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Checkpoint

Checkpoint 2/13: Backwards Incompatible

Written by Timothy Wedel

Welcome to Checkpoint, a segment from the authors here at LevelSave designed to quickly let you know what is on our minds, how we are reacting to current news and trends, and some looks into content coming soon from LevelSave.com. 

February 13, 2017

Are enhanced ports and PS Now enough when going up against near full backwards compatibility?

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Earlier this week I was browsing the Playstation Network Store and decided to finally take advantage of the 7 day free Playstation Now trial that Playstation Plus users are entitled to. Fellow LevelSave writer Jim and I had just been talking about how well Microsoft has handled backwards compatibility on Xbox One and I wanted to test Sony’s BC offerings.

At first I was surprised at how well PS Now worked. I tested out a racing game (Motorstorm Apocalypse), a sports game (Hot Shots Golf), a first person shooter (Borderlands) and even a fighting game (Mortal Kombat) and they all worked flawlessly with little to no lag at all. The more games I tested out the more excited I became to finally be able to go back and play some of the games I had missed by not owning a PS3 last generation Unfortunately that won’t be happening any time soon.

As I spent more time with PS Now more issues started to appear. I tried playing Ni No Kuni the day after I had originally tested the service and it was near unplayable. There was a ton of input lag, the screen would cut to black for 5-20 seconds at a time and sometimes the service just plain crashed. I went back and tried some of the games I had played with no issue the night before and the same thing happened with all four of them. I tried again later that night and the day after that and the issues were still the same.

My dreams of playing Ni No Kuni or any of the 50+ other PS3 games I own due to PS Store sales and PS Plus offerings were shattered and I was left hoping that Sony could somehow find a way to offer backwards compatibility without any gimmicks the way Microsoft does.

But hey, at least I can finally earn trophies in and play Ape Escape 2 on my PS4.

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About the author

Timothy Wedel

1 Comment

  • […] Timothy Wedel gave us a great look into how PlayStation Now works (sometimes), and its an experience that mirrors my own when I gave it a go on the Vita. In short, it has a huge amount of potential and should evolve nicely as Sony continues to put development support into it. Right now, however, it’s not a pleasant experience the majority of the time. Sony put a lot of effort into the system in hopes of it serving as “backwards compatibility” for older PlayStation titles. […]

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