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XBox (Games)

Backwards Compatibility For Xbox One Launches 63

SlappingOysters writes: What is old is new again as backwards compatibility arrives on the Xbox One as part of a dashboard update. Finder has the full list of 104 launch games for the service, and has analyzed the origins of these titles. The site has determined that of the 104 games, only 28% ever released in boxed form, and of the remaining downloadable Xbox Live games, 36% are remakes of titles from previous generations. The site has also identified 60 games that were on the marketing material for Xbox One backwards compatibility, but were not on the launch line-up.
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Backwards Compatibility For Xbox One Launches

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  • I've wanted to grab this for so long. But I knew that if I stuck it in my box, it wouldn't work. Now I can finally grab it and stick it in!

  • I have the recollection that at least some; but probably not all, of the downloadable Xbox360 games, especially the indie ones, were built in something that was confusingly a bit different from .NET in the PC sense(as is customary for Microsoft's deeply confusing platform strategies); but, like .NET, was markedly more limited in terms of native code and deep hardware twiddling than the big commercial disk releases where(where developers could work more or less as close to the metal as their budget, talent,
    • by Xest ( 935314 )

      As others have said, yes, you're thinking of XNA. It essentially came in two flavours - the public flavour that XBox Live Indie games were all developed in, and a version that allowed access to more features such as achievements that professional licensed developers could use.

      But that's not the issue here, Microsoft has a fully working emulator that runs all Xbox 360 games flawlessly. The issue is licensing, Microsoft can't just release games through backwards compat. without the owners permission. If it we

  • by RogueyWon ( 735973 ) on Thursday November 12, 2015 @10:48AM (#50915195) Journal

    The initial list of games supported through back compatibility is relatively disappointing. That said, MS have acknowledged they are working to improve it and, in particular, to address the current problem with support for multi-disk games. On that basis, MS deserves at least two cheers for making a good start.

    But in terms of prioritising titles for support, I'd like it if MS could reflect on those titles where there is the greatest historical interest in ensuring they remain playable on new hardware. I traded in my 360 almost two years ago and was surprised at how little reluctance I felt in doing so. There was only a tiny range of games that I felt regret about not having access to any more.

    In truth, there are relatively few 360 games that would genuinely benefit from preservation. The two categories that I would de-prioritise are:

    Multi-platform games which remain available on modern hardware. This might be because they've had a "remastered" version for a current-gen console. In many cases, however, it is because PC versions remain available, on sale and playable. So a lot of the big cross-platform shooter franchises would not, to my mind, be a priority as they are generally cheaply available on Steam and/or Origin.

    The next category of games are the instalments in iterative franchises which are effectively replaced by later instalments. So the FIFAs, the Maddens and, at a push, the Forzas (Forza 6 is a valid successor to Forza 4 in a way that Forza 5 wasn't). These are the games with no storytelling component, whose features are improved on a year-by-year basis and where there is really no particular reason to go back to the older versions.

    That actually covers a remarkably large portion of the 360's library. I was struck when I traded mine in by how few really significant exclusives the 360 had; its strength was always as the "best console to play multi-platform games on" rather than as an exclusives machine. That said, there are a few titles I would dearly love to see rescued:

    - Lost Odyssey (arguably the best JRPG of its generation and, in some respects, the "real" Final Fantasy 13. It's multi-disc, so that issue would need to be sorted.)

    - Blue Dragon (not quite as good as Lost Odyssey, but still a seriously good JRPG).

    - Ace Combat 6 (the final decent instalment in the series when it was still unafraid to be wacky, before it turned into Call of Duty with planes).

    - Gears of War 2 and 3 (almost certain candidates for an HD remaster at some point, I guess).

    - Deathsmiles (technically also available on mobile platforms, but the 360 port is the definitive version and one of the best bullet-hell shooters available for home consoles).

    There is a much larger list of PS3 titles in need of rescue. My original highest priority, Valkyria Chronicles, is thankfully now on Steam, but I would dearly love to see the Ratchet & Clank games and a lot of those PS3-exclusive or best-on-PS3 JRPGs (such as Eternal Sonata) make it out from under the wire.

    • Re:The 360 library (Score:4, Informative)

      by bigdady92 ( 635263 ) on Thursday November 12, 2015 @12:08PM (#50915739) Homepage
      You can't 100% fault MS for the lack of games, it's the publisher's as well.

      MS in one of their press conferences said that they are more than happy to work with a publisher to get their game backwards compatible but it's upto the PUBLISHER not MS in order to start that ball rolling. Considering some of these games are 7+ years old , code probably sitting under someone's desk drawer in a bunch of ZIP drives, and now with digital rights being put into play let alone if any of the rights holders exist or are alive, you have a mess of a time trying to roll this out.

      Now there is 0 excuse for first party titles not being supported. That's a MS issue 100%, but with hundreds of games out there, it's upto the Publisher's to push forward.
    • by unrtst ( 777550 )

      - Gears of War 2 and 3 (almost certain candidates for an HD remaster at some point, I guess).

      I'm not very familiar with the series, but had been looking at the available console bundles, and the gears of war bundle *appears* to include all of the 360 collection of gears of war:
      http://www.microsoftstore.com/... [microsoftstore.com]

      • Full game download of original Gears of War remastered in 1080p
      • Get the entire Xbox 360 Gears of War collection to play for free

      They also have the ultimate edition on xbox one as a stand alone game. I don't know if it includes 2 and 3 though.
      Are these the same?

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      But in terms of prioritising titles for support, I'd like it if MS could reflect on those titles where there is the greatest historical interest in ensuring they remain playable on new hardware

      Actually, MS is prioritizing based on user votes. See http://xbox.uservoice.com/foru... [uservoice.com] for a list of the highest voted games.

      The only reason games might not be ported despite high votes is the publisher - some of the top ones are Activision and EA, who will probably not allow those games be played on Xbone because th

  • I was very close to dropping cash on an XBOne when I heard about backwards compatibility. I've had a 360 since launch and have a pretty large selection of games and my 360 being a first gen lacks modern features like HDMI. Then I looked at the list to see what games I owned were on it. There are two. Sigh. I ended up buying a preowned 360 Elite which has HDMI and moved on. I already have a PS4 and PC so the current gen games are well covered so I don't think there's room for an XBOne until it can realistica

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