I don't personally care. I keep all my old consoles. So I'll just go play them on that. People that say "I WILL NOT PLUG MORE THAN ONE SYSTEM ON MY TV" is foolish. You can't just temporally set it up on the floor? Are you really going to play it that long? I do that all the time. If I want to play Mario Paint. I just stick my SNES on the floor. And then put it away.

Statistics say it's not important. Few people actually want to play older games on new systems. Enthusiasts like people who frequent gaming forums aside, the general population of gamers almost never go back to play games from previous generations, even if their system is backwards compatible. That's the simple truth of the matter. Many of the people who say it's important from a philosophical standpoint would probably never use it to a substantial degree.

Of course there are people who do like to play older games, and I do agree that it's a nice selling point at the start of a generation when a system has few games. It's unfortunate in those instances but sometimes abandoning that functionality is the only thing that makes sense.

Personally, I don't find it to be much of a consideration. My PS2 is hooked up right now but I probably haven't turned it on in a few years. I don't really replay older games much (other than FFT), as I have a backlog of new games to play.

All that being said, I really do think Sony will get something working with regards to PSN games. It might be slow, but I think something will be worked out for many titles. Still, as long as PSN works on the PS3, I intend to keep that console even after I get a PS4, so I'm golden either way.

I prefer to only have a three consoles hooked up to my receiver.... Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony...

Setting up six is way too much.

Backwards compatibility won't affect IF I buy a next gen console from a vendor. It will only affect WHEN I buy a next gen console from a vendor. With backwards compatibility I will buy them ASAP. Without, I will wait until I am satisfied I played all the games I want to in my expansive library...

very important IMO, especially during the first years where the support might not be as great.

You could for example sell your old console and still get ~$200 for it. Not bad.
My biggest issue is however space. No space under the TV, no space for another HDMI cable in my TV, so obviously I would need to replace a console.


Also for people who swapped sides after a gen it's even more important. I didn't own a PS2, but bought a PS3 (no BC model since it was already "late" into the gen. 2009 or so...). Missed out on a lot of PS2 games that I could've borrowed from my brother or just buy in stores.

this :)

Very important. If MS pulls this off and I can play my banjo kazooie on 720 along with a returned support of new core games it may very well put the 720 over the PS4 for me.

Very important for me. When a new console launches I often find myself playing much more through the library of the previous system whilst waiting for new games to be released than actually the games on the system themselves. They'll always be a month or two, maybe more, where game releases are very few and far between come the launch of the new system, so BC allows you to still use your new system without the concern that it was a waste of money, for me anyway.

Case in point? I played through Pokemon Black, Spirit Tracks, Chinatown Wars and DQIX within the first 3 months of buying my 3DS, and I've recently played through Radiant Dawn, Skyward Sword and Okami on my Wii U. Without the option for backwards compatibility, I would likely have never played these systems as much as I have.

If you have been gaming long and enough and you wish you could still play some of your past favorites in original form like Quest for Glory or King's Quest or Wing Commander... games that have not continued to have sequels or remakes. That's where BC is most important.

Heck even as recent as Gamecube games like Eternal Darkness or Geist or Sega Soccer Slam... if the Wii U could play those, I would have got rid of my Wii by now.

What you will quickly realize is that once the hardware is out of circulation... it becomes a hard thing to do. I will absolutely buy a remade of a PSOne or PS2 game and thankfully a number of those happened for the PS3. What will suck going to PS4 is that all those remakes, and all those PS3 games are now not going to be playable on the PS4 hardware.

What it means to me is that I will be keeping my PS3 save and sound and if I don't have enough space or connections in my entertainment center, then something else will have to be missing... no way I am getting rid of my PS3 anytime soon unless the PS4 hardware had been capable of playing all PS3 content.

I picked up a Wii with one of the large considering factors being backwards compatability (I had not had a console during the PS2/GCN/XB gen although I eventually did pickup a PS2)

I got the Wii U with backwards compatability being a large factor (I do not want two consoles on my main TV and was able to give my Wii to my sister who bought several more games for it - a win-win for Nintendo)

I was considering picking up a PS4 because I (I think like most gamers) am always intrigued by each new generation but without backwards compatability I decided my best bet would be to pickup a PS3 instead (did so about two weeks ago, didn't wait for the anouncement as I knew after a little research that the Cell would not make BC practical) and wait until the PS4 has been out for a few years before picking it up (once the library gets some weight).

The XBox has the same considerations, I want one as I want to branch out to more and more gaming. If the Next XBox has BC I will get it and pickup a bunch of 360 games for it (and it would most likely delay my PS4 purchase a year or two), if not I will probably pickup a 360 around this time next year and play the backlog (and not pickup the next XBox until about the end of the gen).

Also I am thinking about getting a PSP (and have been for a few years really) but I can't quite make the jump, had the PSVita been fully backwards compatible I would have one in my possession right now - alas I do not (apparently it has some form but not that good, not sure)

There's no way the Xbox 3 will have BC. If the rumors are correct, we're dealing with an x86 machine, so the 360 would have to be completely emulated. That's just not possible with current hardware. Even on High-End PCs, 360 emulators don't run - they don't even exist because XBox 1 Emulators aren't running smoothly either.

Every single game would have to be ported over and you can bet that those titels won't be free of charge. Just sayin', this next generation, BC won't be significant at all. It will simply not exist except for the Wii U. But if MS and Sony stick to x86 for good, PS5 and Xbox 4 will have BC no doubt. But with the change of architecture, it's just not possible.

Unless of course Microsoft decides to build 360 components into the Xbox 3. But that would add a hell lot of cost to the system and would also make it bigger, since it will need more power and a bigger cooling solution. So I doubt it, 'cause as already said, only very few customers see a value in BC. It wouldn't justify the investment.