Xbox 360 Backwards Compatible? 99
Gamespot is reporting that, on the OurColony.net 360 footage, current generation Xbox titles are viewable being played on the 360 console. From the article: "There is also a screenshot of the new Xbox Live dashboard with the words 'Xbox 1 Zone' clearly marked and an icon of the current Xbox title Fable. Finally, a screenshot of the forthcoming Xbox Live Marketplace clearly shows Halo 2 maps being offered for download. However, while such shots imply backward compatibility, such functionality is not yet official. Microsoft executives have said themselves they cannot address the issue until next Monday's media event at E3--at the earliest."
Direct X (Score:2, Informative)
How much you wanna bet that XBox will be as backwards compatible as DirectX?
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
Can it all be emulated?
Re:Direct X (Score:2)
Only time will tell as to whether this a well placed PR red-herring, or, if infact the X360 is backwards compatible.
I have my doubts
Re:Direct X (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
To have as a quality; exhibit: "A thousand different shapes it bears"
Ha Ha! (Score:2)
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
mod parent up (Score:3, Interesting)
The Xbox360 CPU must emulate the whole machine, not just the PIII part. The Nvidia graphics stuff will not be able to be offloaded onto a very different ATI chip, for legal and technical reasons. The whole platform must
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
Re:Direct X (Score:2)
You ever notice how a lot of the games that come out toward the end of the life cycle of a console look, play and feel better than the first run games? The console didn't change in that time. The developers just dug in and found a lot of system-specific tweaks that were only worth
Re:Direct X (Score:3, Informative)
So do a lot of other older games.
Re:Direct X (Score:2)
but..
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
Re:Direct X (Score:1)
Pish, I played that game when it was brand new ON DirectX 8.1 and the damn thing still crashed.
It's another example of a rushed-out-the-door poorly coded piece of a game. And believe me, you aren't missing much. It was a travesty compared to its predecessor.
I'm guessing that software companies with any code developers worth a damn
Good (Score:2)
But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:3, Insightful)
I ask this in all seriousness. The only time I used it on my PS2 was to see if it actually worked (It did! yay!
So is there a good reason for 90% of people to care about backward compatibility?
ps I don't own an XBOX yet so I'm trying to be objective here.
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Believe me, for people like me, with seven gaming systems currently plugged into the home theatre system, reducing that number by one, especially when that one system is a system as space-hungry as the Xbox is worth something. If it doesn't cost much to make that possible, terrific.
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nintendo is another good example. The Nintendo DS and the Gameboy Advance can load just about every game cartridge produced for the Nintendo gameboy line, and I really like that. You get a better playing experience on the Gameboy Advance SP than on the non backlit Gameboy/Gameboy color and you don't need to keep the old handhelds around (though I still do it, for nostalgia's sake).
So, yeah, I think there are several good reasons for backwards compatibility. :)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:1)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:1)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:5, Informative)
Little did people know at the time that the GBC-on-a-chip would be done away with in Nintendo's next portable. Hence the Gameboy emulator for the GBA became even more important.
So to play old (non-Advance) Gameboy games on a DS, get a GBA flash cart [linker4u.com]. Put Goomba [webpersona.com] (GB emulator for the GBA) on it, and then you can play GB and SGB games on your DS. Of course, with the SGB games will play as if they are in a black and white Gameboy and not a Super Gameboy, so you won't get the Super Gameboy enhancements, such as more colors, borders, and other special features.
There are many other uses for these flash carts than piracy. Rip your own games and make your own multi-carts of your favorite titles. I have a multi-cart containing my favorite NES titles along with my favorite GB titles. So one little cart can fit hundreds of great games. That way I can have a variety of great games (puzzle, action, rpg, racing, shooter, etc) without lugging around handfuls of carts.
One last note. The Goomba page I linked above is the official site, but it lacks the most recent version, which can be found at the author's personal page [passagen.se]. You can also find the latest version of his NES emulator for the GBA.
Funny how an unofficial NES emulator existed for the GBA long before Nintendo got around to re-releasing their classic series for the GBA. Too little, too late, Nintendo. I still have over 100 NES carts in my closet. I am not about to pay full price for them all over again, and yes I still enjoy playing them.
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:1)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:2)
This reasoning makes no sense, but it's the reasoning I see posted
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:1)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:2)
But for the folks who don't own the original console - why not release originals re-compiled as budget titles or bonus discs ala the WindWaker/Ocarina of time deal?
Just seems dumb.
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:2)
Because the Ocarina of Time for GameCube doesn't help me when I want to play Goldeneye. It's really not the same thing at all. A key aspect of backwards campatibility is that the system instantly has a massive library. If you've ever owned a system in the first few months of its life, you should appreciate this feature. In order to match backwa
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:2)
Perfect Dark Zero (Score:2)
Re:Perfect Dark Zero (Score:1)
Re:Perfect Dark Zero (Score:1)
Re:Perfect Dark Zero (Score:1)
Re:Perfect Dark Zero (Score:1)
And further...
That "large audience of casual gamers who really only know Halo" that you speak of. This is a bad thing. The console exists for one reason, then? No, I'm going to side with reason and say that you're
Re:Perfect Dark Zero (Score:2)
Re:Perfect Dark Zero (Score:2)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:3, Insightful)
For people who don't already have an Xbox, backwards compatibility is a big selling point. It means that instead of a mere 20+ games there are potentially 1000s of games at launch.
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:2)
It's so simple, i'm surpised you didn't just realise it yourself... Ok, sure, if you are only selling to the exact same people as bought the first XBox then maybe you could just tell them to all plug in thier old XBoes and play... But what about new users? Are you expecting to sell to them?
I mean, Imagine yourself as a new user... you just boughtt a very expensive XBox 360 and bought your one *very*
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:2, Insightful)
Because the incremental cost of providing emulation is probably compensated by the increased sales resulting from that emulation. It gives the console a huge initial boost in games, it gives future XBox owners access to fun games that haven't been remade for the 360, and it provides "investment protection" for existing XBox owners who don't want to have both consoles hooked up.
I'd bet the market for PS1 games on the PS2 was huge. I'm responsible for at least a half-dozen PS1 game purchases, which multipl
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:1)
If I can't play my current xbox games on 360, then I might consider buying the ps3 over the 360. I'd definately wait longer to buy the 360 just to see what the ps3 will have to offer.
Most games come out on both systems anyway, so at that point, both are pretty equal (technical merits aside)
For MS, why would the want to give their cu
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:2)
Now, I am looking at this last year or so worth of XBox games, and the MUCH improved Live! games that are available, and am impressed. I have also switched to a Mac, so my gaming select
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:1)
But what happens when your original XBOX breaks, which seems to happen with certain XBOXes on a fairly regular basis. If you look at the article http://news.ft.com/cms/s/08fce29a-c334-11d9-abf1-0 0000e2511c8.html [ft.com] it seems that Nvidia has stopped making the original XBOX chips, and I would assume this would stop Microsoft from being able to continue manufacture the origional XBOX. While I know this isn
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:1)
Re:But (dare I ask) .. why? (Score:1)
Speculation (Score:3, Interesting)
It looks like the plans were already well underway by that time to use PowerPC based procesors in the Xbox 360
I know most of the VirtualPC codebase is mac specific , but alot of it could be adapted for the purposes of the xbox 360.
I still don't see how they will manage it without some form of speed hit , if they do manage atall.
well , we shall have to wait and find out .
Re:Speculation (Score:1)
Re:Speculation (Score:2)
HelloGamer article (Score:1)
My guess is that Microsoft will do what Sony did with the PS2: if a game works, it works; if not, tough titties. (I have had plenty of PS1 games freeze on my PS2.)
Re:HelloGamer article (Score:1)
It didn't mention specific titles or gameplay, so I'm guessing it was referring to friend lists and the like...
Re:HelloGamer article (Score:1)
Xbox Live is an online gaming service that works across both the current Xbox system and the future Xbox 2. You will be able to play online and compete against others across both consoles. If you are playing an Xbox game on Live you will be able to compete against people playing that same game on Xbox
does anyone benefit? (Score:1)
I drives up the price of the new console and it vastly reduces the potential resale value of the old one.
The only group of people that will benefit is the people who did not own the previous console, but do the new one, and are intrested in buying games for the old console (which will also drop in price alot slower than if backwards compatibility was not included)
Except for portable consoles (where it is invonveinient to carry around a
Re:does anyone benefit? (Score:1)
I got a PS2, but had not bought a console prior - no PS1. However, because the PS2 could play PS1 games, I wound up buying quite a few of them because, despite having older graphics, they really had quite good gameplay.
For the 360, backwards compatibi
Re:does anyone benefit? (Score:2)
There, you answered your own question. I don't suppose starting a post with "Does anyone benefit?" and almost immediately outlining exactly who benefits seemed like a red flag that your post was meaningless did it? No? Didn't think so.
Yes, I fall into that category. There are tons of XBox1 games I would like to play, but I have decided t
Re:Not to be too horribly off topic.... (Score:1)
Link below:t .mspx [microsoft.com]
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/defaul
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How any game could be backward compatible (Score:1)
I have a feeling they might do something like this, because it would just make more sense than emulating everything on the Xbox side. Hopefully all the games will follow suit and be rec
Re:How any game could be backward compatible (Score:3, Interesting)
Another benefit would be for VERY popular games, the re-released binary could be a $5 (or free
Re:How any game could be backward compatible (Score:2, Interesting)
Five reasons why Xbox 360 will be backwards... (Score:1)
1: Halo 2
2: Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
3: Unreal Championship 2
4: Forza Motorsport
5: The xbox specs are a 733 mghz P3 processor with 64 MB of RAM, while the xbox 360 specs are 3 3.2 GHZ IBM processor with 512 MB of RAM.
How can they not be able to make a decent emulator with that kind of technological buffer?
High-level programming and recompilation (Score:2)
Most people don't know this, but the original Xbox went through several revisions, which made significant changes to the firmw
Why? (Score:1)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
Newer titles could be handled more easily by just including 'easier' versions in a special directory on the disc.
That having been said, this is all highly unlikely; the amount of effort required to track down all of those titles and modify them as necessary would not o
Comeback To Consoles (Score:1)
1.So I can play what I missed (I've seen others play) from the xbox 1 generation: Fable, Unreal Championship 2, Shenmue II , etc.
2.On launch, xbox games will be much cheaper and abundant than xbox 360 games.
Controller... (Score:2)
To me, that was always the major clue as to whether the system would allow you to play original Xbox games. Of course, the controller design could be slightly changed, but as it stands now, all other arguments aside, I don't see how it could happen.
Re:Controller... (Score:3, Informative)
It will be backwards compatible (Score:1)
Xbox360 will be backwards compatible for:
1. They want to sell a lot of xbox360 before PS3 launches.
2. Many good games are coming for the current xbox before the holiday season (I am waiting for Lockdown, Godfather). They want to sell those games also. They don't want to give a choice to parents between a $150 system that can keep a child occupied for at least 1 year with the current library and a $298+ system that has a few ga
Choice is in Favor Of Microsoft (Score:1)
Re:Choice is in Favor Of Microsoft (Score:1)
If it is backwards compatible... (Score:1)
My guess (Score:2)
backward compatibility (Score:2)
Seems like that might just mean that XBox Live will maintain backward compatibility for people who still have XBox1.
Backwards compatible petition! (Score:1)