If this is true, then somebody has slipped up big time. A planning document has appeared on Sega's PR site that, for all intents and purposes, confirms the existence of PlayStation 2/PlayStation 3 backwards compatability. The document says, clear as day, that Sony has plans to sell PS2 games via the PSN. If Sony's planning that, the PS3's going to need some emulation capabilities for all units.
Here's what the document says:
PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)
SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)
For co Marketing money show PS3 controller on TV ads – similar to EA Madden Spots, NCAA, etc…
This isn't all the document reveals, either. It contains a number of Sega inner workings, such as the revelation that the publisher feels "Mass Effect is more RPG" than Alpha Protocol, a Bayonetta action figure is being considered, and that Aliens vs. Predator could ship on a hybrid Blu-ray that contains the movies. There's also talk of Sony motion controller plans and PSN Dreamcast games! Hot stuff!
I have a feeling this doc is genuine, as I tried the download link and it certainly comes from Sega's own PR site. This means some huge things, and somebody's probably going to get into a lot of trouble.
Still, the document is full of all sorts of interesting and/or crazy items, so scour through it after the jump. You really want to check this out.
SCEA Meeting Aug 5th Notes Aug 6 2009 – DRAFT FOR COMMENTS
Objectives of Meeting Dyer agreed to regular quarterly meetings with SOA
Sony PS3 SCEA reiterated plans to sell 13 million PS3s this year Big announcement back half of year they can’t talk about (potentially price cut of PS3 to reach hardware goals) SCEA commented on indexing between PS3 and 360 SKUs, should be around 2:1 to garner most favorable treatment.
Motion Controller Spring 2010 launch (March in JP) No bundle/pricing details yet, should come Sept 1 Plan on selling 4-5MM units WW SCEA agreed to provide a list of Sega IP that would work well with the motion controller, Virtua Tennis was an example Motion Controller support allows easy way to differentiate PS3 SKU Other differentiation opportunities include PSP/PS3 interoperability – think of features that would make users want to buy both PS3 and PSP SKUs.
Alpha Protocol Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG. Initial level too challenging for players. “Mass Effect felt more RPG.” Review notes sent to John Merlino a few weeks prior. After meeting Gerald mentioned AP is a high priority for his team.
Planet 51 Sell in of PS3 SKU – SCEA noted that other movie titles on PS3 had underperformed as well (inc. Transformers) this cycle. Dyer suggests contacting Susan at Walmart and asking what she wants in the pack to sell this SKU (movie tix etc) Other possibilities are Hybrid movie disc (BD 25 or 50 with Game and Movie on same disc).
Bayonetta Collectors edition with Bayonetta Action Figure Novo recommended launching PSN demo around Xmas based off a Jan 5th Ship date with 2-3 week run out to launch. 3-4 weeks is usually ideal demo timing with fresh content every week leading up to launch (trailers, insider video about PG heritage, video blogs).
Vancouver 2010 HOME, Olympic destination would garner a lot of positive attention from SCEA Should be doing same with Bayonetta, Marvel etc. Easy to launch in all territories. HOME merchandizing opportunities (clothes etc).
Sonic Racing Open to DLC to differentiate PS3 SKU – not ratchet and clank but other characters maybe characters from Rare or Fable universes
Yakuza Could put Japanese games directly on PSN for download in a special Japanese Import section (pricing $9.99 to $39.99 for full game). Might need to localize menus at least with subtitles. SCEA interested in helping on MKTG side if they can have period of exclusivity.
AVP Another great HOME candidate AVP avatars Hybrid BD disc with movie
Iron Man 2 Great candidate for HOME space – explore Tony Stark’s lab etc. Should have one for Marvel in general.
PSU2 Could do bundle at GameStop with PSP 30-35K units on UMD, Go, or both.
Valkyria 1937 Could bundle with PSP as well.
Vanquish and Aliens: CM Opportunity for PS3/PSP interoperability (see Eidos Batman, Army of Two, Assassin’s Creed for good examples). If we offer that SCEA would be really interested in having us at their booth next E3.
Thor SCEA would like a look at the code soon.
Sonic Anniversary Could put out collectors edition with all old sonic games on one BD disc. “Best of Sonic” for around $99. SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania’s flip it over/backwards)
PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential) SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc) For co Marketing money show PS3 controller on TV ads – similar to EA Madden Spots, NCAA, etc…
London Olympics Perfect opportunity for Motion Controller integration.
DC Digital Titles If we provide a list of DC titles SCEA will let us know which ones they’re interested in having exclusively. If we give them a long period of exclusivity they’ll give us more marketing support.
PSP Titles For SKU differentiation it’s best to offer features that are slightly different from PS3 version. Titles that are coming up on PSP are Assassin’s Creed II, GTA China Wars, Resident Evil, Little Big Planet – all massive franchises. SCEA has a specific PSP deck which they can send up with their hardware director for a chat.
HAHAHHA - they HAD to throw in talking shit about Mass Effect.
Oh God the console wars, they've JUST begun! If Sony can pull off a successful wand technology, Natal fails, SEGA gets good again and sells out to Sony, and the PSN has Dreamcast games, Gee Gee Microsoft.
The rest, eh. I should be excited, my Dreamcast bricked it a long time ago and the whole backwards compatibility issue with the PS3 is almost the only thing that's stopping me from buying one so downloadable PS2 titles sounds great, but I'm not sure I'm too keen on the idea of paying out for a download of something that I've already got on disc, if the range of titles is even that extensive.
Why not Ratchet & Clank in Sonic racing? Sonic would get pwned.
The emulator is a cool thing and not unexpected. If Sony can do it through software they can make a small fortune selling the games and bypassing the used games market. From a marketing perspective it's brilliant, as it benefits Sony and any company that wants to sell older games all over again. I'd like to dee maybe all the older Ratchet & Clank titles bundled together into one package. That's an incentive to buy the games again on PSN. Gamestop is not going to like this, but they suck anyway.
What worries me is that the conspiracy theories of the last 2 years are turning to be true. The removal of BC from newer PS3s just to sell us the same PS2 games we already have at double the price we get on brick and mortar stores. Even if it's at the same price, we don't get the manual and extra goodies we get from the retail copy, even if we get it used.
Things are starting to get better for Sony, but it's gonna be a backstab for the fans if suddenly you can have BC and all PS3s, but "strangely" it only works for downloaded games and not for actual PS2 disks.
I have my fingers crossed for a Skies of Arcadia re-release on PSN. Although since the memo also suggests "exclusivity" for the DC titles, is it possible they're in talks with MS for XBLA or Games On Demand releases as well?
(I've always thought Chu Chu Rocket would be brilliant for Xbox Live.)
@Xzyliac
Ah. That's right. You made me think for a bit. Even the B/W compatible PS3's (not the first batch, the ones with the PS2 inside but the software based ones) don't emulate the games completely. There's still a graphics chip inside them. Which means if they can pull it off to put PS2 games in the store it might mean B/W Compatibility is coming back. That or they convert the games completely to make them pretty much like every other PSN title.
I really hope this is true. Even if it's all bollocks, there seems to be huge demand for PS2 software on PS3, and Sony would be stupid to ignore it. I guess they're just waiting for the PS2 market to die completely first.
somehow I think we all knew BC was coming to the PS3. The fact is that the PS2 is still quite profitable for Sony, so it's more a matter of when rather than if. However, I'm worried that they'll just force us to buy the games again in downloadable format rather than just make us play our old discs on PS3. Just a hunch.
DC games are a great idea. This could potentially be a big advantage for Sony, and could usher in more popularity for those titles (Shenmue III?)
This could be fucking RAD. I would not hesitate to buy Sonic Adventure, Power Stone (already on PSP...) and Dynamite Cop 2 (dont judge me) on PSN the day they are released.
totally agree. if they can get the emulator working for download titles they can get it working for disc games.
they can still sell a ton of download games by giving them a slight HD enhancement advantage over disc and even if they dont they will still sell(like with ps1 games)
if they make an emulator for ps2 network titles and not the disc it may give them back their bad image.
I want the ability to play my Ps2 games on my PS3. I mean, buying them off PSN is nice, especially if my disks somehow stop working, but yeah, I wanna have the choice meng.
I don't know whether to give Sony the finger for removing backwards compatibility (after promising it) and now trickling out more expensive downloadable versions of the same games that we could buy used for less, or to be happy that true PS2 emulation is finally on the way. Why does "good news" from Sony always feel a bit like bending over?
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