PS2 games in all territories (over 2k), emulating most all of them isn't technically possible (unless a crapload of $$$ is spent on it).
The reason the 40GB PS3 has PS1 BC is because PS1 games are 100% software emulated, requiring no PS1 components to run. As of right now (like I stated earlier), there is no 100% software PS2 emulator out that to work with the cell. If there was, it would have PS2 BC right now.
Removing the GS chip (which was needed with the software emulated EE for PS2 BC in the 80GB) allows for reduced number of components that are connected to the GS (like capacitors, inductors, resistors, etc.). Removing it and its components allows the circuit board size to shrink, less solder needed, fewer traces needed on the PCB (the circuit also becomes less complicated), draws less current (therefore, lower wattage rating resistors can be used), and more. Although doing all this may save $25-$30 or so, multiply that by 1 million consoles made and that's a significant amount saved. Some say Sony should just eat up the costs, but in reality, they just lost like $800 million in the gaming division recently, so there's no way they're going to take a bigger hit than they are currently taking. Being an Electrical Engineer myself laying out PCBs and such, I pretty much know this.
One reason MS has a price advantage is because the 360 contains zero original Xbox components. If it did, I could almost guarantee you the console would be $50-$70 more expensive.
[quote name='ighosty']Supposedly, there idea is that is will cause greater sales of PS3 software. They have already lost tons of money and are trying to make some of it up by causing people to only be able to play PS3 games. They have also stated that they don't plan on adding BC later (via PSN download etc...) but I think that will probably change in a year.[/QUOTE]Read my post above. Jack Tretton had NOTHING to do with the 40GB model. It was all up to SCEI (SCE Japan portion). They released a PS2 BC less PS3 because it saves them money. The problem is that the person who wrote that article (saying Jack Tretton said what he did, which wasn't 100% true) that it costs them nothing to remove it, when in reality Tretton never said it and the journalist assumed it costs nothing to include it (the journalist assumed that with software, no hardware was needed, but it actually is). If SCE finds a solution to emulate the PS2 without the EE/GS, it may be added to the 40GB. But in reality, something like that will not happen for a long time, because there is no GS chip (so unless an emulator can emulate the GS functions, it's not happening right away). Some may think the RSX should be able to handle the GS functions; however, they function very differently and the effects from the GS just won't display correctly with the RSX.
( Yeah, I love the ads too.
in' place, man.
