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New PS4 Backwards Compatibility Release Details Arrive

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Sony didn’t say much when fans of its video game consoles and journalists were able to deduce that it was working on bringing popular titles for its PS2 video game console to its PS4. Now we know why, it was already preparing them for release. This past weekend Sony revealed Grand Theft Auto Vice City, Twister Metal and more are a part of its PlayStation Backwards Compatibility plans. Then it made them available for download immediately.

It was on stage during the PlayStation Experience that Sony executives revealed their plan for bringing classics from the PS2 to the PS4. PlayStation Experience was a weekend long event that Sony held for its console fans in the United States December 5th. The company promised reveals for games coming in 2016, plus some big announcements for dedicated fans. No one was expecting to hear about the company bringing classic games forward to the PS4.

PS4 Black Friday 2015 Deals

As of right now, PS4 owners can purchase 8 PS2 games on their PS4. The line-up consists of Dark Cloud, Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Rogue Galaxy, The Mark of Kri, Twisted Metal: Black and War of the Monsters. Except Twisted Metal and War of the Monsters, each game costs $14.99. Twisted Metal: Black and War of the Monsters are both $9.99 each.

Sony says that each PS2 game being updated for the PS4 comes with access to all the features users would expect of a PS4 game, like Trophies, Share Play, Broadcasting and Remote Play.

Sony also says that it hopes to deliver new games to users over time. PaRappa the Rapper 2 and The King of Fighters were playable at PlayStation Experience, but aren’t available for purchase yet. The PlayStation Blog lists these games as “Coming Soon.” “We will be working tirelessly to bring you your favorite PS2 games with new releases on a regular basis,” the company promises in the blog post from this past weekend.

Sony introduced a PS4 Backwards Compatibility Program made headlines because it signals a huge change in policy for the company. Originally, none of the current-generation living room video game consoles offered backwards compatibility at all, forcing shoppers to hang on to their old systems if they wished to keep their favorite old games.

Sony was the first to do an about-face on this when it revealed PlayStation Now. PlayStation Now is a rental and subscription service that lets owners of the PS4, Bravia televisions and some phones play games on Sony’s servers and stream that footage to their local device. PlayStation Now is a huge selling point for the Sony’s devices. Microsoft nor Nintendo offer anything like PlayStation Now. Sony cut the price of a year-long PlayStation Now membership to $99.

Read: Sony Offers Best PlayStation Now Deal Ever for PS4 & More

The problem with PlayStation Now was pricing. Many users felt slighted that Sony wanted apparently wanted them to ditch their console and purchased games for a rental service that they’d have to pay to access. Microsoft seized on that opportunity when it unveiled the Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Program. Microsoft is negotiating with publishers to make their old Xbox 360 titles to Xbox One. The program launched with a little over 100 different titles in mid-November. It’ll get new titles each month, just like Sony’s PS4 Backwards Compatibility Program. Microsoft teased on stage that it wouldn’t charge users to get access to the games they already own for their old console, a not so subtle hint at PlayStation Now’s shortcomings.

Sony hasn’t said exactly when PS4 owners can expect it to add those 2 unreleased titles to the PlayStation Store for PS4 owners to purchase. For its part, Microsoft hasn’t revealed this month’s line-up of new titles for the Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Program either.

18 Comments

18 Comments

  1. Trippy

    12/07/2015 at 11:03 am

    This isn’t backwards compatibility, it’s releasing old games on a new system and forcing you to pay an extortionate rate to play them. £12 for GTA III? Are they having a laugh?!

    Backwards compatibility would be allowing you to pop in your PS2 disc of GTA III and the game running from that, free of charge because you’ve already bought the game in 2001. That’s what people want. Not the option to buy the game again for those ridiculous prices!

    At the very least they should allow PS3 users to carry across their purchases of III, VC and San Andreas, the fact they they’re expected to buy it again is laughable.

    • Corey

      01/21/2016 at 10:47 am

      Get a job, it’s a mere 10 bucks. Or stop complaining and play the games on your ps2.

      • Ronin

        04/07/2016 at 9:58 am

        Thats Not The Point. The Money It Self Isn’t An Issue For A Lot Of People In Terms Of It Being Expensive, It’s The Fact That You ALREADY Bought It.

        What About The Games That People Love, That They Don’t Put On The Network?

        The Fact Is Trying To Market Priced Remasters As Backwards Compatibility Is What The Big Deal Is, Not Paying 10 Dollars For It.

        Because Lets Be Honest, If You Love A Game, And You Know If Your Only Means Of Playing It Again, Is To Either Break Out Your Old System (If It Still Works With No Issues, Or You Can Find It Underneath Everything In Your Garage) Or Just Pay That “Mere 10 Dollars” To Have An Updated Version At Your Connivence, Everyone Who REALLY Doesn’t Care Is Going To Go With The Latter.

        Its Not A Crime To Want To Continue Using Something You Paid For, And Shouldn’t Be Penalized For Wanting To Do It In A New Era.

        JMO Though,

  2. Nononorway

    12/07/2015 at 2:42 pm

    I HOPE THE PS2 GAMES THAT YOU BOUGHT ON PS3 PSN, BE ABLE ON PS4.

    • Troopoop

      12/07/2015 at 7:42 pm

      No they are not,you have to buy them all over again

  3. Didact

    12/07/2015 at 7:22 pm

    While I do think the PS4 is the better console overall, Sony loses badly to Microsoft when it comes to backwards compatibility.

    • JBreez

      12/08/2015 at 11:32 am

      They all lose badly when it comes to Nintendo. The writer even fails hard when he says no consoles were supposed to have backwards compatibility when Wii-U has had that feature right out of the box. I thought he was excluding them from the argument but he mentions Nintendo in the next paragraph. Kind of a lame article.

      • Bealias

        12/08/2015 at 2:30 pm

        He also says that Microsoft don’t have anything like it. They announced and started their backwards compatibility before PlayStation. (Not including PlayStation now) also you don’t have to re buy them on Xbox. You just put in your old disc, or it syncs your games from Xbox 360 and you download them. Lol I love both consoles. Merely trying to say that this guy is really uninformed. Lol

  4. Henijhon

    12/07/2015 at 8:59 pm

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    • richard towell

      12/08/2015 at 9:40 pm

      well my neighbours ex wifes dog walker makes more mate…ont side like

  5. CL Palmer

    12/08/2015 at 11:54 am

    I’m buying a PS4 for the (sadly exclusive) Shenmue 3, but I kind of expected to be able to run a wider variety of games at this point. I’ll miss the next Fable, too! :( Maybe when the price drops I’ll grab an Xbox One. I never get rid of my old consoles, though, but since I don’t own a PS3 it would have been nice to play those games.

    Would Sony allow companies like, say, Sega to make emulators for their old systems that run on the PS4? How crazy awesome would it be to run a Saturn game on PS4 with all the HD upgrades you get from an emulator (excepting Yabause, which is fairly basic)? Hypothetically, you could play Shenmue 1 and 2 from an emulator and then Shenmue 3 on the PS4 normally. Sega could charge for the download on PSN and make a mint!

    Then again, Sony might see that as competition, even though these games are on now-defunct systems. I don’t see a downside from backward-compatibility except for the manpower and cost of programming. That’s one aspect of the PS2 that I absolutely love. (By the way, Bleem! compatible games on Dreamcast emulate way better than they do on PS2 — see footage of Tekken 3!)

  6. No thankyou

    12/10/2015 at 11:27 pm

    Writer of this article didn’t do their research. The Wii U is a current gen system that has complete backwards compatibility without any strings attached.

    • yippi yapper

      05/01/2016 at 8:02 am

      Well… he wrote TWISTER METAL… so… (LOL)

  7. Mike

    02/04/2016 at 10:51 am

    There are 3 models of the PS3 with backwards compatibility, the CECHA01, CECHB01 and CECHE01

  8. chung2music

    02/26/2016 at 11:22 pm

    This is not backward compatibility. It’s a port. Learn the difference.

  9. chung2music

    02/26/2016 at 11:23 pm

    Also they are asking us to buy the games we own already? Nice job Sony.

  10. ANTHONY

    04/25/2016 at 8:59 am

    So what is better ..the ps4 or xbox one

  11. David Snyder

    05/08/2016 at 9:16 pm

    I have both, my Xbox one gets used daily, ps4 is sitting unplugged under my ps3, expensive paperweight.

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