I hate Backward Compatable Systems

[Porkchop]

I have backward compatable systems because people keep the games when they retire the system. Has anyone else noticed that Playstation and Game Boy games are rare in the wild?

All the thrifts seem to have old Play Stations but no games. Mom throws out Johny's Play Station but Johny keep the game to play on the PS2. :angry:

Game boy games are the same way rare in the wild and expensive in GameStop.

[Jibbajaba]

Well I agree that backward compatibility might have an effect on the number of games found in the wild, but backward compatibility is great. I dont have to have a PSX and a PS2 plugged in, and old Game Boy games look much nicer on the SP than they do on the old systems. I go to thrift stores to find older stuff like NES, Genny, and Atari games, not PSX games. I don't ever go into thrift stores with a reasonable expectation of finding PSX games, unless they are sports titles, which I see in thrft stores pretty regularly.

[Nez]

I dont care either way, granted I dont find much of psx or gameboy titles in the wild, but thats not what I collect.

But heres the thing do you see Dreamcast games in thrifts? No its becouse its too current and popular just like PSX and Gameboy just give it some time and theyll be forgiten.

[Porkchop]

No its becouse its too current and popular just like PSX and Gameboy just give it some time and theyll be forgiten.

The gameboy came out the same year as the Genesis and there are tons of Gensis games in the wild. Age is not the reason.

[tholly]

doesnt bother me either way.....if i have a system that plays 2 different sets of games and i have both systems...i will play each set of games on their respective systems

[izret101]

I have no problem finding Gameboy or PSX titles. And reverse compatibility is excellent. I play more Gameboy and GBC games on my GBA than GBA games.

[Emily]

I collect primarily for the gameboy, color games.I hardly ever find them but when i do I can usually weasel them out of the person for under $5.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Backward compatibility = consumer loyalty. I'm in agreement with the folks here who say it's a good thing. Your average non-collecting casual gamer isn't really up for something on the order of a replace-your-cassettes-with-CDs shift every 3-4 years. And even those of us who are collectors, but on a budget, can't do that sort of thing too often - I appreciate the whole backward compatible phenomenon myself. :)

[RetroYoungen]

I'm also a fan of backwards compatible systems. I for the most part have been playing more PS1 games on my PS2 than PS2 games, and I can still find PS1 games easily enough. True, I'm buying new, but never more than $15, usually more like $10 or lower.

A little off-topic: I went to Target once and found Billiards for the PS1 with a tag that said $2.99. Turns out it was a typo, but they have to see it to you when it's their tag on the package I guess, so while it was going for ten bucks, I got it for three. :D

[neuropolitique]

I was the happiest boy when I saw the DS will not support GB and GBC games. The price may finally start to fall on these games.

Backwards compatablility is fine, for one generation. After that, drop it. When you support software going back more than one generation, your hardware suffers. It gets more expensive, more complicated, and doesn't advance as fast as otherwise might be possible. Look at PC hardware for an example.

Backwards compatability through software may be an entirely different beast.

[pixelsnpolygons]

I'm fairly indifferent to the whole backwards compatible thing. To be hones I haven't used it once on any of my systems. Okay, so I tried out FFVII on my PS2 when I first got the system - but that was more to test how it played than actually getting some use out of it.

Overall, I think it is a pretty good concept - but it hasn't worked for me yet.

[Kid Ice]

As a gamer, I love it...Colony Wars and Castlevania on my PS2!

As a collector, I hate it...instead of being considered "worthless old junk", original PSX games are still hanging around in regular peoples' living rooms. If PS3 has PSX backwards compatibility, I'm in big trouble.

"Regular people...I hate 'em!"

[SS]

Backward compatibility = consumer loyalty. I'm in agreement with the folks here who say it's a good thing. Your average non-collecting casual gamer isn't really up for something on the order of a replace-your-cassettes-with-CDs shift every 3-4 years. And even those of us who are collectors, but on a budget, can't do that sort of thing too often - I appreciate the whole backward compatible phenomenon myself.

Almost exactly what I would have said but now I don't have to! ;)

[Ed Oscuro]

Wierd topic. I like picking up new systems now and then, so backwards compatibility is a nice thing.

As for the "no games in the wild" argument...well, I don't see GB games in the wild too often, but enough that I only really need a few more titles to say that I've got what I want (if I could just find Gargoyle's Quest, I'd be fine, really!) Yeah, some folks are holding onto GB games since they can play them on their GBA...well, just wait until the DS comes out.

[swlovinist]

For the most part, I agree with you and I dont see playstation games yet...Give it some time. Part of the problem is that people dont get squat for Playstation 1 games right now...only the rare stuff is fetching anything. As for finding stuff in the wild...weclome the time of ebay and video games being valuable. I dont blame people for not throwing out their games and/or trying to sell them on thier day off...the sad truth to game hunting these days is ebay. I have to drive 3 hrs for any real flea mart, it sucks man

[racecar]

i love backward comp... it give me more plays for my $$.. collected lots of game boy games to play it on the gcube with the gb player...
also this may be news to some of u people
i heard something about the next generation of x-box is not backward compatible
and i don't think the new DS is backward compatible neither !!!!

[jezt]

thats precisely why I love backwards compatible systems. I can play all my playstation games on the PS2. And you cna still get PSone games for a song at gamestop. :)

[Nesmaster]

hmmm, never thought of the fact that backwards compatibility had to do with the lack of old gb games at thrifts and such. but personally i always liked it. the gb games looks much nicer on the gba, and playing ps1 games on a ps2 is great :)

[Mr Mort]

[quote="neuropolitique"]

Backwards compatablility is fine, for one generation. After that, drop it. When you support software going back more than one generation, your hardware suffers. It gets more expensive, more complicated, and doesn't advance as fast as otherwise might be possible.quote]

I agree with that philosophy. I agree that trying to make a system compatible with more than one previous system is actually going to limit the system's new abilities, and drive the price of the hardware up.

I'm fine with the fact that the DS will only work with GBA games. I believe that the PS3 should only be backwards-compatible with the PS2, but on the other hand, if the Xbox2 is not backwards compatible with the current one, I'm going to be very dissapointed.

I think it's important to have backwards compatibility for the sake of loyalty, as long as it does not hinder the new system's abilities.

[Brian_Provinciano]

I myself love the idea of having backwards compatible systems. The Genesis was fully backwards compatible with SMS games, and the huge Power Base converter was little more than a cartridge/card adaptor. The SNES was almost entirely backwards compatible, but Nintendo decided not to go all the way, which really was disappointing. However, there are a number of game hacks of NES games to the SNES, quite a few. As well, i have the Tri-Star of course, which plays NES games on the SNES, although it contains an entire NES and only uses the SNES for it's power and controllers.

As for the value of games... it _sort of_ effects it, but not much. Original Game Boy games have ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS been expensive, ever since it came out! The fact that the systems are backwards compatible has little to nothing to do with them being this way. People were always willing to pay more for GB games, even the worst of the worst, because they were "another game" they could play on the go when they were bored of their existing ones.

[kevincure]

The hardware costs of backward compatibility are basically nothing. I think I read back in 2000 that it cost Sony $5/system to add the PS1 functionality then, and I'm sure the chip is even cheaper to produce now.

[NintendoMan]

doesnt bother me either way.....if i have a system that plays 2 different sets of games and i have both systems...i will play each set of games on their respective systems

EXACTLY! I will always just play that game on it's original system.

Yeah, there is less games I guess because of no one getting rid of there games, but obviously neither are you. No reason to hate backwards compatibility though.

[Aussie2B]

While I tend to play games on their original intended systems, backwards compatibility has really helped me out. Rather than go to the trouble of getting a Japanese PSX or a modded PSX, I killed two birds with one stone by getting a Japanese PS2 to play Star Ocean 3. Thanks to the backwards compatibility I'm able to play all my Japanese PSX games too.

As far as backwards compatibility keeping games from being found in the wild, I actually found practically nothing but PSX and N64 games this past summer. Everyone and their brother had a PSX, so they're a dime a dozen. Especially these days when everyone has "upgraded" to PS2 and wants to get rid of their old system and games. The issue is not about finding any PSX games, but about finding PSX you'd actually want to buy. When something is that mainstream, all you ever find is the same worthless sports crap and what have you. I think I'd shit myself if I actually found some of the Japanese action games and RPGs I'm still missing at a garage sale. It's almost as if eBay is my only option (or occasionally GameStop, if it's not overpriced).

[slip81]

I like backwards compatibility, It's nice not to have a ton of system lying around to play all ofyour games. I also don't think it contribues to rareity/price mark ups. Games are priced at places like Gamestop and EB based on popularity. No Nintendo sustem except the NES can play NES games, but Contra is still like 17 bucks.

PSX games aren't at thrifts yet cause they are too new, believe it or not a lot of people still have a PSX's and not a PS2's. As for GB games not being there it's because they are still popular, a lot of people are still gaming on GB Colors and Pockets, and the GB games nevr really lost their attraction.

Plus now that collecting and gaming is more popular even more people are holding onto their stuff. In time the fad will fade and DC, PSX, and GB games will drop in price and show up in thrifts in droves.

[izret101]

Plus now that collecting and gaming is more popular even more people are holding onto their stuff. In time the fad will fade and DC, PSX, and GB games will drop in price and show up in thrifts in droves.
I noticed alot of people who arn't real collectors just holding onto all their vg stuff in hopes of making a fortune off of it. One person in particular was my neighbor who thought his dead NES and a bunch of old sports games and shooters was worth over 250 bucks LOL . Needless to say i did not spend that nearly much to buy it from him.

[Fuyukaze]

I love backwards compatability. Even more so on CD based systems. Its a great reward to those who bought one of the previous systems by a company by allowing them to play it on their next generation system. That said, I can see the pro's and Con's to having it that exist in either side.

backwards compatability+
You get to play all your old games on the new system. If you cant afford many of the launch titles or dont like many of them, atleast you can play all your old stuff on it. This can be great if you had a nice sized colection from the previous systems supported.

backwards compatability-
Go back to far and you begin to ailienate your curent target buyers. While gaming is huge now, one should consider the total units sales of games over the past 20 years. A good number of games these days literaly sell millions. For an example, take Final Fantasy Adventure 1-4 the Gameboy and compare its sales to that of Final Fantasy 7 on the Playstation. Not even 10 years apart and yet the total cart sales for each is very different. Even with the re-release of the GB games, Finaly Fantasy 7 sold more. If there were only X amount of carts for the GB FF games, then they will definitly be difficult to find in the "wild". Combine this with poularity and you end up searching high and low only to pay extremly high prices. So you wind up telling all your new system buyers they can play all these old games for the system they cant get games for anymore due to scarecty and popularity.

no backwards compatabilty+
Your only limit is how much you want to develope the system. No ties to how much couldn't be done with previous consoles/handhelds. Yours limits consist of curent tech and final cost of unit.

no backwards compatability-
Sink or swim, you have nothing to offer old gamers who already have stuff from a previous system beyond what your offering anyone else. If your launch titles are sub par, then sales could hurt by the lack of this rather simple ability.