All Xbox Games will be Backwards Compatible

[bhodikhan]

Microsoft has signed a deal to license Nvidia's graphics technology in order to have the Xbox 360 backwards compatible--finally putting to rest the question that lingered behind current-gen Xbox users.

The next-gen 360 uses an ATI chipset, whereas the current Xbox uses an Nvidia chipset. Since the two companies are rivals in the GPU market, many analysts were skeptical that Microsoft would deliver. The company made a cryptic announcement at E3, saying the "best-selling" Xbox titles would work on the Xbox 360.

Microsoft since then has become more optimistic about backwards compatibility, with Microsoft Xbox PR Manager Michael Wolf saying, "our goal is to make all Xbox games play on Xbox 360, and at launch we'll have a selection of the top selling that will be tested and confirmed to work."

>>> http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=326849 <<<

[HaemishM]

Microsoft PR Guy: What do you mean they want to play their old games on the new system? Why would anyone want to do that?

Mr. Common Sense: Because Sony's PS2 could do it, and they kicked our asses. Oh, and the PS3 will do it too.

Microsoft PR Guy: But they are old games! The X-Box 360 is FULL OF NEW SHINEY!

Mr. Common Sense: Not everyone likes to buy stupid emulators for old games, and some people would like to have more than just the release titles for the first 6 months it'll take us to get a good library going.

Microsoft PR Guy: BUT IT'S WHITE! THE NEW BLACK!

Mr. Common Sense: People will not buy our system with only 20 launch titles and no ability to play their old games.

Microsoft PR Guy: Really?

Mr. Common Sense: Yes. It'll be one more thing Sony can claim they have over us when they release the PS3.

Microsoft PR Guy: THERE SHALL BE BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY! ENGRAVE IT IN STONE.

X-Box 360 Tech Monkey: Fuck.

[Shockeye]

Orange is the new pink.

[schild]

Backdoor lover.

[WayAbvPar]

This increases the chances of me purchasing a 360 within the first year at least tenfold.

[Pococurante]

Microsoft PR Guy: What do you mean they want to play their old games on the new system? Why would anyone want to do that?

This is Microsoft.  When have they ever used any other strategy than to force upgrades by removing fully compliant downward compatibility...

Same as it ever was.  Just new market.  And it works.

I guarantee the 360 will not be fully backwards compatible.  Regardless.

[MrHat]

I fear for my wallet.

[schild]

Poco, I bet it will be. Quite simply, money buys nice things.

I don't care much for backwards compatibility given the...erhm...state of my xboxen, but they will make it happen.

[Pococurante]

/shrug

I'd be happy to be wrong.  And it's always intriguing when a huge corporation does something differently for a change.

[Morfiend]

This increases the chances of me purchasing a 360 within the first year at least tenfold.

I will second that. I was really worried about this. Now I am almost ready to preorder.

[Margalis]

You guys do realize that the question has NOT been put to rest yet. There was no Microsoft statement. The person who said the issue has been put the rest was the person who wrote the blurb, not MS.

Edit: MS company line is still this : our goal is to make all Xbox games play on Xbox 360, and at launch we'll have a selection of the top selling that will be tested and confirmed to work.

To me that does NOT say all games will be compatible. It says some. This is the second time somebody has basically invented news here about MS backwards compatibility. Until MS says that all games will be backwards compatible at launch, the safe assumption is that they won't be.

[Sky]

I'm skeptical (surprise). Is the money dumped into Connectix and now nVidia going to be worth the return on investment?

Speaking of the redmond gorilla, anyone see the min gpu specs for longhorn? 64MB card (dx9c) for the /2d UI/...and 256 for the 3d UI! Yikes. I mean, they wrote the book on bloat but ohmybloat.

Actually, I never thought what an oxymoron /micro/soft is....

[eldaec]

In other news, I was glad to learn today that my new PC will also feature backwards compatibility. Hooray for me.

Also, who cares anyway - I seriously doubt anyone on this board is going to throw out their Xbox when they get an Xbox2. If nothing else, in 10 years time your Xbox will allow you chip into threads about what systems you own and look all old-school.

For people who are not of our kind I can see the point, granted. Though I doubt they'll really mind if the hit rate is at least 80% compatible.

[Sky]

I seriously doubt anyone on this board is going to throw out their Xbox when they get an Xbox2.

Heh. That was a good one. You, sir, are management material!

"XBox 360 - now backwards compatible*!"




*Requires original xbox, sold seperately.

[Jain Zar]

If it does manage to have backwards compatibility, my odds of buying it went from "no fucking way" to "mm.. could be!".

That Namco zombie game with the photographer guy trapped in the zombie infested city looks badass.  Especially since the trailer shows the guy pulling off wrestling moves on zombies in the middle of a department store.

But if I can't use all my old games its no go.

[Trippy]

This is old news. At the beginning of June Microsoft announced they had signed a royalty agreement with NVIDIA to allow ATI to emulate the Xbox NVIDIA chip and in misc. interviews with ATI they've been saying that the emulation difficulties are on the graphics side not the CPU side.

[Margalis]

So...the summary once again is that some games will be compatible at launch and other games will be at some point or something like that...whatever man!

This isn't rocket science. The second all XBox games will be playable on XBox2 at launch MS will put out a press release saying so. No press release = no full backwards compatibility yet. Rumors of a lack of compatibility can only hurt them, you can be 100% certain that they'll let everyone know as soon as they are sure it will work.

[Sky]

I know five or six ps2 owners who also had ps1. None of them played ps1 games on the ps2. In fact, most of them traded in the ps1 + library when they bought the new system, so they could get a gaggle of gaming goodness.

[Jain Zar]

But not all of us are idiots Sky.  Some people don't trade in games for new ones.  Some of us like our old games, and want to get a library of games going, not a Generation Gimme 1 week flash in the pan for 50 bucks hey get 15 credit for it on the next hunk of pretty but same as the other game shit.

[Merusk]

But not all of us are idiots Sky.  Some people don't trade in games for new ones.  Some of us like our old games, and want to get a library of games going, not a Generation Gimme 1 week flash in the pan for 50 bucks hey get 15 credit for it on the next hunk of pretty but same as the other game shit.

Then again, those of us like that also don't buy every single oooh shiny that comes out.  We rely on the suckers to do that, then bitch/ rave about it so we can pickup the good stuff for $20- $30 a few months down the road.

Here's one person who uses the backwards-compatability.  I use my PS2 to play FF Tactics, Bushido Blade 1&2. and the older FF games when I get the itch.  It's also used to play the educational games for my kids.  I gave the PS1 to my nephews and my sister just picks up used games for it. They'll get the PS2 in a few years when I decide there's a good enough reason or game to buy a PS3.

[schild]

Namco is releasing their next Ridge Racer on the Xbox 360 on launch day. Huh? What? According to EGM's rumor mill.

I guess it's just that time of the month, where weird not-press-release-backed bullshit reins supreme.

[Strazos]

I really want to somehow afford buying both a 360 and Revolution.

[schild]

That's easy. I've already got a Revolution. What I did was velcro pieces and strapped my PSP to my Gamecube. When I leave, I remove the PSP and I've got the Gameboy Revolution.

[WindupAtheist]

Also, who cares anyway - I seriously doubt anyone on this board is going to throw out their Xbox when they get an Xbox2. If nothing else, in 10 years time your Xbox will allow you chip into threads about what systems you own and look all old-school.

My NES and SNES are still both in service.   :-D

[schild]

Smurfs on Colecovision. Bitches.

[Margalis]

That game ruled. Damn those bats though. Damn you bats!

I have a bunch of working systems but I don't have room for a lot of them, it's a pain to hook them up, etc etc. I don't want 15 different systems lying around my living room floor.

Right now if I want to play FZero 64 I have to go to the closet, get out some cabling, unplug whatever shit I have plugged in, etc etc. It's just a pain.

[Sky]

But not all of us are idiots Sky.  Some people don't trade in games for new ones.  Some of us like our old games, and want to get a library of games going, not a Generation Gimme 1 week flash in the pan for 50 bucks hey get 15 credit for it on the next hunk of pretty but same as the other game shit.

Wouldn't those games also be playable on the system you bought them for?

I don't care if old games don't run on my new pc, I have an old pc for them.

[Azazel]

I really want to somehow afford buying both a 360 and Revolution.

Just wait a year or so after release before getting a PS3 or XBox Spineroonie, the price will have dropped and the top release software will be dirt cheap due to the 400 trillion copies floating around (I just bought Halo1 from EB, new for au$22 the other day, will try it out with my new SmartJoy Frag, when I can be arsed)

Then wait a year after that and get a Revolution when they're practically giving them away, like with Gamecube, which I only bought because Rogue Squadron was $30. Got Mario Kart DD for $25 a month or so ago! Yay for cheapass console games.

[Strazos]

I should have modified my statement with "around release."

[schild]

Seeing as the 360 is out this november, the PS3 is next may-ish and the revolution is next fall/winter - I don't see what your problem will be.

And what the fuck is this thing?  Too much smiley for one hand?

[Strazos]

Oh, I thought the Revolution was coming out much sooner than next fall.

I'm still not getting a PS3 though.

[AOFanboi]

Oh, I thought the Revolution was coming out much sooner than next fall.

That's the current rumor as well, but I cannot find the source I saw that hinted at March-April 2006. (Some ad campaign about thinking outside the box.)

[Hanzii]

The only time I cared about backward compatibility was when I learned, that my POS Nintendo DS could play Advance Wars and the like saving me the $50 for a GB...

[Jain Zar]

Well, that's about the only use a DS has right now.  Too bad I pretty much have every game worth playing except for one of the Castlevanias.  Hence why I got an N Gage QD for.  In the hopes Nintendo will GIVE ME SOME FUCKING GAMES TO PLAY INSTEAD OF 35 DOLLAR EXPERIMENTS I GET BORED OF IN 3 HOURS.  *Pant*

But to go back on a couple topics mentioned:  Yes I love budget software.  I almost did a little dance in Kohls when I looked through their little rack and found La Pucelle Tactics for 25 bucks a few weeks back.  Some of us also like backwards compatibility since space is tight, and having multiple systems hooked up is a pain in the butt.  I have a Gamecube, PS2, X Box, SNES, Turbo Duo, Dreamcast, N64, and Saturn all quasi hooked up to the living room tv.  Cords everywhere and I have to mark all sorts of cables just so I know what goes where.  Downstairs the Sega CD/Genesis/Master System Power Base Convertor, Atari 7800, and Intellivision are all hooked up, again with the switching of the cables.  Backwards compatibilty not only means less cables and space taken up, but less having a birth control living room.

As to old systems?  I need to get my Atari 5200 working just so I can play Gremlins.  Too bad the joysticks are all universally fucked, and even if I get a guaranteed working one, im not sure if my 4 port 5200 isn't buggered itself.

[Venkman]

Realistically, XBox 360 doesn't need full 100% backwards compatibility. Since when does M$ care anyway? It's good lipservice to talk about supporting Halo 1 or KOTOR, but they'll be pushing out newer versions of those anyway. In any case, they'll push for backwards compliance, get it and be more cross-platform doing it anyway.

Meanwhile, Sony pushes yet another proprietary system made worse with yet another proprietary media. I continue to hope they works things out with Toshiba and force an industry-wide adoption of either Bluray-ROM or HD-DVD. Unfortunately, it's looking like the latter due to the early adopters, which include XBox 360.