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Why PS5's Backwards Compatibility Feature Can Beat Xbox One's Version

Sony's Mark Cerny confirmed the backwards compatibility of the PS5 to PS4 games, and here's why it can beat Xbox One's version of the system.

Kingthrash3602583d ago

Xbox one doesn't have true backcompat tho

343_Guilty_Spark2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

Not sure what that means.

A virtual machine natively emulates (not streams) older titles that have been approved (some have licensing restrictions) from Xbox and a Xbox 360. Many of these titles are also enhanced and don't require a repurchase.

I don't recall Cerny saying anything about BC with PS1-3 titles

dekke2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

my fatty ps3 didnt had that problem ps2 games worked also ps1 games ..ffvii was onlyone which was lil bit meowing ..but i didnt buy that console for playing million years old games

343_Guilty_Spark2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

Your PS3 had an PS2 built in it which they quickly removed due to cost. It offered no enhancements.

You people decry BC but be the first ones clamoring for remakes and remasters of old million year games.

Razzer2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

"natively emulates"

Emulation is not doing anything "natively". That is why it is called "emulation".

Imalwaysright2582d ago

dekke

Your phat PS3 had the PS2 chip and was physically running PS2 and PS1 games.

343_Guilty_Spark2582d ago

Is it not physically and locally using the hardware to emulate the game?

Semantics.

It's definitely not streaming and it's not using the original hardware to run the game code.

But "true" BC...that's such a loaded term. Are emulated titles on PC not true either?

Razzer2582d ago

"Is it not physically and locally using the hardware to emulate the game? "

lol.....yes, the xbox one emulation software runs on xbox one. Is that how you are trying to spin the word "natively"? Hilarious.

"Semantics. "

No shit. The word "native" when it comes to games running on specific hardware has specific meaning. Saying something "natively emulates" is a bullshit phrase.

2582d ago
nucky642582d ago

you really want to buy a ps5 to play ps1/2/3 games?

2pacalypsenow2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

Emulation is not native backward compatibility.

Not every Xbox and Xbox360 games works on Xbox 1 , MS has to emulate it.

True backwards compatibility is having it natively run on the hardware, like the PS3 which had a PS1 and PS2 chip built in.

darthv722582d ago

I'd imagine the next xbox will natively support xbo games while continuing to use their emulation upgrade process for older titles.

As it is the PS5 may natively support PS4 but no word on anything prior.

DarXyde2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

In the most literal sense, emulation closely resembles "mimicry". It's not running on the native hardware, but it still gets the job done. For the most part, I can appreciate Microsoft's inclusion of this, however, PS2 hardware was included in early PS3, so I would say that was true BC.

As for PS1-PS3 titles, I would say it's largely possible, PS3 withstanding. Sony has already proven with upscaled PS2 games they can build an emulator for PS4's x86 architecture. In principle, if PS5 has a matching architecture (extremely likely), an emulator can be built for PS2 games again. PS4's "emulation" was problematic because it couldn't read any non-PS4 discs, but if it can read PS2 DVDs, you should be able to play PS2 games from the disc.

Whether or not they do that is another thing.

rainslacker2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

I don't recall the OP saying anything about BC with PS1-3 titles.

And you state in your own explanation of what MS is doing, why it isn't true BC.

Sure, it's semantics I guess....except that you can't just throw in any XBox game from any generation and expect it to work. It has to be approved by the publisher. While that may be the case for the PS5, and it's too soon to say which option will be better than the other, the semantics still don't support that MS actually does have true BC.

bluebenjamin2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

At guilty 343 you are talking to a stone wall when you speak to ps fanboys like they will defend they will deflect but they will be hard pressed to mention any flaws of sony than alone admitting anything they like about xbox , I mean foreal talking down on xbox one for getting permission to have the games work on the new systems a least they do that what is Playstation doing NOW for bc on base ps4 why is it the only Playstation in the history of Playstation to not even run basic PS ONE games now thats SAD not even discless but still sad

Ju2582d ago

Every single XBO BC game needs to be patched to be able to be played (360 games on XBO). If you download it from the store, it downloads the patch automatically, if you plug in a 360 disk it does the same when it installs the game. If it doesn't patch it, that 360 title will not run on the XBO. MS has 100s of people testing and patching every 360 game to make sure it runs with BC. A vanilla copy does not.

PS4 does not have that. Despite the fact that it doesn't run PS3 games; PS2/1 games have a built in emulator (with probably some PS4 extensions like trophy support etc).

But PS4 Pro can "emulate" the vanilla PS4 on a chip level; that is, it can switch clocks per games and disable features if needed. It isn't really required that much (I believe Boost mode disables all those - except the GPU; which still runs at 50%).

On a PS5 though, if you run 6 threads (with maybe thread affinity) and very strict timings on that old Jaguar core, you will run into plenty of race conditions if this isn't handled properly, for example. PS games are optimized down to the metal more than anything else; the OS allows for those things. So for those games, there is a HW emulation built into the chip which can precisely mimic that timing; ISA is another thing; while Zen2 is x86 and mostly compatible with the Jaguar it has new features and a complete different cycle times in the op code level. Some instructions might not even exist but emulated by an exception handler. Sure a VM can "emulate" that ISA, but that means, you'd run those games in SW emulation.

Same with shaders. One reason why MS needs to patch each game is, because they actually "recompile" 360 shader code to the newer XO radeon core. The PS4s share the same core architecture and the PS4 Pro's GPU is a vanilla copy of the PS4 + 50% more (and some other extension, but 100% compatible). So, no patching there. PS5 again either needs to have a 100% compatibility layer or some form of shader emulator to run the exact same code as the PS4/Pro (incl. FP16 modes if it were to run PS4 Pro games).

Sony filed patents for each and every method; MS thinks the can do patches and abstract with the hypervisor (which is part of the windows kernel). Thing is, if you can run tests on a HW layer you test that; with a good amount of sampled games; if you don't have that, you rely on 100% SW methods and possible patches to make this fast enough (which probably can be applied on the fly).

frostypants2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

You know exactly what it means, c'mon. Xbox One requires games to be re-coded to be "BC". That is the opposite of being backwards compatible if the game have to be MADE compatible. Why can't I take any 360 game and play it on Xbox One? Because it isn't truly BC.

+ Show (12) more repliesLast reply 2582d ago
RosweeSon2582d ago

Nor a library worthy of it.

CaptainCook2583d ago

What? The next Xbox consoles will be backwards and forward compatibility. Cerny has never mentioned about PlayStation 3 games will be backwards compatible with PS5, unlike PlayStation, Xbox offers backwards compatible from all Xbox generation consoles lol

CorndogBurglar2582d ago

The last time Sony did Backwards Compatibility was the first runs of the PS3 and it was about as perfect as you could get. Pop in any disc from previous gens and play.

Xbox has always had this stupid list of games that they make backwards compatible that they keep adding to throughout the generation. This is how it was on 36p and Xbone. Are they saying that will be different this time?

Also, what does forward compatible mean? This is an honest question, I'm not being g a smartass. But Forwards co.patible sounds like it would play games from the console that comes out AFTER the next gen. Which just sounds ridiculous.

fathertime44642582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

@corndog
The Xbox one is forward compatible, supposedly. It will play future generations games (albeit lower end versions like a low end of would). Also the Xbox 4 will be native back compatible.
The reason behind ms odd way of doing it is architecture and licensing. The of Xbox was x86 or 64 while the 360 was a proprietary cpu and gpu so it couldn't do native back compat. Same goes with the one for the 360. The one should be back compat with the og, but the licences are out of date.
Ps1,2, and the first version of the 3 actually had the hardware of the previous gens built in. They dropped that to lower coast. The 4 will be native with 5 because of the hardware similarities which is great for ps gamers .
My thoughts are though is that shouldn't it rival the next Xbox back compat and not the ones? New gen, why compare it this way?

Atom6662582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

Forward compatibility refers to the idea that new, "next gen" games would be playable on the old hardware, just at lower specs.

We've seen cross gen games in prior gens, but it seems like we're closer than ever to seeing a single disc being playable across multiple machines. I think it's going to start with games like Halo Infinite and Death Stranding too.

And I think most people agree that native BC on PS5 and the next Xbox was a foregone conclusion. The question to me is PS1, PS2, and PS3. I fully expect both next gen systems to be natively compatible with this gen though. 360 and OG Xbox will probably still just be the ones they've converted already.

Dragonscale2582d ago

Its called future proof fgs.

2582d ago
TheGamingArt2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

Forward compatibility 🤣🤣🤣 ;🤣🤣 🤣

RosweeSon2582d ago

They wanna worry about their current Gen first lol

Lazyeye792582d ago

It might not be, but it's still good that it has at least some backward compatibility.

The Wood2582d ago

100 percent true but this is about next gen. .

Kiwi662582d ago

Why does one have to be better than the other because as long as they both have bc thats great

2pacalypsenow2582d ago

Because just like life, its a competition, there has to be a winner and a looser.

No Way2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

No. No their doesn't.

IF there has to be any version of "winners and 'loosers,'" then it's the console makers and the gamers. Either the gamers win - or the companies do.

KwietStorm_BLM2582d ago

You being impartial on the internet? You have acquired all of the respects. There is none left to hand out.

Melankolis2582d ago

Considering PS4 has so many great library, it's a win already for the purchasers, no need to compare with XboxOne.

The Wood2582d ago (Edited 2582d ago )

I doubt people will be drawing for sea of thieves or state of decay from Microsoft's current wealth of quality titles. . . . . . . . . . . They'd be better off drawing from the 360 era of games. . much better in quality and variety. . .

It's an easy win for Sony because of content alone. There will just be way more quality titles to play next gen from this one.

Show all comments (88)
70°

Xbox boss: Memory crisis could impact next-gen hardware pricing

Xbox boss Asha Sharma has discussed how component shortages will impact the company's plans for Project Helix.

Read Full Story >>
gamedeveloper.com
Eonjay16d ago

When does this end? Its killing everyone. Consoles and PC. And for what? AI? The benefits of AI are completely outweighed by the negatives. And the government should have never allowed one company to buy up all the RAM.

Lexreborn217d ago

This kind of proves this is an after thought product, most products like this are in r&d 5 years before they start mass producing. So they typically have the cost of components and things worked out long before assembly starts.

This is an assumption still, but I wouldn’t be surprised if project helix is similar to Scalebound,perfect dark and sod3. They had an idea but no actual execution other than concept stage. Being impacted by the ram shortage likely would also put this device 3-4 years out.

I’m not even sure MS has that endurance with Xbox yet

Fishy Fingers17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

I mean.... what?

We're at a point that Samsung wont even provide their own phone department ram because they can sell it at higher prices to 3rd parties (AI). Its more profitable to sell the ram than make their own devices with it.

You think because R&D starts 5 years ago the 3rd party component manufacturers will honour that price? They'll sell it to whomever is paying the most today, not some gentlemens agreement they made years ago. AI farms will buy more volume at higher prices than any console manufacturer will. It'll be the same for Playstation.

Lexreborn216d ago

Contractual agreements are not the same as “gentlemen” agreements. If you think that they work with their distributors a month before production then their entire business model is trash. They work with companies like nvidia constantly for building the graphics cards they need. They work with companies that build motherboards years in advance. This is what proper business planning does.

They are not buying components on a whim like a consumer. So again, considering the ram isn’t a singular module and is integrated into the motherboard I highly doubt they wouldn’t have a final schematic that they are supposed to be building around.

If they are delaying production another 3 years then it’s obvious again this is an after though project and is just trying to be responsive to their bad execution they had the last 14 years.

It also isn’t far fetched to use their failure to produce first party titles the last 7 years including the highly anticipated games I mentioned all being cancelled. That they would continue to you know… lie

Sitdown17d ago

You don't really know how this works huh?

Profchaos17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

Helix is going to be stupidly expensive

Instead of leaning into smarter upscaling techniques they're brute forcing hardware that will cost them dearly and it remains to be seen if it's genuinely going to provide a meaningful differential

I know in the oc.doace people like to brag about not using frame gen or dlss to get to high on a game but for the majority of players they happily use those technologies without a second thought

That's going to be ps6 vs Helix

Eonjay16d ago

Yeah with FSR 5 they should be able to offer a much cheaper version of Helix.

Eonjay16d ago

While this does seem to be the case, I am encouraged by the statement from Microsoft about wanting to provide affordable options. If this means a Series S style Helix, at least there will be something affordable being offered.

XBManiac16d ago

Series S is what has killed Xbox Series so... Will they dare?

blacktiger17d ago

It's called systematic inflationary. Yes we get it Microsoft, keep raising in the name ofall kinds of stuffs

pwnmaster300017d ago

Honestly if there was thing I learned from this generation is that new consoles arnt day one anymore.
I can wait 1-3 years.

DarXyde17d ago

Another important lesson from this generation: while Nintendo showed us that prices don't necessarily need to ever drop, we've now learned that waiting 1-3 years does carry some risk that prices increase. This generation is just bizarre in all the wrong ways.

LucasRuinedChildhood17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

The factors are largely external. Covid and Russia-Ukraine war causing inflation led to the first price increase in 2022.

Then we get Trump's tariffs increasing hardware prices, AI boom causing a RAM crisis, war on Iran causing a worldwide fuel crisis which impacts the cost of everything.

Gaming doesn't exist in a vacuum. The last few years have been a shitshow and lot of it was definitely avoidable.

DarXyde16d ago

LucasRuinedChildhood,

For sure. No disagreement on the external factors doing a lot of this. Where I have to gently push back however is on two fronts:

1. The pandemic definitely caused some issues: asynchronous development was a big issue and really complicated timelines and affected game quality. At the same time, when it comes to price hikes, it's really difficult to know what was genuine necessity and what was taking consumers for a ride. The pandemic brought about "stag-flation" which was increasing prices and stagnant wages, which was a problem caused by supply chain constraints. There was also "Greed-flation", where companies that were slightly affected or had no issues took advantage of the situation and squeezed everyone citing supply chain issues when there were none.

2. It's definitely true that the tariffs, AI boom, and RAM crisis were all things enabled by tech broligarchs throwing money at this caricature of a world leader, one of them being Satya Nadella. I don't think Sony and Nintendo have contributed much to this problem if at all, but Microsoft's Nadella I feel was instrumental in causing every one of those issues. Microsoft as a company contributed to both candidates (though they gave Harris 4x as much if I recall), but Nadella was all in on letting AI run wild. He paid for unregulated AI, and got a war that's not a war (even though Trump called it that at least five times on television) that screwed up helium access. So for me, I feel that one of the players in the gaming industry is a key architect of these issues, and for that reason I struggle a bit to think of it as "external".

Show all comments (28)
40°

Microsoft lifts the lid on Project Helix at GDC Festival of Gaming

The Xbox maker will begin sending alpha versions of Project Helix to developers starting in 2027.

Read Full Story >>
gamedeveloper.com
240°

Xbox Confirms 'Project Helix', Its Next-Gen Console That Will Also Play PC Games

New Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, who took over as the head of the Xbox business last week as longtime Xbox boss Phil Spencer retired, has confirmed the codename for Xbox's next-generation console – Project Helix – and also confirmed long-swirling rumors that the device will play Xbox and PC games.

70d ago
dveio70d ago

Hm.

Selling to customers the benefits of Xbox Helix compared to a PC and Steam Machine will be the biggest task for Xbox' marketing, I suppose.

70d ago Replies(2)
70d ago Replies(5)
1Victor69d ago

I said when Xbox destroyed their future with with all their arrogance at the start of XBone”if they keep loosing money they only have 2 more generations before they exit the console market like sega.
This is their final chance to validate the existence of a console to the INVESTORS if this console fail as we all know without exclusives from the activision acquisition or their old exclusives for more than a year it’s game over for Xbox consoles.
Everyone know games will wait for a timed exclusive to go to their console of choice, Microsoft signed the Xbox console death certificate the moment they started PORTING ALL THEIR GAMES to other consoles.
Now my hope is that Valve gives Sony a run for their money and we get a good generation where they take risks and bring new experiences to the market.

69d ago
S2Killinit69d ago (Edited 69d ago )

They will make xbox “consoles”, but they actively downplay consoles because their business strategy is walled garden services

This is basically a PC w xbox logo

fr0sty69d ago (Edited 69d ago )

Xbox has put itself in a tough position... With current RAM prices, the system is going to cost a fortune (it's APU alone is $500-600, before you even get to the RAM, SSD, power supply, etc). So, we're looking at a 4 digit price tag, and it has the Gabecube to compete against now directly in that console space. It has no exclusive games at all. PS6 is coming in close in performance but expected to cost hundreds less, and PS6 Pro will likely again take the "most powerful crown" once it drops, but it will actually have exclusive games.

Not an easy sell to the general public, and not even an easy sell to the PC enthusiasts as it isn't powerful enough to justify paying that much for when you could just build a far more powerful PC for not much more $. If I'm dropping north of $1k on a game system, I'm going to want to go all out, not have mid-range performance. It'll be interesting how they plan on marketing this thing, and who they expect to buy it.

Reaper22_69d ago

Looks like you dont know what you're talking about.

1Victor69d ago

What changed?
Hey obscured 🤖🤖
I’ll explain it like to a IQ 9
Nothing has changed they kept loosing money and to please their INVESTORS Microsoft purchased activision and other developers spending more money they could make in WAAAAAY too long for the company CEO that love monetizing everything so they started porting to EVERYTHING they could (even fire stick🤣🤣).
Do you know why it’s called the big 3?
In the lat 70’s to early 80’ there was multiple companies with their own consoles each the market collapsed and only 2 survived, enter PlayStation, exit sega, exit google, Microsoft is destabilized and desperately start to port all their games EVERYWHERE, enter valve.

Now
W h a t do Y O U think w i l l h a p p e n t o
t h e 3rd leg of that triangle when one is warbling and a replacement is on the way.

GhostScholar69d ago

Loosing money ? Got it. You’re obviously educated….

1Victor69d ago

@ghost: “ Loosing money ? Got it. You’re obviously educated…”
Sure I’m not a scholar but it’s obvious that they aren’t going to be publishing their big franchises day one games on their competitors because of brotherly love for the gaming industry.
Unless and I know this is something a lot of Xbox hardcore fans like obscure can’t comprehend that a big corporation like Microsoft is loosing money gen after gen,
Money doesn’t come for free from big corporations Xbox gen 1 lost money on consoles sold. Xbox 360 lost money on repairs of the RROD Xbox One didn’t make the money they wanted, Xbox series hasn’t sold as well as expected and have a MASIVE LOAN from all the studios and a publisher purchase..
I’ll be waiting for your reply proving they are not loosing money. Oh I see you pulling that game pass card, put it back FCC filing by Microsoft said they didn’t make money from game pass.
NOW PROVE ME WRONG

mudakoshaka69d ago (Edited 69d ago )

They had to put them on other platforms. All the gaming companies they bought cost a LOT of money. Xbox is not sufficient to bring in new revenue, so the only choice is expanding your market share by releasing on other platforms that are clearly leading the market. It was not something they wanted but something they needed to do to recoup some of all the expenses.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 69d ago
peppeaccardo69d ago

I might be saying the obvious but any piece of hardware for as powerful as it could be, without an healthy portfolio of fun to play and engaging games is worth less tehn zero. So as long as the new XBOX will be marketed as the most powerful console on the planet and NOT as the ONLY place where true long lastying XBOX fans can impersonate their beloved characters/heroes this thing is going to fail big. I would love to think that Playstaiton is moving away from the PC ports also to keep its identity, the truth is that a console value is higher if that console is the only mean to access certain IPs. XBOX with gamepass and PC ports has depersonalized his player and fan base.
Just my two cents ... but I am sure there is some thurth in here.
Peace on !

Reaper22_69d ago

Xbox has a huge library of great games. This new console will be able to play them all. Thats what gamers care about the most.

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70d ago Replies(1)
Deathdeliverer70d ago

The question will be if you have a PC, why buy a Xbox that plays PC and Xbox games… Unless they plan to have you buy a Xbox PC instead of a dedicated PC. Thats got to be the plan. Take some of the PC players and turn them into console PC players. They couldn’t give you full access to the PC/console like you can with a dedicated PC because you would think the piracy for the “dedicated” Xbox games would be crazy. Yeah, they are really going to have to explain who this is for. If you can install whatever you want then you would have Steam access. This directly copies the Steam box idea so I’m sure Steam isn’t happy about it. I guess time will tell.

70d ago
Rainbowcookie69d ago (Edited 69d ago )

Maybe it will be heavily subsidized so software sales will make up the loss to get it into peoples hands early and the system allows for a steam like environment. I think Sony knows since rumor has it that they will do less Pc ports.

derek69d ago

I dont think that's in the cards not with the 80 plus billion spent on gaming this gen. Microsoft aint subsidizing hardware anymore look how they've priced the series consoles and offered no deals this past holidays. Sony pulling away from pc ports is because there is no good rational for continuing to do so.

ABizzel169d ago (Edited 69d ago )

They don’t sell enough of the current Xbox consoles to heavily subsidize those platforms and in fact they increased in price, so I don’t see a future where this gets any. I think we’re looking at a $999 platform, which I mean is great for a GPU rumored to be on par with a full PC running a RTX 5070Ti/5080 equivalent depending on clocks, since those GPUs alone around $1000+.

I assume they’re going to do a two tiered system again, because a lowered cost version could be the significantly better option for PC gamers specifically the esports crowd who doesn’t upgrade all the time and don’t care about the highest specs. If they can do something around a RX 9060 with 16GB+ of VRAM for $499 then that would be the true winner because it gives those PC gamers a REAL substantial upgrade at a very reasonable price. It’ll also put a huge amount of pressure on the Steam Box.

isarai_lee69d ago

What i was wondering too, like best case scenario it's a PC with a bunch of restrictions on it, and when ALL their games on on PC, what is even the incentive here? 🤔

ABizzel169d ago (Edited 69d ago )

It builds a niche for them, and I’ve been saying they should have done this since the XBO. However, it’s still going to be a battle. Hardcore PC gamers are not leaving PC unless this is an ultimate steal in price:performance.

The rumored spec depending on clock speeds should place this around RTX 5070TI / 5080 performance which sounds insane, but the rumored launch in late 2027 and the RTX 5070Ti/5080 will be almost 3 years old by then.

But those GPUs are retailing around $1000, so what is this PC-Console hybrid going to cost.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 69d ago
MrNinosan70d ago

Basically a PC with an Xbox logo slapped on, just like the so called Xbox handheld.
My guess is it won't play my Xbox games I have on disc 🤔

70d ago
babadivad69d ago

Nah, the handheld IS a PC. It can stream Xbox games or play the PC version of those games with "play anywhere".

This sounds like it will play Xbox games natively, which is amazing if true.

I want to see more. I already have a powerful PC so I need to be sold on this before just diving in. Tech whore that I am. Seems very interesting so far, regardless.

DazaMc69d ago

Perhaps it will download a compatible version if you have the disc in.

Reaper22_69d ago

You just described all consoles. At the end of the day they're all PCs.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 69d ago
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