Is Microsoft done with updating the backwards compatability?

[swlovinist]

I know I have brought this up before, but I have about had it with Microsoft's half assed update to Xbox games that play on the 360. The last update was in December with the addition of Tom Clancy titles, but is that it O_O? Yes, I know that the 360 takes a different chipset. I also know that the update was to happen monthly, and frankly this is bullshit. I am a huge Xbox fan, and frankly, this very much dissapoints me with their apparant lack of support of something so basic. I know that many would disagree with me(which is ok by the way), but BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY DOES MATTER. Little things like this will determine who wins the console war of the next generation and it just does not make sense. No Star Wars Battlefront O_O O_O O_O. Cmon guys, you are smarter than that!

[Ed Oscuro]

Is Ninja Gaiden on the list yet? If not, you have your answer. LOL

Edit: Oops! It's on the list. Wrong message!

[squidblatt]

I just checked the list yesterday, and there have been no updates since they added the Splinter Cells. I suspect that they are pretty much through. There will probably be another update or two, but I didn't get the sense that they really wanted to spend much time with it in the first place. I think they handled this whole issue pretty badly.

[Gamereviewgod]

but BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY DOES MATTER. Little things like this will determine who wins the console war!

I buy my new console to play new games. If you're not buying a console because it can't play old games, than you need to reconsider buying the new one in the first place.

Xbox 1s won't be more than $50 soon enough used, if they aren't already. That's cheap enough to pick one up if you want to replay some of the unlisted titles bad enough.

[nik]

but BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY DOES MATTER. Little things like this will determine who wins the console war!

I buy my new console to play new games. If you're not buying a console because it can't play old games, than you need to reconsider buying the new one in the first place.

Xbox 1s won't be more than $50 soon enough used, if they aren't already. That's cheap enough to pick one up if you want to replay some of the unlisted titles bad enough.


Same here, personally, its a NEAT feature, but by no means will it decide who I choose, why do I want microsoft WASTING their time on doing this when the console itself could of been optimised, or otherwise bettered if they has not been tinkering with this lame lazy gamer option.

[hezeuschrist]

Yeah, but lets be honest here. The Xbox, and Xbox 360, are both very, very large consoles. It's a convenience issue to not have to hook up my PSOne to play PlayStation games, and with a beast like the Xbox, it would be a huge boon to the space in my entertainment center.

[s1lence]

There is supposed to be another update this month. Personally I don't believe that feature is going to be what determines the winner in the console war, just a nice feature to have.

[Joker T]

I am a huge Xbox fan, !

Why not play your original Xbox games on your old Xbox?

[Captain Wrong]

The 360 is, what, six months old? Isn't it a little early to assume they're done updating anything on it?

[swlovinist]

I agree with some things said here. Yes, I could just play on my Xbox, which I do when the game is not compatable. I do have to say once someone plays an xbox game in 720p, it is hard to go back. At least on my TV with component cables, the games look that great. I only have my 360 hooked up to my main TV, which does only have one component slot(I am considering a system selector. As for the console wars, yes it is too early to tell if this will affect sales for the 360. When it comes down to it, software will determine the outcome. I will await an update, if it does come soon. Until then, I guess I will bitch about how they could of handled this better.

[Tan]

but BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY DOES MATTER. Little things like this will determine who wins the console war!

I buy my new console to play new games. If you're not buying a console because it can't play old games, than you need to reconsider buying the new one in the first place.

Xbox 1s won't be more than $50 soon enough used, if they aren't already. That's cheap enough to pick one up if you want to replay some of the unlisted titles bad enough.

tell that to the 360 owners who sold their xbox's and can't play Black LOL

[roushimsx]

Here's a few reasons I can think of as to why I love backwards compatibility:

Save space. Having multiple consoles hooked up sucks up stupid amounts of space. I no longer hook up my NES and SNES because I can play those games on my Xbox now. My PS1s are never hooked up anymore because I can play them on my PS2.
Improvements to the original games. Running your old games in 720p on the 360, adding texture filtering and decreasing load times on the PS2, running in Scale2x on the Xbox...all great additions to the gameplaying experience (unless you want to play in a more purist mode...in which case you wouldn't be worried about backwards compatibility in the first place)
Correcting defects with the original hardware. For instance, if you want to play Panzer Dragoon Orta, Jet Grind Radio Future, or Gunvalkyrie in 480p on an Xbox, you just might be shit out of luck unless you have a pre v1.4 Xbox (due to the video chip). If they ever get supported by the 360, you'll be able to play your games as they were intended to be played.

but hey, that's just me.

I understand that backwards compatibility on the 360 is insanely complex and that they probably shouldn't have ever announced it at all given how difficult it'll be to emulate the original games, but they DID announce it, hype it, and release it. I expect them to keep updating it monthly and improving it to the point where it really does reach the promised goal of 100% compatibility and the lack of progress they've been making has been disappointing.

[vherub]

it seems a little odd that a forum widely celebrating the history of games, wouldn't be i an uproar over backwards compatibility. Videogames is unique in its disdain for its own mid and backlist.
The system enables games to be played, it is really no different than a dvd player or a cd player. And old games are no different than old movies and music. Think how great it would be if for the next 20 years, if you bought a new gaming system, your existing games could be used on it. No other piece of electronics has this bizarre logic of enforced obsoletism.

[KingCobra]

but BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY DOES MATTER. Little things like this will determine who wins the console war!

I buy my new console to play new games. If you're not buying a console because it can't play old games, than you need to reconsider buying the new one in the first place.

Xbox 1s won't be more than $50 soon enough used, if they aren't already. That's cheap enough to pick one up if you want to replay some of the unlisted titles bad enough.

tell that to the 360 owners who sold their xbox's and can't play Black LOL

Tell that to the gamers that haven't bought a 360 yet :P

That be me! I don't want multiple consoles on my main set, my jacks are all take'n up outside of one lonely componet jack left, F@#$ switch box clusters. If you want my money MS? You better get your act together FAST! or you may loose it to Nin or Sony ;)

You better believe BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY MATTERS, Sony didn't mop-up the comp last/this gen for nothing.

Nice piece of hardware(360), garbage software and emulation line-up.

[keiblerfan69]

Correcting defects with the original hardware. For instance, if you want to play Panzer Dragoon Orta, Jet Grind Radio Future, or Gunvalkyrie in 480p on an Xbox, you just might be shit out of luck unless you have a pre v1.4 Xbox (due to the video chip). If they ever get supported by the 360, you'll be able to play your games as they were intended to be played.


See the reason I need 360 BC is because I sold my xbox because it was broke. Now I don't own a lot of XBOX game but only like 4 of them work(Halo, Halo 2, Nightfire, Crimson Skies). I am not including NG Black because that game is broken as hell running on a 360. They really do nned to up date the list. I want Jet Grind, Panzer and Unreal to work.
I expect an update this month.

[roushimsx]

You better believe BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY MATTERS, Sony didn't mop-up the comp last/this gen for nothing.


Yea, it's especially important early on in a console's life before the software library bulks up. A lot of people sell their old consoles to buy new ones, but if a console supports backwards compatibility, they can hang on to a few games and still play them. If a game (like Black) comes out that they want to play, they can go pick it up and play it...which is good news for everyone (console maker, game publisher, game developer, and game player)

[Tan]

another great thing about backwards compatibility, is that you can go back and play say for example Lego star wars just before you play it's sequel, on the same system, because apparently it's gonna use your Lego SW1 save file to unlock a load of characters, but since M$ doesn't fully support it with the transfer of save files, it's useless if you have the box version, but great for ps2 version users.

that and it's nice to play a previous version of a game before you play it's sequel, especially if there is a deep story and been a few years since the first came out, how many university shudents or anyone for that matter have to room for 2 large brutes, that take up a vid plugs, fibre optic slot and shelf space, when the 360 could and should do it for both, not to mention upconvert certain games to 720p.

[nik]

You better believe BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY MATTERS, Sony didn't mop-up the comp last/this gen for nothing.


Yea, it's especially important early on in a console's life before the software library bulks up. A lot of people sell their old consoles to buy new ones, but if a console supports backwards compatibility, they can hang on to a few games and still play them. If a game (like Black) comes out that they want to play, they can go pick it up and play it...which is good news for everyone (console maker, game publisher, game developer, and game player)

I agree with your point of sale view, but honestly, considering Burnout Revenge is getting the 360 do up, what makes you think Black, made by the same developer, and published by the exact same publisher, that it won't receive that same treatment?

Bottom line, people buy new to play new. It's a feature, a bonus, one I won't use, but then I didn't have a large amount of original XboX games.. but I'm just a casual gamer, although there are alot of me around.

Keep in mind I'll be buying the rev, although I will not use the XboX backwards compatibility, what I WILL be using, is the arcade, and the rev's downoadable old school games.

That, my freinds, is the REAL deal breaker. XboX has already hinted at original XboX games being downloadable.

That, in this generation, the micropayments, saving overhead on packaging, and distributing, I belive will win this current generations race.

[Tan]

it's no different than hd-dvd or blu-ray players playing dvd's or stereos that have cassette players, it's about convienience and getting your money's worth while not wasting money you've already spent.

imagine if the new players didn't read dvd's, would you buy a $500 hd-dvd player? would we all be as excited about the revolution if there was no virtual console? or ability to play gamecube discs?

maybe not everyone is going to use B.C., some may stumble upon a game later on they hadn't played before and hope it's supported, it's just M$'s way of thinking, the same way that will make people switch to vista so they can play halo 2. ironic from a company who's OS has specific settings and built in features to maintain compatibility with apps and games that are almost 12 years old now. x_x

[Ed Oscuro]

And old games are no different than old movies and music. Think how great it would be if for the next 20 years, if you bought a new gaming system, your existing games could be used on it. No other piece of electronics has this bizarre logic of enforced obsoletism.
Good post up to this point, which I have to disagree with. Old games are substantially different from movies and music in that their proprietary nature and complexity mean that any number of things can make compatibility an impossible goal. Second, all three major manufacturers today are planning on keeping their formats alive for the next twenty years.

Finally, other home electronics - and appliances in general - are guaranteed to be obsolete when the shape or medium (i.e. vinyl to magnetic to optical to maybe holographic) of the format itself changes, or when they stop manufacturing parts (and look at something like a washing machine - it's almost always cheaper to replace items like those instead of having them repaired).

All the manufacturers of entertainment products have reverse compatibility as a goal so that they don't lose their established user base, but if that becomes an unwieldly option they have to weigh the hit in popularity and the reduced media library against the actual benefits of moving the technology forward, out of the reach of competitors.

[Gamereviewgod]

imagine if the new players didn't read dvd's, would you buy a $500 hd-dvd player? would we all be as excited about the revolution if there was no virtual console? or ability to play gamecube discs?
x

Yes and no. If I'm plunking down for a HD player, no, it's not a factor for me if it plays regular DVDs. Again, I'm buying it for the new stuff. I still have my DVD player the same way I still have my laserdisc player.

For the Rev, no, it wouldn't be as exciting, but that's only because we have no idea what else it will have/do. I think the unique games will have a far bigger impact.

I understand a lot of people like the convience, but most of went through the NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, etc. era without owning a single console that played the previous gen titles. People aren't ripping the SNES because it doesn't play NES carts, and yet the 360 offers decent compatibility for around 150 games (some of them run like crap), and people still aren't happy.

[Tan]

it's not that people aren't happy, it's that they touted the b.c. as a selling point and haven't delivered, that and there's no pattern to titles selected, many of the best titles for the system aren't there, i know i can't speak for everyone but if i have 20-30 games not on that list i won't pay to download them on xbox live, ones i haven't played yes, but not ones i already own.

i guess my main point here is all or nothing, it's like they made a promise, realized they screwed up, and had to sloppily throw together a bunch of titles just to cover their asses, and they got caught up with the revolution/ps3 backwards compatibility comparisons so they could say they weren't missing a feature the other two have.

[KingCobra]

I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want backwards compatibility in the year 2006 on a very $$$ home gaming console? Even if you don't use it, it's there and you never know. Why would anyone want less outta there stuff?

I guess they should remove window handles/electric buttons from cars since it's got a heater/air-con for controlling the temp, but hey I might wanna roll down the window once in awhile :D

Ofcourse that's a car, not a gaming console, but you kinda get the point ;)

They had it in the Coleco/Atari days, and then it kinda fade'd away, now it's been back for a few years and I like it! Stop de-evolving damn it :/


I guess I'm turning into grummy from the Donkey Kong Country games, no wait! I just want a killer BANG for my buck! Yea, that's it LOL