backward-compatible-video-game-consoles

"Overall, I like the Xbox One's interface. It's certainly a little more busy than the PS4, but I prefer the Metro-style grid, rather than scrolling forever through dozens of tiles. For the most part, the tiled interface dovetails with the Xbox One's larger feature set -- but sometimes there's a little too much depth and complexity, leaving you hunting around for the right menu to perform a certain action. It will be harder to learn the Xbox One's interface for the first time, that's for sure."

"There is little argument here: The Xbox 360 is a powerful beast that's easily more powerful than 95% of the PCs available today. That will change in the next year or year and a half, but it's impressive nonetheless. The 360 is packed with an enormous amount of processing power, graphic potential, and a healthy amount of flexible memory. With the vehicles in PGR3 using 80,000 polygons per car, graphics aren't going to be the focus any more, it'll be what developers are doing with said graphics. The three 3.2 GHz processors can be independently programmed (enabling programmers to target six threads), which is both a strength and weakness, given traditional programming is done for one processor and the new requirement of having extremely efficient and clean code. Still, the amount of power harnessed in the 360 will enable programmers to finally dig into even deeper, more realistic physics, create greater facial expressions, and invent new gameplay scenarios, and not have to worry about whether the game will look good. They'll all look good."

"We've been hearing about the power of the "Cell Broadband Engine" for what seems like forever, and there's no denying that it has some horsepower. It's an absolute monster for processing data with approximately 40 times the juice of a PS2 CPU and a multi-core blueprint that allows for true parallel processing (with up to nine independent threads per Cell). NVIDIA's built-in G70-based RSX "Reality Synthesizer" has received nearly as much press -- boasting the ability to handle almost 75 billion shader operations per second with a clock speed of 550MHz. Add 256MB of XDR RAM and another 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM and you have quite the collective muscle."

"An arcade title ported to PS2 to be part of the launch lineup, DrumMania is a rhythm game that requires players to coordinate their button presses with the corresponding symbols on the screen. Basically an early drum version of Guitar Hero. Though console releases of DrumMania have stopped, arcade versions are still coming out, with the latest installment releasing as recently as 2019. If this sounds like your jam, get out into those arcades and start hunting for this game."

"The game features mechanics FromSoftware is known for, weird and obtuse weapon systems, and freakish enemies. If you fancy a go at it, an emulated version of Eternal Ring was released for the PS4 back in 2017, so it can still be played without having to dust off your PS2."

"Utilizing cinematic visuals to aid in the telling of the story, Kessen is a mostly historically accurate real-time tactics game set in Japan. As a launch title, this was the first real-time tactics game available for the PS2 and went on to have two sequels. Critic generally signaled out the sound and cinematics as being the best parts of the game, so check it out if you’re interested in cinema’s influence on video games."

"The First 10 Games Released On The PS2 (In Chronological Order) (Retrieved April 4, 2024)"

"Shogi is often referred to as Japanese chess. The game features a 9x9 board and 20 tiles that allow for different kinds of movement. Kakinoki Shogi IV was released as a launch title for the PS2, presumably to offer something to adult or more traditional game players. Iterations of shogi have been made into video games for decades, with Kakinoki Shogi IV just the latest iteration at the time."

"This PlayStation 2 has released over 4,000 titles, first off. It was "A-Train 6", “DrumMania”, “Enternal Ring”, “Kakinoki Shogi IV” and “Kessen”. Sony’s PlayStation 2, or PS2 for short, is the best selling video game console of all time, selling over 150 million units. Featuring a built-in DVD player and internet access, the PS2 was an ambitious and full home entertainment package. It released way back in 2000, so these features were pretty cutting edge. Having about half the game catalog of the PS1, the PS2 still boasts an impressive library of over 3,800 titles. Some of the best platformers ever made were on this console. There were some games it seemed like literally everyone owned. If you completed one game a day, it would still take you over ten years to beat them all. Since you can’t possibly hope to play them all, how about reading about the first ten instead?"

"Appropriately, A-train 6 was a PS2 launch title, just as its predecessor, A-Train 4, was on the PS1. A-Train 6 featured the same core gameplay as previous iterations, focussing on train simulation and city management. A-Train 6 took advantage of the PS2’s high power by featuring improved graphics and the ability to play the game entirely in a 3D view. A great way to show off the capabilities of the new console."

"Do you want the honest truth? This machine [the PlayStation 4] is not so strong as you think. This is like a five-year-old PC. If consoles were as powerful as PCs are today, you would see all different games. Most of the work developers put out there is to make them work on consoles."

"Those expecting their next-generation games consoles to be big and bulky (a la the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3) will be more than surprised when they see the Wii in the flesh. The console is smaller -- much smaller -- than either the 360 or the PS3. Although not as petite as a slimline PS2, the Wii is compact and discreet enough to be a nice fit in most living room situations. Just like the 360, the Wii can either be stored flat or on its side. Nintendo have provided a special grey stand for those wanting to store their Wii sitting up -- this stand lets the Wii sit on an attractive angle. The unit itself is available only in pearl white in Australia. The smooth exterior of the Wii looks quite appealing, and is overall a much better finish than the off-white the Xbox 360 comes in. Most of the unit's surface is clutter-free. The front of the Wii features the disc loading slot, which glows a nice shade of blue when inserting or removing discs. The top of the unit (top when you have the Wii stored on its side, that is) features a power and reset button, while the bottom has an eject button. Along its edge is a discreet panel which can be lifted open to reveal the Wii's SD card slot and Wii remote sync button."