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PS2 (contrary to popular belief) was the console that had the least correctly used hardware in history

yes it is true, only Shadow of the Colossus, MGS3 and Hitman made decent use of the console, all those 60fps games you know could have been even better at 25~30fps all them.

There are many factors, whether related to planning or causality.

The initial dev kits were broken, generating games that were noticeably below what we see in future games with the exception of Tekken Tag where the developer really defended the honor of the series his merit, not the dev kit's.

the causal reasons were strictly commercial, it was enough to make a functional game and sell it
an example was Sonic Heroes, a game completely made out of spite, it sold almost 3M more on the ps2 than the sum of the other versions and the examples only grow.
this was the central reason why the ps2 was almost unexplored.

Difficulty programming

Working with the PlayStation 2 required time and money, its texturing system required care that most devs were not willing to take, making proper use of VU's was not something that many devs did. Despite, the developer called ERP said that there was a positive point, updated dev kits gave the developer a fabulous range of activities, almost everything could be done, so we return to the initial question again , reasons strictly commercial.

Conspiracy theory

There is a theory that Sony vetoed the use of techniques that imitated shaders and bump mapping in order to present such techniques as new on the PS3.
Yes, the PS2 didn't have dot3 but due to the fill rate the PS2 could implement this technique, completely modifying any game but Sony vetoed.
Another supposedly vetoed technique concerns texturing. The technique was developed in 2005 and would be a game changer, but at the end of 2006 Sony would launch the PS3.


PS2 (contrary to popular belief) was the console that had the least correctly used hardware in history.
 
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Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
yes it is true, only Shadow of the Colossus, MGS3 and Hitman made decent use of the console, all those 60fps games you know could have been even better at 25~30fps all them.
Bbc Three Idk GIF by BBC
 

DaGwaphics

Member
It wouldn't surprise me at all if the hardware never got maximized to 100% of its potential just because of how bespoke it was.

I call complete BS on Sony holding anything back for the PS3. That's a consideration that might be given between generations today, where the mathematical jumps between generations aren't all that impressive, but not during the PS2 to PS3 transition where the hardware was improving many magnitudes between the gens.
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
I mean, there are almost certainly things you can do today on PS2 with modern software that you couldn't do (performantly) 20 years ago. That's how software evolution works. The same is true for every console.
Check out some of the modern N64 engines, for example. They blow what was available back then out to of the water.
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
I need to re buy a PS2. Are they easy to set up via HDMI for modern TVs?
I believe the options are pretty much buying a modified console with HDMI or some kind of upscaler like a retrotink, which I’ve heard very good stuff about. Or have a CRT in a spare room, that’s what I have
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
I call complete BS on Sony holding anything back for the PS3. That's a consideration that might be given between generations today, where the mathematical jumps between generations aren't all that impressive, but not during the PS2 to PS3 transition where the hardware was improving many magnitudes between the gens.
I don't think it's out of the question that once PS3 was released, and initially struggling against the X360, that Sony could have pushed an agenda on studios developing versions for both PS2 and PS3, by requiring that there be a significantly noticable difference between the two versions, even if this wasn't necessary on a technical level.

This would have come at a time when developers were intimately familiar with the PS2 architecture but didn't have mature tools for PS3 yet, so the difference in what was achievable on a tight schedule would have been smaller than the hardware gap suggested.

But I don't think these kind of agenda were exclusive to Sony, or to that particular console transition.
 
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Oh yeah I forgot about the fat PS3. That's the 60gb one right? I might look into getting one of those. Cheers 🥂
I am not up to date with modern upscaling solutions, so it might be better in the long run to invest in one of them as the early PS3 models are prone to hardware issues. Software emulation for some PS2 Classics was very good on later models though.
 

squarealex

Member
Playing Soul Calibur 2 on PS2 and Xbox was a huge difference.

What your talking about? The game is a same, and more crisp on PS2 in 480i CRT due to field rendering and no mipmapping, also, the game running on PS2 hardware in the arcade version.

1mjaqFP.png

9SwQmV1.png


PS2

uosbplu.png


GameCube

VNuOST9.png


Xbox

3vOtSCP.png


What a F huge difference man... 🙃

Gamecube had a better looking RE4. Etc

Of course, because is a GameCube exlusive game. The final game was never project to be on the PS2. The port is made by a Capcom second team on Inafume direction, less than 6 months after the GameCube Release.
 
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What your talking about? The game is a same, and more crisp on PS2 in 480i CRT due to field rendering and no mipmapping, also, the game running on PS2 hardware in the arcade version.

1mjaqFP.png

9SwQmV1.png


PS2

7VU95k6.png


GameCube

7VU95k6.png


Xbox

MXWZIML.png


What a F huge difference man... 🙃



Of course, because is a GameCube exlusive game. The final game was never project to be on the PS2. The port is made by a Capcom second team on Inafume direction, less than 6 months after the GameCube Release.
I love the slow motion on particle heavy hits of PS2 version. Heihachi is also the best guest character with the strongest moveset.

P.S. It can be played in 480p on PS2 as well.
 
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What your talking about? The game is a same, and more crisp on PS2 in 480i CRT due to field rendering and no mipmapping, also, the game running on PS2 hardware in the arcade version.

1mjaqFP.png

9SwQmV1.png


PS2

uosbplu.png


GameCube

VNuOST9.png


Xbox

3vOtSCP.png


What a F huge difference man... 🙃



Of course, because is a GameCube exlusive game. The final game was never project to be on the PS2. The port is made by a Capcom second team on Inafume direction, less than 6 months after the GameCube Release.
Fair enough. To me it was a huge difference back in the day because that was my most played game. I may be way off but I think it was 720p on Xbox and had better texture detail on some parts. Silent Hill 2 was a bit better as well. I think most multiplats were better.
 
What your talking about? The game is a same, and more crisp on PS2 in 480i CRT due to field rendering and no mipmapping, also, the game running on PS2 hardware in the arcade version.
The PS2 version was always the second best in this game, any modern comparison shows that. This urban legend of Soul Calibur 2 being worse on PS2 was IGN's invention head to head



I find the comments on this video funny, ''why is the ps2 version sharper? I don't remember that at the time'' :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 

Drew1440

Member
A lot of games didn't make use of one of the vector units (VU0) since it was difficult to implement in the games design. The games that did make use of it was for physics. This thread is worth a read regarding this. It could run as a coprocessor to the main CPU, but like the Sega Saturn many developers neglected to make multithreaded games due to the complexity.

The eDram was also an issue, since it was small (4MB for Graphics memory, the Dreamcast had 8MB) and despite being fast, developers couldn't make use of its bandwidth except for certain exclusives. Gran Turismo 3/4 use it to make the heat haze effect which required a lot of bandwidth.

It's not so much being difficult to program for, the main issue was it was too different compared to the competitor consoles, and the PC Market. Porting a game meant having to resign it to make use of the PS2's hardware.

It was a crazy but amazing console, something we probably won't see again.
 
The PS2 version was always the second best in this game, any modern comparison shows that. This urban legend of Soul Calibur 2 being worse on PS2 was IGN's invention head to head



I find the comments on this video funny, ''why is the ps2 version sharper? I don't remember that at the time'' :messenger_grinning_sweat:

I dont know man lol. Its one of the only multiplat games people bought on multiple systems for the characters. None of us wanted to play it on PS2.
 
I got my PS2 hooked up to an OLED TV via GBS-C converter/upscaler and it works great for the price (around US$70 from AliExpress).

Somebody reviewed it here:


hvae you tried the freemcboot with the GSM with HD modes or a xploderhd disc from back in the day? it should improve the upscale
 
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