Am I the only one who didn't know the PS3 is completely backwards compatible with the PS1????

[Paul Campbell]

I just read this online yesterday, and had to do a bunch more research because it seemed like a mistake.  I assumed I would have to have one of the few PS3s that were compatible with PS2 games for it to be compatible with PS1 games, but from what I have read the PS1 is hardware compatible, but the PS2 requires additional emulation (or something like that).  This is HUGE news for me, because I kindof skipped the PS1 altogether and mostly stuck with older stuff or the N64, and I am much more likely to play games on my always-hooked-up PS3 than having to hook up another console on my system like I would with a seperate PS1 console.  I am heading right over to my favorite game store today (Video Game Headquarters in Eugene) to pick up a few PS1 games!  Joy!

[andrew]

[QUOTE=Paul Campbell]I just read this online yesterday, and had to do a bunch more research because it seemed like a mistake.  I assumed I would have to have one of the few PS3s that were compatible with PS2 games for it to be compatible with PS1 games, but from what I have read the PS1 is hardware compatible, but the PS2 requires additional emulation (or something like that).  This is HUGE news for me, because I kindof skipped the PS1 altogether and mostly stuck with older stuff or the N64, and I am much more likely to play games on my always-hooked-up PS3 than having to hook up another console on my system like I would with a seperate PS1 console.  I am heading right over to my favorite game store today (Video Game Headquarters in Eugene) to pick up a few PS1 games!  Joy!
[/QUOTE]

 

Yes, yes you are.

 

Better late than never.

[Luke]

Yes. The PS3 can upscale them up to 1080i, too.

[Josh]

Does the upscaling have a considerable effect?

Any lag?

After playing a PS3 on a kiosk the other day, I'm seriously contemplating a purchase. I'm not all gaga for a BluRay player but hey it would be nice to have one.

I've also heard that there might be a price cut on the horizon.

[Paul Campbell]

I don't think it is the upscaling as much as the fact that the video signal is now coming through something other than a composite cable, at least for me, anyways.  I know upscaling has to occur in this situation anyway, but I always thought the video on the PS1 looked fuzzy, kindof like the N64.  Now it is staying in the digital domain all the way to the display instead of being dumbed down to analog 480i.  In other words, even if I set my PS3 to a 480i output the difference would still be huge.  The only disk I had sitting around for the PS1 was Symphony of the Night, and it looks amazing compared to what I remember.

[Paul Campbell]

[QUOTE=andrew]

 

Better late than never.

[/QUOTE]

Absolutely, because I seriously would have put it off until the day I die if I hadn't made this personal discovery.  It just wasn't high enough on my list to go through all the trouble... but now that the only trouble is buying the games, it's Hammer time!!

[JWK1]

@Josh,  I think you'll surprise yourself.  Blu ray really does make a difference.  My wife was quite skeptical and now she doesn't want to buy or rent anything other than blu rays (she tolerates netflix, of course).

PS3 = awesome, awesome system.  The exclusive games are great.  Blu ray is great.  DVD upscaler is great/  PSN is... uhhh...  well.......

[Leo1]

[QUOTE=Josh]Does the upscaling have a considerable effect?

Any lag?
[/QUOTE]

I don't notice any lag.

And it has a considerable effect. PSOne games actually look nice on my HDTV, which has a poor internal scaler. It's a huge advancement from any of my pre HD consoles when hooked up to that set, including the PS2 or Xbox when hooked up via component (For all intents and purposes, it's considered pretty much equivalent to HDMI from a video quality standpoint).

Try setting your PS3 to 480i just briefly, Paul, and I wouldn't be surprised if you changed your answer about the effect upscaling was having. Of course maybe your set actually has a halfway decent scaling chip so maybe it won't be as dramatic as it is in my case.

And you get to use decent wireless controllers with PSOne games. I could never get my PS2 wireless controllers, including even officially licensed ones, to work on my PSOne. Ever since buying a 360 and later buying a Wavebird for my GCN, I've grown to hate controller wires.

My biggest complaint with the emulator is you always have to hit the home button to change the mode button if you're playing a PSOne game that uses the analog sticks.

[VideoGameCritic]

Actually I think people were so preoccupied with the "how well does it play PS2 games?" to even notice if it played PS1 games well.

[Paul Campbell]

[QUOTE=Leo]

And it has a considerable effect. PSOne games actually look nice on my HDTV, which has a poor internal scaler. It's a huge advancement from any of my pre HD consoles when hooked up to that set, including the PS2 or Xbox when hooked up via component (For all intents and purposes, it's considered pretty much equivalent to HDMI from a video quality standpoint).
[/QUOTE]

Yes, component video is, for the most part, equivalent to HDMI for video quality.  In fact, most decent quality sets have component video connections that can handle the bandwidth of 1080p, instead of the usual 1080i.  Actually, I have a feeling all component connections would handle the bandwidth, it was just that the manufacturer didn't allow 1080p through the component connections for whatever reason, and used the bandwidth thing as a bit of a scapegoat.