Playing PS2 games on a PS3?

davideo

I look like Gizmo
Staff member
Administrator
Staff Moderator
Treasurer
Blogger
Joined
Jan 22, 2008
Posts
15,120
Country
UK
Region
Boston, Lincs
All this talk about PS3s has got me thinking about my daughters PS3.

She's been told that she can't play PS2 games on the newest PS3.

She's tried them and yes most of them won't work.

Now knowing all our techies on here I said I would ask the knowledgable ones and see if there was any way to play all PS2 games on a PS3 console.

So it's now over to you guys :bowdown: after all if we can downgrade a Miggy surely we can downgrade a PS3 (y) to a PS2

Dave G :cool:
 
Last edited:
AFAIK:

1st generation PS3's actually had the ps2 hardware integrated, thus achieving very high rates in succesfull playing PS2 games.

later generation had a semi-hardware - semi-software approach to the matter, compatibillity was low...

and the last generations do not support ps2 games at all ...
 
AFAIK:

1st generation PS3's actually had the ps2 hardware integrated, thus achieving very high rates in succesfull playing PS2 games.

later generation had a semi-hardware - semi-software approach to the matter, compatibillity was low...

and the last generations do not support ps2 games at all ...

The first generation "PAL" PS3 has hardware for PS1 compatibility but only part hardware/part software emulation for PS2 compatibility (only with PAL 60gb model)... that is why quite a few PS2 games had issues when run on a 1st gen PAL PS3.

Only the 1st gen NTSC model had full PS2 hardware support.... which sucks for Europe (n) but now it sucks for everyone as PS2 support has been ditched for all current models :nuts:
 
I consider myself lucky, cause I have the 1st generation of PS3 (well, I bought it actually on PS3 first-launch-day back in March 2006 if I remember correctly), that has full compatibility of PS1 and PS2 games. The odd thing, is that I never had the opportunity to play a PS2 game anymore. If you have PS3... :roll:
 
@Phantom

But if we have PS3 Xboxs etc why do we play Miggy games??

Nostalga (y)

Or in my daughters case - too hard up to buy many new games when she has a load of old games on the shelf to play with :)

@All Thanks for the replies - It looks like she is well and truly out of luck (n)

Dave G :cool:
 
Hi guys, i've had my 60Gb PS3 since its launch date and i've never had a problem playing any PS1 or PS2 games.

In fact i only own around 5 or 6 PS3 games and the rest of my library are PS1 & PS2.
Great HD graphics is one thing but to be honest i havent found many PS3 games that have hooked me, apart from my FIFA series of course.

As far as playing PS1 & PS2 on the newer machines i read an article on the Sony website that said they are looking at trialing making PS2 games available via the Playstation Network, similar to the PSOne Classics.
Apparently this will be trialed in Japan and US way before Europe lol
 
@ davideo

Amiga is another matter. It has gameplay almost in every game. Now the new games are only graphics and sound.
 
This is the actual fact of the matter with regard to being able to play PS1 & PS2 games on a PS3.

In order to do so, you require a PS3 Model with a 60GB or less hard drive. All these models of PS3 included the Emotion Chip. All PS3 models with 80GB drives & upwards did not ship with the Emotion Chip & consequently, will not be backward compatible with PS1 & 2 games. (y)

Game over.

Kin
 
This is the actual fact of the matter with regard to being able to play PS1 & PS2 games on a PS3.

In order to do so, you require a PS3 Model with a 60GB or less hard drive. All these models of PS3 included the Emotion Chip. All PS3 models with 80GB drives & upwards did not ship with the Emotion Chip & consequently, will not be backward compatible with PS1 & 2 games. (y)
Of PAL PS3:s, only the 60 GB and in some areas the 20 GB version have the PS2 support. The following 40 GB version ditched the PS2 support while still maintaining support for PS1 titles. Don't know if the 80 GB or the slim still has PS1 support, though.
 
Of PAL PS3:s, only the 60 GB and in some areas the 20 GB version have the PS2 support. The following 40 GB version ditched the PS2 support while still maintaining support for PS1 titles. Don't know if the 80 GB or the slim still has PS1 support, though.

Not applicable in the UK. Exactly as I said earlier.

Kin
 
Sorry Kinnie,

Your info is a little out there my good friend, theres a lot of blurb on the net about what is compatible on the PS3 unfortunately if you google it, you will find some down right talking b0ll0x0rz too.

@thread

Now the PSX/PS1 never had an emotion chip. PS1/PSX titles are emulated on the PS2 and are compatible by the native emulation on the PS3 also. As with the the PS2 there are some games that have problems with the memory card, most notably is FFVII, if you use anthing other than an PSX memorycard it wont be able to read or save data, I will point out it corupeted my save data (lucky for me I have a backup save OCD).

Only the PS2 games required the Emotion Engine Hardware, which is a highly modified RISC processor. It implements the MIPS-III instruction set architecture (ISA) and much of MIPS-IV in addition to a custom 128-bit single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instruction set developed by Sony/Toshiba.

As hardcore as it sounds its easier to emultate than a PowerVR chipset (think Dreamcast) as such you can play PS2 Games on the PC =D

Before getting the PS3 for chrimbo, I did infact wrestle with the do i get the 60GB PS2 compatible version?! .... then though... I have a PS2.... with a harddrive.... why would I want to pay more for an older (pre-used) model that is infact defective (YLOD) by design? (even if Sony wont admit it)

I have a PS2 with hardrive, its both Hard-Hacked with a Modbo760 modchip and the McBoot exploit, the latter is not needed and I can load to a Nix OS to then load any oy my programs. at the moment its set to load direct to HDLoader 0.8c

Also the PS3 will also convert PSX games for use with you PSP, if memory serves me, I have a PS3 here at the house (its the house christmas present) so I will let you know how I get on with the later =)

so, all PS3 will play PSX games via native emulation, however unless you have a specific model (60GB version) you wont be able to play PS2 games.

HOWEVER, you could install linux on your PS3 and then run a PSX/PS2 emulator from there =D
 
HOWEVER, you could install linux on your PS3 and then run a PSX/PS2 emulator from there =D

@Zeets

That's the sort of thing I was hoping for. That sounds like I should be hunting information down on this over the weekend.

@All

Thanks for the answers. Beginning to get interesting ;)

Dave G :cool:
 
It would be nicer to install AmigaOS 4.x in some years. :roll:
 
@ Zetr0

I won't argue with your Wisdom Zetr0, but without the Emotion Chip in a PS3, you will not be able to play PS1 & PS2 titles via hardware. The Emotion chip was the main feature giving backward compatibility without the need for Emulation. As far as I grappled with all the blurb on the Net, it's all I could get from the mayhem. :shrug:
The Emotion Engine first appeared on the PS2 enabling greater things over PS1 & a kind of Hardware Emulation for backward compatibility as well. RE: the UK Emotion Chipped PS3's, the 80GB series of PS3 onwards did not ship with the Emotion chip. I dare say some 60GB versions slipped in there too, but afaik, that was Sony's roadmap leading to the new slimline PS3 we have today without the Emotion Chip being employed.

& you're dead right RE the YLOD affair & the blocky graphics. Why bother.

Kin
 
We wrestled with this last Christmas, since my brother was after a PS3, and we wanted to try and get him one with PS2 compatibility, but there were none in the shops. Looking on the evilbay, it seemed that a PS2-compatible PS3 was going to cost £150 more, at which point it was cheaper to buy a new PS3 and slimline PS2 as well! It'd be nice to have it all in one box, but you might find it's more-economical to just buy a PS2 for your PS2 gaming needs. :)
 
Thanks for the info m8. Just to know when the time to sell my PS3 will come, to set the price accordingly. :D
 
@ AndyLandy

The older compatible PS3's are fetching better prices than a new PS3 on the other Bay, but as Zetr0 said earlier, what's the point to run the risk of the YLOD thing.
I've wrestled with this myself & gave up on PS2 with Hard Drive & ModChip, just because the PS2 graphics look crap on the Pioneer Plasma. No point for backward compatibility really. Just get an earlier model of PS2 or PS1.

Kin
 
@Kinnie

I love you m8 I really do, but in the manual it states that you can play PS1 games NOT PS2.

The Emotion Engine is (modded MIPS processor) has nothing to do with emulation of PS1 software this is done in what is essentiall software derived from firmware with draw-libraries also from firmware (much like the PSP)

The Emotion Engine is needed only for PS2 emulation. To be honest thought, with an unlocked CELL CPU running at 3.2Ghz I believe it could emulate it, my 2.4GHz x86 Dev Server can do it..

Now, It is best to note that the PS1 games are REGION LOCKED, so you will be Limmited in that way, I am also under the belief that attempting to run ISO's from the harddrive will be locked out by the HyperVisor.

ALSO its best noted that the New PS3-Slim, Has had the "OtherOS" feature removed, as such you cannot yun Yellow Dog Linux or any Linux for that matter.

Although all PS3 phat models will retain this feature and continued support with the Firmware updates.

So if you wanna run YDL *nix on a PS3 then get an 80GB version (less YLOD failure rates than the 60's) and upgrade the HDD (its user upgradeable, a 250GB HDD) wont cost much more than £60
 
Back
Top Bottom