It's not like your average joe can prove that the PS4 architecture can handle proper PS2 emulation on a 1:1 scale so whether it can read the disc or not is irrelevant.
um. what? If the PS4 couldn't emulate the PS2 this thread wouldn't exist. It doesn't have to be able to play the game off of the disc, XBONE bc doesn't do that either, it just needs to recognize the disc is in the drive and let you run the downloaded version.
100% chance that they made new emulator instead of reusing the same emulator from PS3. PSP, Vita and PS3 use the same PS1 emulator, that's why the purchases carry over. And again, this doesn't use the same emulator from the PS2 classics. Still a shitty that purchases won't carry over though. They could definitely do it but $$$ and all that. Maybe we could beg specific publishers to allow it?
Of course the emulator is new, PS3 and PS4 are very different, but it's also going to be the same for every ps2 game they just need to wrap it around the iso. So it's an up front cost but it's not like they're investing a bunch of R&D per release. This isn't a money losing proposition since they're selling them on the store whether old purchases or discs carry over or not - people that want to play them that don't own them still have to buy them. We've already seen with the 360 BC on Xbox One that publishers are happy to be able to keep selling their older digital goods just like they can on Steam.
Doing it this way (if it turns out to be true) is basically TELLING your consumers that buying digitally from you is going to be shitty going forward too, it doesn't instill trust in your user base about the security of their purchases. It's the kind of misinformed methodology we've come to expect from Nintendo, and even they one upped it on the Wii U already.
If you can remember a just shy of a decade ago when digital games started coming out an often cited concern was people wondering what would happen to their 360 Arcade titles when the console generation ended. It was widely hoped at thet ime that the manufacturers wouldn't be complete assholes and would find a way to keep your library moving forward as best they reasonably can - just like I own all of my Steam games and they don't just get invalidated every few years. Now we're in a situation where MS has clearly said 'hey, these work as long as we legally can still offer the game' and that is going to be seen as the minimum standard here. Disc based PS2 games would be a nice touch but it's a given they won't carry forward forever, but digital purchases? That's simply anti-consumer at this point.
Not a fan of buying games I already own again. In some rare cases I will, specially if it revives the online community for the game, but in most cases I'm not a fan of it.
Since Ive never played Dark Cloud though, I may get it if it has a good story. Never knew much about it to be honest.
And this is how they SHOULD be viewing the revenue for this kind of thing - Hey, ps2 game is BC and people seem to like it, I'll drop a fiver and check it out! Who cares if other people got it 'free' by buying it 5 years ago.