Physical BC vs Emulation - is there a big difference? Does it matter?

i dont mind emulators, since i can't save nes games except zelda.

Would you pay extra for ps4 for it to have physical BC? as it would require additional hardware, that most likely wont be the case with ps5/next xbow as the architecture remains the same

Physical bc is the only bc. These continuous updates only emphasis the lack of other options ms had this gen. Its emulation the disc is only used as a lincense pass or w.e.

Ppl forget the only reason sony got rid of bc is beacuase it had to keep up with the 360s social features.

I love trophies and ps plus but man the gaming industry would better if sony original mindset never got set off course. Ps4 would have been cell made again only this time dev would be used to it off back and it wudda likely been stronger than the x1x even in 2013. Price would be high low gigs cudda reached 450 range while taking a intial loss

Not to mention it would still run linux lol. So many dam features removed just so ppl could press home buttons and play music while they game etc... smh Americans lol jk.

Xbox just had to spoil the world with social gimmicks last gen lol. Its a love/hate thing tho.

I prefer physical backwards compatibility but software emulation does have some benefits and the way Microsoft has been doing it with the Xbox One has been very good. I am hoping that this next gen the systems both support it on the hardware level though.

I don't think you can truly call something backwards compatible if it only runs games off of some pre-approved list. With emulated BC, you get what the publishers tell you that you get, or that some software engineers can make happen. It's janky.

i like the way microsoft does it.

Right, but some games just aren't going to run on modern hardware without emulation. This is essentially the problem Nintendo had with SNES games on the VC, if the 3DS could run N64 games with updated graphics then why couldn't it run SNES games with original graphics? Well, because the hardware didn't support it, which was part of the reason for the new 3DS in the first place.

Personally, I don't care how it's done as long as it's done. I can uninstall one of my Steam games from my PC and transfer the license to another PC if I ever decide to upgrade. To me, that should be industry standard across all platforms and services.

Yeah, it's more convenient I think. And you wouldn't get those X enhancements with physical BC.

Why wouldn't you? PC emulators with enhancements can be run off the disk.

Put in the disk and play is the best answer. B/C is kind of an afterthought for XBO which is why it's piecemeal now. Next time, it's a feature that should be there at launch, and they should let the publishers know that intent when they develop for the platform.

@PCgameruk: How would that work on a console if you aren't installing the game to the HD?

The way Xbox One does it. I remember owning a BC PS3 OG and couldn't get into it because PS2 games looked horrible on my HDTV. With Xbox One, a lot of them are looks better and plays better too. Cloud saves and bought dlc are carried over too and the online component for 360 titles are 100 percent intact. The downside? Not every games are backwards compatible.

Unless it's Perfect Dark:Zero. Well, unless they fixed it, of course. The game would stutter terribly whenever you looked into a wide open area with AI. The small areas would be fine, but as soon as you went outside on an MP map, it would be unplayable if you did split screen.

Unfair TC, wheres the poll option for preferring no BC at all?

Poor cows unable to vote :(

The emulator does all the work. PCSX2 (PS2 emulator) any PS2 game will read on a DVD drive on PC. You can either rip the file off the disk which is better or the emulator will read the file from disk while playing, no different from a PS2 playing from disk. You can set resolution, anti aliasing etc in the emulator settings. Also you can make a profile for certain games which is what Microsoft is mostly likely doing. The emulator is programmed to know which game its running and uses a custom config for that game. The one X could easily read a 360 game if MS wanted it to, or they could just charged you 80% more than just buying the game off ebay.

The X does read 360 games. OG Xbox games too. You still need to download the game, but you don't have to rebuy it like you're implying.

Backward compatibility?... Just keep the old console if you really care about that game.

I haven't touched Uncharted 4 since I completed a year ago why would I put pressure on Sony to give me backwards compatibility for a game I am not willing to replay now just because "maybe" in 4 years I might want to. Its a bit ridiculous I would rather them invest that time and money in making a new game for the new console.

Emulation as you can add improvements that you couldn't get on physical BC.

Ryzen's internal RISC core is different from Jaguar's internal RISC core... X86 decoder/hardware emulator makes it compatible between the CPU designs.

Modern X86 CPUs includes on-chip-microcode firmware(very small software) and hardware decoders(hardware emulator) to support legacy X86 programs. Modern X86 CPUs doesn't directly execute X86 programs. AMD/Intel are not crazy enough to include old CISC processor with their latest RISC core CPUs.

X86 instruction set acts like an API layer for AMD/Intel internal RISC cores.

AMD/Intel designs BC decoder/hardware emulator with the new CPU design. PC buyer pays for BC decoder/hardware emulator included with the X86 CPUs.

Early AMD K5 offers end users access to it's RISC instruction set which bypass X86 decoder/hardware emulator.