dump the PS2...

[RAIST]

common industry practices. you don't typically compile apps seperately for each and every release of java from 3.0 all the way up to 6.x. You pick one assembly release to compile with and set that as the minimum requirement. You let the JRE's handle everything else outside of what is handled by the core logic in the compiled assembly.

It has been discussed adnauseum by people who have picked the files apart laboriosly (as in people who developed third party tools) and have posted to the effect that there appears to be a core PS2 logic that is run through a "wrapper" of sorts, hooking into the various API's and such specific to the environment it is running in.

Research also confirms over 400 files (roughly 64MB worth, just ran the search and actually got 448) on the hard drive (a lot of ROM and DAT) that predate even the PS2 launch by over a year--many show Dec. 18, 2000. Those files were pulled off optical media and added to my system at the time of install and have remained unchanged since. How many are still actually used is open to speculation, some are in the sound directories and such though. So, it can reasonably be assumed that at least for the PC's launch date in the US almost 3 years later (Oct. 2003), it was likely still using something tied to the PS2 somehow (or at least something to enable a PC to process PS2 specific code) to run certain PS2 specific assets and/or assemblie(s) that have not changed since they were last compiled during the lengthy PS2 development cycle.

All of this has been discussed and debated to the ends of the earth and back, but in the end it has been agreed (in general, there are still skeptics of the theories, as is human nature) that there is a portion that is PS2 specific that has remained unchanged over the years.

Edit:
Even if the PS2 was not set as the lowest common hardware in the platform pool and the source was compiled in something higher that integrates fully with the PC environment like C++ and such, that source would STILL have to take into account the limitations of the PS2 so when it is compiled DOWN to the PS2 assembly code, it doesn't overstep the confines of the PS2's registers. This is basically what happened with FFXIV and the PS3 (went hogwild in PC version only to find it won't "fit" right on the PS3, and have to revamp), so it is possible that is another way they did it.

But either way, one simple fact remains. The original source upon which all of this was built off of IS restricted by the limits of the hardware expected in the PS2. So, just drop kicking everyone playing on a PS2 doesn't mean they get to immediately ramp everything up for the other platforms. They have to go all the way back to source and recompile. Even then, that's just the core engine--all the other assets may still have limiations (like those crappy ground textures) and would also need to be updated to satiate the lust for HD at that point. Effectively, you would be rebuilding the game in a sense