It would be a massive undertaking to make all PS3 games available for download. That shit just isn't going to happen, there's way too much work involved. You might see more "Definitive Editions" (the new HD Remasters) re-released on the PS4 though on a case by case basis.
It can't be that hard for them to whip up some software emulator into the OS to make systems backwards compatible. If PC's can do it so easily, there's no fucking reason consoles can't.
PCs can't do it "so easily." Do you see arealworking PS3 emulator anywhere? No, you don't.
Yeah, anything with a PC build is super easy to port. It took people a matter of weeks, not even a month, to get PS4 versions up and running on most of the multiplatform games that have been released. So like I said, we might see a lot of "Definitive Editions" coming to the PS4 and Xbone.
I'm not usually one to buy into the re-release cash grab.... but I will admit I would love to play a HD Gow3 at 60fps. I actually might have considered getting a PS4 if a HD GoW bundle pack was part of the starting lineup....
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. (I said that outloud and held down the A key until I stopped, that was seriously my reaction.)
If not for how utterly retardedly specialized the PS3 was constructed it probably would be. It really cannot be understated just how insane that crap was to work on for people. If you listen to Cerny talk about the PS3's development it's just some nutty shit. The engineers went and made the fucking thing in a bubble with no input from the Software guys what so ever and some seriously fucked up shit went on. To get anything running on it at all to begin with pretty much gave the OS guys nightmares.
It is actually quite difficult. N64, which was not a particularly complicated piece of hardware, had odd pause bugs in many games in different emulators for a couple of years after stability was otherwise achieved. Emulation isn't easy. The PS3's architecture would be extremely difficult to emulate. It'll probably be at least six years before we get an emulator for PS3, if ever, that'll play games. A lot of the people who code emulators looked at the architecture and went on to do something else, like PSP emulation.
Gaikai will theoretically be doing this down the line once it's active.
Maybe a few dollars, as stated with my AC4 router crashing mid DL bug it has a function to ID the headers as a PS3 disc - so they definitely want it to be able to ID if it's a PS3 disc for some reason - seems useless to not just have it look for just the specific 6-7 headers for the PS3 -> PS4 titles and then label them as "PS3 Headers" instead of generic ones if they're just doing it for the PS3 > PS4 program.
Oh bullshit. It's emulation and always has been. And it's easy to do. But why offer that for free when you have a streaming service you can charge for.
Dunno, they were REALLY buddy buddy with Gamestop over guaranteeing used games continue. They might want those dollars but Gamestop continuing to promote them and such probably outweighs the extra handful of licensing dollars.