Hands-on with PS4's PlayStation 2 emulation

[Paul2]

It's been a long time since we first reported that classic PS1 and PS2 titles were heading to PlayStation 4, running under emulation. It's been so long in fact, that we began to wonder whether Sony had shelved the project. The company originally informed developers of the existence of the emulator at the same time it briefed them on the planned rollout for the PlayStation Now cloud service, way back in January 2014. Since then, the only hints at its existence came in the form of some telling PEGI game ratings, along with some sightings of PS2 classics appearing in shared media lists during the PS4 firmware 3.0 beta phase...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-hands-on-with-ps4-playstation2-emulation

sounds very cool if true.

[Titan]

Wow. Those screens, if it's indicative of the final product, is good news for gamers. Though I guess it depends how they roll it out. Emulation can go one of two ways. It can be like the emulation on the PS3 where PS2 and PSX classics had to be purchased and downloaded. The other way would be through software and the original discs. I'm hoping it's the latter since I have all my PSX and PS2 discs still displayed proudly on my shelf. Unfortunately, Sony has released next to nothing so we won't know until it's rolled out or until they release some more info.

I still have my PS2 hooked up to my HDTV so when I feel the need to play a classic, I can just turn my TV to component, drop in the disc and a memory card and go to town. However, my gripe is that on modern digital TVs, the games look like shit (like the bottom picture Paul posted). They weren't developed for a digital TV, but for analog. They were also generally made slightly below SD resolution. When they are stretched out on a 1920x1080 TV, it's just not that good. Eventually, I would like to make a truly gaming entertainment center but I'm at least a couple years out from having the space to build it (in which I would buy a good SD TV to hook up my PS2, Genesis and NES for classic gaming). So in the mean time, if they do emulation through the discs, that would just be simply amazing.

[Paul2]

yeah i agree with you it would be amazing if the emulation also supports game discs beside digital downloads of ps1 an ps2 games.

btw, what do you mean when you say go to town?

[Titan]

btw, what do you mean when you say go to town?

From Urban Dictionary

go to town
generic phrase indicating action(s) performed in a hardcore manner

"Boy howdy, Tom Cruise is just goin' to town on those ninja assassins."

"That kid can really go to town on a dance floor."

"He kissed her a few times, then they really went to town."

[Paul2]

oh i see.  too many terminology to remember it all.  first time i heard of it though.

here is a video from the link i first posted.  At 2:13 of the video, it shows a ps2 game running at a much stable frame rate of 60 fps on the ps4 emulation.

really cool.

[Titan]

Now Sony is asking fans what games they want emulated. I agree with the author. TimeSplitters 2

http://www.appy-gamer.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=1&articleid=52419316&source=drive

It's crazy how we've gone from PlayStation 2 emulation being a rumour for the PlayStation 4 to being officially confirmed in the span of one Digital Foundry investigation. Still, while we've already polled you on your most wanted ports, now Sony's joined in on the action, asking on Twitter which classics you'd like to replay.

"Which games would you love to play again?" the PlayStation UK account asked. "SSX Tricky and TimeSplitters 2 get our vote in the office." Man, if TimeSplitters 2 re-released with Trophies, we reckon that there'd be an implosion of excitement within Push Square Towers. It surely won't happen, though – will it?

[Paul2]

  cool.