XBOX 360 will run older games

[Homerboy]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8509448&type=technologyNews

 

[Queasy]

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

So does that mean that we can expect to be able to play Halo and KOTOR but not Bruce Lee or Kabuki Warriors? Or is that MS just hedging their bets that there will be some games that won't be compatible like some PS1 games weren't compatible with the PS2?

 

[Vampirrella]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

How typical... its still all about making money. Why cant they just make ALL the games backward compatible instead of a select "top selling" ones?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

So does that mean that we can expect to be able to play Halo and KOTOR but not Bruce Lee or Kabuki Warriors? Or is that MS just hedging their bets that there will be some games that won't be compatible like some PS1 games weren't compatible with the PS2?

It sounds like the former. Apparently they have to code emulation for each game, so my guess is that only a handful of XB titles will be playable. We shall see . . .

Meanwhile, Sony has announced PS3 will have full backwards compatibility with all PS1 and PS2 titles, quite a feather in their cap.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Vampirrella

Originally posted by: Queasy

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

How typical... its still all about making money. Why cant they just make ALL the games backward compatible instead of a select "top selling" ones?

I'm guessing the time and effort involved in emulating these games prior to the scheduled November release. I'll reserve judgement until I see a better definition of what they mean by "top selling".

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Vampirrella

Originally posted by: Queasy

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

How typical... its still all about making money. Why cant they just make ALL the games backward compatible instead of a select "top selling" ones?

I think it's a matter of the XBox360 running on completely different hardware, with a different OS kernel. I can't see how they profit from lacking full backwards compatibility - just the opposite is probably true IMO - and I'm sure they'd incorporate it if they could do so cost-effectively.

 

[AdamSnow]

I thought this was a given...

 

[DaveSimmons]

Not "woot!" for me -- if they're coding emulation on a game-by-game basis and only promising it for "top sellers" then fun B-list titles and critical successes that didn't sell well won't be on the list.

Since I don't have an Xbox 1 I'll be looking closely at the compatibility list before deciding on an Xbox360. There's a lot less value for me if I can't play some of the xbox-only titles that looked fun, like the first Buffy game or Panzer Dragoon Orta.

 

[magomago]

Yeah the fact that it is only special titles kind of takes the "oomph" out of it. I remember when the Ps2 came out they gathered a list of games that would not run and they were like less than ten obscure japanese titles...then the list was a LITTLE bit larger for games that tried to use "special effects" (funny things like if you played Fear Effect and turned on fast disc loading it would play the voices in super speed). In the end though, the PS2 didn't code emulation on a game by game basis. It played old games

 

[Queasy]

Seriously, I'd wait until I saw more details on what titles will be playable before I got my panties in a bunch over this. They've got a good six months to try and make it as compatible as possible with current Xbox games.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Vampirrella

Originally posted by: Queasy

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

How typical... its still all about making money. Why cant they just make ALL the games backward compatible instead of a select "top selling" ones?

its more like they only garrantee the top selling games to save time and money on testing.

i just don't get playing old games. i mean everyonce in a long while for some nostolgic value ..but really, new games are better. i have a snes and nes somewhere in the garage, i don't bother to find them. and its not convience either, i downloaded an emulator out of curiousity, haven't touched it since. its like a pc's 1.44mb floppy i guess..nice to have around in the rare occasion its needed

 

[Farmer]

I guess because after you pay for the game, you want to be able to play it forever (the only game that ever had that effect on me as SC). But in my special circumstance (by XBOX has died), it actually allows me to play the games that I have been wanting to play.

Honestly, I wouldn't be really cheering this news; I expect MS to make the effort to make it backwards compatible; if it weren't, it'd be a dissapointment.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: Vampirrella

Originally posted by: Queasy

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

How typical... its still all about making money. Why cant they just make ALL the games backward compatible instead of a select "top selling" ones?

its more like they only garrantee the top selling games to save time and money on testing.

i just don't get playing old games. i mean everyonce in a long while for some nostolgic value ..but really, new games are better. i have a snes and nes somewhere in the garage, i don't bother to find them. and its not convience either, i downloaded an emulator out of curiousity, haven't touched it since. its like a pc's 1.44mb floppy i guess..nice to have around in the rare occasion its needed

It makes sense to me in this respect. Good Xbox games are still going to be getting released through the next year or so while the Xbox360 gets released in November. It would be much more convienent for me to have just an Xbox360 that will play both instead of a Xbox360 and a Xbox sitting in my entertainment cabinent.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Also if you don't have an Xbox 1 (like me) there are several Xbox 1 games that do look good and which supposedly are worth worth playing, but which are not "top sellers."

Since they arem't top sellers there may never be remakes or sequels.

I have a stack of PS1 Final Fantasy games I'm planning to play on the PS2 I bought this January. Compatiblity with PS1 was one reason I picked the PS2 over the Xbox, along with the much larger / better PS2 library.

When it comes time to consider the xbox360, I'll be looking at what games I can play on it. Will Panzer Dragoon Orta be on that list? Who knows.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: Vampirrella

Originally posted by: Queasy

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

How typical... its still all about making money. Why cant they just make ALL the games backward compatible instead of a select "top selling" ones?

its more like they only garrantee the top selling games to save time and money on testing.

i just don't get playing old games. i mean everyonce in a long while for some nostolgic value ..but really, new games are better. i have a snes and nes somewhere in the garage, i don't bother to find them. and its not convience either, i downloaded an emulator out of curiousity, haven't touched it since. its like a pc's 1.44mb floppy i guess..nice to have around in the rare occasion its needed

It makes sense to me in this respect. Good Xbox games are still going to be getting released through the next year or so while the Xbox360 gets released in November. It would be much more convienent for me to have just an Xbox360 that will play both instead of a Xbox360 and a Xbox sitting in my entertainment cabinent.

my guess is those are the very games that will be garranteed. the only reason not to garrantee games is to avoid the obligation of testing the entire xbox library.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
my guess is those are the very games that will be garranteed. the only reason not to garrantee games is to avoid the obligation of testing the entire xbox library.

Or if they need to generate per-game information or even pre-compiled code. From what little they've said we have no idea whether a game can run at all without game-specific work by MS in addtion to testing.

 

[magomago]

exactly...because with the Ps2 we have to remember that Ps1 capability was acheived literally by including the Playstation as a single chip on the PS2. There was no emulation at all~and the options we had avalible to make PS1/PS2 games look "nicer" was what looked to be a simpl filtering scheme and disc speed up

With the Xbox and Xbox360 you are looking at two very different architectures so emulation will likely be a difficult coding experience, even if the sytem is a besat compared to the original.

I also want to see what the Ps3's emulation will be like. there is no PS2/PS1 built into the Ps3 so emulation will be the way. I don't doubt for a minute that the system isn't powerful enough but emulation is never an easy task even if you have all the documentation.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: magomago
With the Xbox and Xbox360 you are looking at two very different architectures so emulation will likely be a difficult coding experience, even if the sytem is a besat compared to the original.

Don't forget the licensing issues with Nvidia. I'm wondering if they have gotten around that yet.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: Queasy

Although the Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible, Bach said that it won't necessarily run all of the older Xbox titles but instead, run the "top-selling" games.

So does that mean that we can expect to be able to play Halo and KOTOR but not Bruce Lee or Kabuki Warriors? Or is that MS just hedging their bets that there will be some games that won't be compatible like some PS1 games weren't compatible with the PS2?

It sounds like the former. Apparently they have to code emulation for each game, so my guess is that only a handful of XB titles will be playable. We shall see . . .

Meanwhile, Sony has announced PS3 will have full backwards compatibility with all PS1 and PS2 titles, quite a feather in their cap.

Nintendo too:

"We have designed Revolution to be a virtual console, capable of downloading 20 years of Nintendo content," as a slide showed the NES, SNES, and N64. "It is accurate to say that Nintendo Revolution is capable of playing virtually every Nintendo console game ever created. The idea of a console device transporting us back to those days should make us all feel young again & at least for a while."

Then there's the slot loading rom drive that will take GameCube games...

I'd bet XBox 360 might be in for a little hurting if they can't get support for at least a majority of their previous titles.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: magomago
exactly...because with the Ps2 we have to remember that Ps1 capability was acheived literally by including the Playstation as a single chip on the PS2. There was no emulation at all~and the options we had avalible to make PS1/PS2 games look "nicer" was what looked to be a simpl filtering scheme and disc speed up

With the Xbox and Xbox360 you are looking at two very different architectures so emulation will likely be a difficult coding experience, even if the sytem is a besat compared to the original.

I also want to see what the Ps3's emulation will be like. there is no PS2/PS1 built into the Ps3 so emulation will be the way. I don't doubt for a minute that the system isn't powerful enough but emulation is never an easy task even if you have all the documentation.

yup, i guess one advantage is with xbox live and a harddrive the emulator could be eventually perfected.