Sony confirmed on November 19, Thursday that PlayStation 2 emulation will bring old-school games to the PS4 console, although it provided no details. Some classic PS2 games are already available through the PlayStation bundle that includes a PS4 console and vintage "Star Wars" titles.
Wired broke the news about the video gaming emulator. There are some signs that several of the titles in the PS4 bundle were developed by emulation.
Emulation is the process that recreates a computing environment, such as the PlayStation 2 gaming console. That sometimes results in higher resolutions, according to Wired.
Eurogamer's Digital Foundry has reported that the old "Star Wars" games include resolutions that are up to four times higher, according to CNET. Some "antialiasing" processing was also done to make the graphics crisper.
PS4 is the only PlayStation console that does not include "backwards compatibility." Sony has reportedly been developing a PS2-to-PS4 bridge since last year.
PlayStation 2's huge video game library has thousands of games. It includes "Gran Turismo 3" and "God of War."
Currently the only way people can enjoy PS2 games is to use a since-removed launch-window PS3. PlayStation's Now service also allows a small number of PS2 games to be played.
Microsoft announced at this year's E3 that 100 Xbox 360 games could be played on Xbox One towards the end of the year. They are now available.
Some experts question why Sony quietly launched PS2-emulated games. However, it seems that the Japanese company has plans to launch more titles than the bundled "Star Wars" games.
It is unclear how the emulated games would be rolled out. For example, they might be available in a DVD or downloadable format.
Here is an emulation of Sega's Sonic Patrol Car game: