The mad world of console revisions

[S1500]

First, there was the Atari 2600 going from 6 front-switches to 4. Much time passed between the 2 models.

 

Now, we see Sony & MS consoles going through changes & revisions in the period of less than a year.

 

Remember when it was said that video game consoles had the advantage over PCs, that of the hardware being the same for everyone? No drivers to install, etc.

 

It seems that we live in a world where the consoles are going though more revisions than ever. Jeesh!

[ubersaurus]

First, there was the Atari 2600 going from 6 front-switches to 4. Much time passed between the 2 models.

 

Now, we see Sony & MS consoles going through changes & revisions in the period of less than a year.

 

Remember when it was said that video game consoles had the advantage over PCs, that of the hardware being the same for everyone? No drivers to install, etc.

 

It seems that we live in a world where the consoles are going though more revisions than ever. Jeesh!

 

Yeah, but the revisions are usually under the hood, cost saving measures. The ability of the machine itself rarely changes.

[shadow460]

It's just that things start disappearing off the console itself. Try downgrading a TA-082 PSP or running component cables on a 7000 series PlayStation.

[KrazyKaiju]

I don't mind it so much when reliability goes up. Though I agree that it's erksome when they remove useful features.

[JB]

It's just that things start disappearing off the console itself. Try downgrading a TA-082 PSP or running component cables on a 7000 series PlayStation.

Ummmm.... NO PS1 can use component video cables. RGB only. And as far as I know, even the itty-bitty PSOne has RGB output.

 

 

As for the PSP.... hardware revisions tend to mess up BIOS flashers, particularly when they're explicitly designed to.

There's nothing removed, it's just that the access to the Flash ROM has been changed and no one's worked the new procedure out yet.

[Hyper_Eye]

A better example would be the PS3 switching from hardware BC to software BC.

[Video]

A better example would be the PS3 switching from hardware BC to software BC.

Which results in shitty BC, or No BC most likely.

 

I would have to agree with someone up there said though. There may be a lot of revisions, but as far as that consoles spacivic games, I'm not aware of any that require you to upgrade your system to a more costly one. I mean...look. PS3 has the hi def, and bigger hard drive in the more expensive package. X-box has a hard drive in the more expennsive package. I'm not aware of a single game for either system that requires these features.

[Artlover]

But lets consider things like:

 

Atari 5200: Two different variants, one with game compatability issues.

 

Or, straying a bit off topic, the C-64. Which underwent many internal hardware revisions which ultimately resulted in; the graphic sparkles problem and some odd-ball programs not working anymore because of the removal/alteration of undocumented op codes.

 

In a perfect world, revisions have no effect, but in the real world, they usualy do in some way or another. It's just a matter of when someone encounters it.

[spacecadet]

It's annoying, yeah, but it's really not anything new. It's not even new that a console would get revised so early. I recall the Genesis being revised after something like three months, adding some sort of electronic region protection that broke at least four or five games.

 

All you can do is pay attention when things like this happen and pick what you think is the right time to buy. I bought my PS3 last week because I wanted hardware BC - I fully expect Sony to do basically zero work getting PS2 games to run on the new 80GB system.

[jboypacman]

This is the one thing i dont like about todays game systems which i really shouldnt call them that as they are now all closer to PCs than they are home video game systems.