Sony Brings Eight Classic PS2 Games To PS4, Makes You Pay To Play
Last month, Microsoft rolled out a great update for the Xbox One that opened up the ability to play some Xbox 360 games on. One of the best things about this update is that the functionality is free, and because you can use your own game discs, there's no extra purchase involved at all.
Today, Sony has followed suit, but has gone about things in a much different manner. With a new PlayStation Store update, Sony has introduced its first eight PlayStation 2 titles available on the PS4. If you have the original game disc for any of these, it won't matter: you'll need to shell out for these "special" versions.
The first eight titles are:
- Dark Cloud - $14.99
- Grand Theft Auto III - $14.99
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - $14.99
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - $14.99
- Rogue Galaxy - $14.99
- The Mark of Kri - $14.99
- Twisted Metal: Black - $9.99
- War of the Monsters - $9.99
That's a bit of a strange assortment; we'd imagine that if a group of PS2 fans were queried about what they thought should first launch with this service, it'd look quite different than this. More than a third of these eight is dedicated to Grand Theft Auto, and while some of the other games no doubt have their respective fanbases, there are many more titles that more people might have jumped on. A Gran Turismo game would have been great to see, as well as a Final Fantasy.
Dark Cloud on PS4
Sony assures us that this is just the beginning, and it could be that these games just happened to be the easiest of the lot to port over. But as far as that goes, it's unfortunate that Sony is not allowing players to use their original game discs, especially since these titles are not priced like most people would expect 10-year-old and beyond games to be.
There are some perks to mention, though. First, all of these games are upscaled to run at 1080p, and each have been upgraded to support trophies. Sony notes that these trophies were chosen with the help of the original developers, so that they feel natural, and not just slapped on. Also, it seems that unlike playing an original Xbox game on the Xbox 360, this emulation doesn't lock you into a separate environment. Sony notes that you'll still have access to your activity feeds, and also be able to take advantage of live broadcasting, second screen, and so forth.
The Mark of Kri on PS4
It's hard to tell just how far Sony will take this, but it has already teased two future titles: The King of Fighters 2000 and PaRappa the Rapper 2. If only those made it into the original batch; then it'd look a lot more interesting.
