Towards the end of August, my launch 60 GB PS3 died as I was finishing up Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Suffice it to say that the next few weeks were frustrating and sad as my best attempt to emulate Dr. Victor Frankenstein resulted in failure that was surely inevitable. When I got over the denial and random outbursts of violence--that would make Tommy Wiseau feel ashamed--I had to let my game saves and PS2 backwards compatibility go.

I had to start anew, which meant buying a slim PS3; it was hard to get used to at first, especially since I had to start Deus Ex: Human Revolution all over again, but I grew accustomed to the much quieter system quickly.

Despite the over-dramatization in the opening paragraph, I did use the backwards compatibility in my now deceased PS3 to the fullest, but until this past weekend, I had not played any of my older games because it meant I would have to find my PS2 and hope that everything still worked.

Well, this weekend I was in the mood to do just that. After rummaging through a few boxes in the basement, I found my slim PS2 with everything but the composite cables, which was not a problem due to the fact that the component cables I bought for my PS3 worked with my PS2. Tentatively, I connected everything to my TV, and much to my relief, it worked--except for the controller, which was smashed face down in a box for more than a few years; luckily, I had a spare controller that worked perfectly. Also, remember memory cards? I had to clear a couple in order to save my progress.

What got me motivated to dig up my old PS2 was a combination of boredom and the desire to play the PS2 Final Fantasy games, which was largely a result of Final Fantasy XIII-2 being just a few weeks away. Though the Final Fantasy games helped spark the process, I ended up playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas first, which was the start of my third attempt to complete the game. I got San Andreas the day it was launched and stopped the first time somewhere around one of the first flying missions; the controls annoyed me enough for me to put it down until shortly before Grand Theft Auto IV was released. As the newest iteration of Grand Theft Auto approached, I gave San Andreas another go on my PS3, and I got much further with the second attempt--probably towards the end of the Las Venturas portion of the game. I did not complete it before the release of Grand Theft Auto IV and never got around to finishing it.

Though I stated I am on my third attempt, I am not sure as to how serious I am about actually finishing it. I am ignoring as much of the side stuff as I can, such as the odd jobs and messing with weight training, and I finished the initial Grove Street/Los Santos portion, which after listening to a recent Bombcast where Jeff Gerstmann talked at length about his love for Easy-E and the rest of N.W.A., I could not help but think that he had to have enjoyed San Andreas quite a bit--his review certainly suggested he did.

After some confusion and what seemed to be betrayal at the end of the first act or chapter, I am at the start of the badlands portion of the game, which is why I am unsure about whether or not I want to continue. From what I can remember, driving around the badlands was boring and it took forever to get from place to place, so that is something that has me all but inspired to continue. Other than that, I was initially surprised just how bad those Grand Theft Auto games looked; it took me a few missions to get used to the graphics, and once my eyes adjusted to the bland textures, I was able to make out the environment better. That being said, it was nowhere near as bad as trying to play an original PlayStation football game or Star Fox on the SNES; to be fair, most early 3D games do not hold up well, though.

I did get around to playing Final Fantasy X, which I did not play when it was first released in 2001; the character models and the CG actually hold up fairly well. Based on how they used the camera in cutscenes, it seemed as if they were really going out of their way to show just how good games could look on the PS2. However, I cannot say I am much of a fan of Tidus so far and his ridiculous outfit, nor blitzball, but I do not mind the combat or the main story.

To wrap this up, it is nice to have the ability to play my PS2 games again. Maybe now I will (not) get around to playing Drakengard.

I just paid $200 for Sony to fix my backwards PS3 that I had bought off someone locally that decided to YLOD on me a few months after buying it. I got about 4-5 PS2 games that I really want to play, so for me it's important. PS2 really had some amazing RPG's, and I hope to some day soon find the time to dig through my huge back log of them.

As for the FFX game, that game meant a lot to me because of how I got to experience it. I had taken my PS2 over to a friends house where the four of us started to play FFX, only to realize a few hours in that we didn't have a memory card because I forgot it at home. We then spent the rest of the day/night trying to beat the game in one sitting with every single battle knowing that if we died it was game over for real. Perma death and knowing that we would lose all that time made that game one of my best gaming experiences ever for me. Every tiny random battle we got into felt like a life or death struggle. Every time we beat an end boss with one guy and a sliver for health we would jump up and cheer uncontrollably. Hours where spent arguing over what direction to take a characters build in the sphere grid, and why you were wrong and I was right. Arguments broke out over which character we wonted to try and with; I wanted Lulu.

Sadly, once we got the memory card the game lost it's appeal almost instantly, and as soon as we saved we wiped on the next boss and that was it. I never got to see how that game ended to date, and I'm afraid to go back and try it again because I know it won't live up to those memories. Plus, I had the ending spoiled reading EGM many years back so the motivation is hard to find.

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

@kingzetta said:

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

I completely agree, it's like my mom complained that her Wii doesn't play DVD's. I told her that you bought a Wii, if you wanted to watch DVDs buy a DVD player. People now a days seem to expect so much out of electronics.

At least I don't need it. Oddly enough my TV is so new that I can have multiple consoles hooked up to it, including PS3, 360, PC, Gamecube, PS2 and PS1.  
I know it's crazy, but TVs have come a long way

@kingzetta: @Hizang:

I did play PS3 games on my launch PS3 that had backwards compatibility, but I also buy older games that I did not get a chance to play for various reasons when they were originally released. This blog post was not written to complain that Sony stripped the backwards compatibility out of the newer versions of the PS3. Instead, it was just to talk about the events that were involved in me hooking up my old PS2 to play some games after I had not played a PS2 game for a while.

I was more frustrated that I needed to spend money on a new PS3 than I was about losing the backwards compatibility.

I still have my slim PS2 If I find a game worth wile Ill dig it out. 

PS4 better be completely backwards compatible with PS 1,2,3 games.

You guys are stupid.... There.. I said it.

@kingzetta said:

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

Don't be a moron. What are gamers supposed to do, have several game consoles lying around?

I have my PS2 on my desk behind my monitor hooked up to a SDTV and my PS3 slim next to it hooked up to the monitor and my laptop nested in the middle of it all also hooked up to the monitor. I wish I still had backwards compatibility so I could box up my PS2 and get this TV off my desk. It takes up like 1/3rd of my desk.

I just emulate a PS2 on my PC. Not everything emulates perfectly, and trying to go above native resolution will result in some bad graphical glitches in some games, but over all it works fine and sometimes works better than the PS3 ever did.

Oh look, this thread again. Insert analogies of 8-tracks playing in CD players, laser discs playing on my VCR, blah blah blah blah blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Buy a PS2. Sorted.

@kingzetta said:

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

Don't be a moron. What are gamers supposed to do, have several game consoles lying around?

@kingzetta said:

@QuistisTrepe said:

@kingzetta said:

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

Don't be a moron. What are gamers supposed to do, have several game consoles lying around?

yes

Yupp, at least that's what I do.

I wish it were backwards compatible but I do still have a PS2 so I can dig it out on those days when I feel nostalgic.

Buy a PS2. Sorted.

I told her that you bought a Wii, if you wanted to watch DVDs buy a DVD player.

@Hizang said:

I told her that you bought a Wii, if you wanted to watch DVDs buy a DVD player.

And if you want to play Genesis you buy a Genesis? And for MasterSystem games a MasterSystem? And a C64? And SNES and a NES and a NeoGeo...  Who needs backward compatibility when stacking obsolete hardware is so much fun.  I am really having a hard time understanding people defending the inadequacies of some piece of hardware.

I always have my PS2 hooked up. Got a component switch plugged into my HDPVR so I can switch between my 360, PS2 and Wii without hassle.

I do like having a PS3 able to play PS2 as a cool bonus. Too bad playing it is laggy on any visual setup (even for SCART).

I'll never understand this "DEVICES SHOULD ONLY HAVE ONE FUNCTION" mentality. It's like people actually crave inconvenience and loath technological progress.

@Cloudenvy said:

@kingzetta said:

@QuistisTrepe said:

@kingzetta said:

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

Don't be a moron. What are gamers supposed to do, have several game consoles lying around?

yes

Yupp, at least that's what I do.

Congrats, you're a fool.

@Grumbel said:

@Hizang said:

I told her that you bought a Wii, if you wanted to watch DVDs buy a DVD player.

And if you want to play Genesis you buy a Genesis? And for MasterSystem games a MasterSystem? And a C64? And SNES and a NES and a NeoGeo... Who needs backward compatibility when stacking obsolete hardware is so much fun. I am really having a hard time understanding people defending the inadequacies of some piece of hardware.

Yeah, we should start demanding less for our money.

@Cloudenvy said:

@kingzetta said:

@QuistisTrepe said:

@kingzetta said:

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

Don't be a moron. What are gamers supposed to do, have several game consoles lying around?

yes

Yupp, at least that's what I do.

Congrats, you're a fool.

PS4 better be completely backwards compatible with PS 1,2,3 games.

@Soapy86 said:

I'll never understand this "DEVICES SHOULD ONLY HAVE ONE FUNCTION" mentality. It's like people actually crave inconvenience and loath technological progress.

I'd try to make a comparison to today's American government, but it speaks enough for itself. As for the ACTUAL topic at hand, however-

@iam3green said:

@ninjakiller said:

PS4 better be completely backwards compatible with PS 1,2,3 games.

i hope to see that also. i also expect it to have an interface that works with all of them, like the home button to see friend's list. i want a console to be backwards compatibledity because i want be able to play older games with a newer console. it takes a lot of room to have different consoles setup.

Lemme just say this- Sony's (at least making an attempt at) rectifying mistakes made by giving gamers a (paltry, at the moment) offering of PS2 classics (come on, Maximo? I didn't play that. I can't think of anyone that I know of personally who did either. So... why?) for download on the PSN.

@kingzetta said:

@QuistisTrepe said:

@Cloudenvy said:

@kingzetta said:

@QuistisTrepe said:

@kingzetta said:

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

Don't be a moron. What are gamers supposed to do, have several game consoles lying around?

yes

Yupp, at least that's what I do.

Congrats, you're a fool.

Much less of a fool as the person that payed $250 or much more likely twice that, to play games that they already own for a system they already.own.

We should start demanding less for our money while we bitch about underachieving consoles. Dude, please stop posing ITT. You're just going to hurt yourself.

@Grumbel said:

@CosmicQueso said:

Buy a PS2. Sorted.

A PS2 won't give you wireless controllers, virtual memory cards or HDMI output, but it will cost you another $50 or more and waste a whole lot of shelf space.

A PS3 will give you component output, which looks just as good as my PS3 ever did emulating PS2 games. As for shelf space then eh? How? Slimline PS2s are tiny. I had to buy a new one in 2009 to play Persona 4 since my old BC PS3 died, bit of a hassle but it doesn't really take up any space, little bit annoying having wired controllers but then again the PS2 pad is better than the PS3 one is. Those "triggers" are the stuff of nightmares.

I would be pissed if my Blu-Ray player didn't read the shitload of DVDs that I own. I don't see why we shouldn't expect this of our consoles.

@ninjakiller: That will just ramp the price up like what happened to the PS3. I think PS1 and 3 for sure... maybe PS2 if you're lucky.

There are plenty of PS2 games I'd love to play however am unable to. I have absolutely no room to set my PS2 up and all the hassle involved in doing so just isn't worth it for me. It's something I'd use a lot if it did exist but oh well, nothing I can do about it.

I bought a couple of PS1 games the other day for dirt cheap and just threw them into my PS3 and was playing instantly, I'd love to be able to do that for PS2 games too.

My 60 gig launch model PS3 died this past Christmas and I, too had to replace it with an new Slim. The Slim is much more quiet and seems to throw off a lot less heat which is good. However, I do miss my PS2 backwards compatibility. I had a PS2 proper in the early 2000's and sold it since I was (a) younger and dumber and (b) in love with the early days of Xbox Live. Incidentally, I had played the shit out of Maximo back then. So, it with my old PS2 gone, I was without for several years until I bought a PS3. The reason I did buy one was specifically because it had the b/c capability. I had heard rumors that Sony was planning on removing the hardwired b/c feature and I wanted to get one before it disappeared. I played a lot of PS2 JRPGs on that machine; the Personas as well as other SMTs, DQVIII, Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy, the later FF's, etc... Never worrying about memory cards and the ease of wireless controls was a blessing. I still haven't decided on when or if I will get my old "fatty" fixed. It would be cheaper to get a replacement PS2, I know and chances are I will do that at some point. I miss my launch PS3 but am happy I had it for 5 years.

@Grumbel said:

@CosmicQueso said:

Buy a PS2. Sorted.

A PS2 won't give you wireless controllers, virtual memory cards or HDMI output, but it will cost you another $50 or more and waste a whole lot of shelf space.

Exactly. I never owned a PS2 or PS1. The PS3 was my first Sony system so when I wanted to buy one right after they threw out the backwards compatibility and put in smaller hard drives (mid-2008), I had to turn to eBay to get a launch system because I wanted to catch up on all the classics I had missed in the generations prior and since the PS3 was advertised as giving me such opportunity, I wanted to make use of that to the fullest (and thus justify its high cost!).

This allowed me, a newcomer, to play through the whole Metal Gear Solid series chronologically on the same system without having to worry about memory cards and wired connections to download MGS3 camouflage packs and stuff like that. Sure, I haven't used it to play old games for ages now but that's mostly because I have trouble keeping up with all the new stuff.

Back then, no HD Collections were in sight and Sony didn't let out a peep about downloadable PS2 games on PSN either.

I still need that functionality, though, since I doubt Capcom is going to re-release Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter anywhere and there are still some obscure games that are going to be wasting away in publisher's back catalogs.

Just played through Okami on my PC @ 1080p with 60 FPS. Best looking game of 2012.

Not every game works perfectly with PCSX2, but I'm pretty sure that if you got the hardware to run it, it's better supported than the PS3 BC ever was.

@kingzetta said:

@QuistisTrepe said:

@Cloudenvy said:

@kingzetta said:

@QuistisTrepe said:

@kingzetta said:

People still complain about this? You bought a PS3, play a PS3 game.

Don't be a moron. What are gamers supposed to do, have several game consoles lying around?

yes

Yupp, at least that's what I do.

Congrats, you're a fool.

Much less of a fool as the person that payed $250 or much more likely twice that, to play games that they already own for a system they already.own.

We should start demanding less for our money while we bitch about underachieving consoles. Dude, please stop posing ITT. You're just going to hurt yourself.

I always have my PS2 hooked up. Got a component switch plugged into my HDPVR so I can switch between my 360, PS2 and Wii without hassle.

when i got my ps3 i sold all my ps2 games including the console i dont care if its backwards compatible since i would most likely have not have sold the ps2 then...

although i really regret trading my ps1 (or psx since it was the old gray one) and my about 500 games including a shit ton of controllers like flight stick, driving wheel and especially the g-con 45 gun for a car.

God i miss that one