GamePro Hands-on with 360: Halo 1/2 confirmed BC

[Joe DeFuria]

Well, it's stored on the HDD isn't it?

Yes, presumably. And the contents of the hard drive would be the easiest thing to "update" prior to launch.

As for the 'several months ago' - since launch 360's have been being stockpiled now for several months, well there ya go.

Says who? Certainly components have been stockpiled...but fully assembled and packaged?

I agree on the waiting for the actual day though to say one way or the other how well B/C was executed.

Well, that settles it then.

 

[Alpha_Spartan]

Anyway SONY is going to have the same issues.

Well, I wouldn't say it like that. I would say that Sony will have to face the same hurdles that Microsoft faced since the PS3 hardware is completely different for the PS2.

With that said, I don't expect PS3 b/c to be as good as PS2 b/c because of this issue.

 

[Platon]

I would agree with Alpha Spartan. I think MS approach is to do BC just good enough just so that they can use it in the marketing.

The only thing that makes me think that they might take it seriously is that they are actually paying Nvidia a fee foe emulating the hardware. I can imagine that that fee is extremely small but still, it must be painfull for MS to keep handing over money to nvidia after all these years, so who knows we might afterall see a very good BC, but I am sceptic...

 

[London Geezer]

Hooray! All the speculation indeed turned out to be true and, performance wise, the game plays exactly the same, if not better than on the original Xbox, with no slowdown or hiccups. Interestingly, the textures seemed more crisp, perhaps due to the more advanced anti-aliasing.

If anything it might be because of Aniso filtering, not just AA. Morons.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Says who? Certainly components have been stockpiled...but fully assembled and packaged?

Considering MS have released a movie of XB360's being manufactured and boxed I think it safe to assume that the final hardware, firmware, and installed softwares were finished a few months ago.

 

[Qroach]

Well, I wouldn't say it like that. I would say that Sony will have to face the same hurdles that Microsoft faced since the PS3 hardware is completely different for the PS2.

That's what I meant. Sony will have the same issues as MS with backwards compatability.

 

[c0_re]

BC=meh unless the old games run at 720p

Who cares anyone that own's an Xbox and doens't mod it once the 360 comes out is crazy, a modded Xbox is one of greatest multimedia\gameing tools ever.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

That's what I meant. Sony will have the same issues as MS with backwards compatability.

Except PS3 has a degree of hardware level backwards compatibilty to support the develops who 'do things Sony weren't expecting them to do'. So I don't think Sony have the same issues such as GPU difficulties; at least until we hear one way or another how they are handling BC.

 

[Tap In]

if not better than on the original Xbox, with no slowdown or hiccups.

oh good... maybe now I won't get that annoying slowdown with 8 players all in the middle of the Warlock map with 6 grenades and 10 weapons going off and dead bodies flying with thick smoke effects all over the place.

 

[Qroach]

Well really that doesn't matter. They had a FULL ps1 inside of teh PS2 and it still wasn't 100% compatable. pretty close but not 100%. We really don't know exactly what hardware is in PS3 to allow for better backwards compatability. I'd be willing to bet there isn't any included as it would just increase cost, and they plan to use cell to emulate just aboout everything. Anyway I'm fairly certain sony is going ot have just as rough a time if not more so, as PS2 games were all written directly to the hardware with out a thin layer API between. The fact many xbox games didn't get right to the hardware will probably increase the chances of it being backwards compatable.

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

Looks like the article broke the site's NDA. It's gone now. MS had stated that they would reveal the BC list next week, so I don't think this is too non-representative. One thing I'm wondering though, is where does the debug kit fit in terms of production and beta? I would imagine it's very much like... mmmm, say a modded production kit, no? Anyone know how this is set usually? I'm asking not so much for BC, but because the debug kit has a power brick, which should be inside the production model... I'm worried MS may have had heating issues and gone with the brick, which isn't all that ellegant. Yeah, yeah, yeah hush... I care.

 

[Powderkeg]

The one huge advantage Sony has in regards to B/C is the fact that they own all of the IP's for the PS2, so they can do any type of emulation they want without having to worry about paying someone else royalties to do it.

MS doesn't have that luxury. It's going to cost MS much more to have B/C.

 

[Qroach]

MS already paid for a license of the tech needed to do this from Nvidia.

 

[Mmmkay]

MS already paid for a license of the tech needed to do this from Nvidia.

That extended as far as the Xbox. As they are now emulating Nvidia specific IP on an ATI chip they are required to pay royalties separate from that original deal. This is otherwise known as the HDD tax (imho)

 

[Carl B]

That extended as far as the Xbox. As they are now emulating Nvidia specific IP on an ATI chip they are required to pay royalties separate from that original deal. This is otherwise known as the HDD tax (imho)

I think that deal you linked to is exactly what QRoach was refering to though.

 

[Qroach]

Exactly what I was talking about.

 

[NavNucST3]

BC=meh unless the old games run at 720p

Who cares anyone that own's an Xbox and doens't mod it once the 360 comes out is crazy, a modded Xbox is one of greatest multimedia\gameing tools ever.

I'll drink to that!

 

[mckmas8808]

Well really that doesn't matter. They had a FULL ps1 inside of teh PS2 and it still wasn't 100% compatable. pretty close but not 100%. We really don't know exactly what hardware is in PS3 to allow for better backwards compatability. I'd be willing to bet there isn't any included as it would just increase cost, and they plan to use cell to emulate just aboout everything. Anyway I'm fairly certain sony is going ot have just as rough a time if not more so, as PS2 games were all written directly to the hardware with out a thin layer API between. The fact many xbox games didn't get right to the hardware will probably increase the chances of it being backwards compatable.

Wasn't like 99% of PSone games playable on the PS2? I think 15 games didn't play on the PS2. Get over it Qroach. And the PS3 will have BC with PS2 games on day one. HDD or not.

 

[Qroach]

Wasn't like 99% of PSone games playable on the PS2? I think 15 games didn't play on the PS2. Get over it Qroach. And the PS3 will have BC with PS2 games on day one. HDD or not.

Thanks for supporitng my point. Sony had the entire pSone in hardware. There's no way they can have the entire PS2 in hardware this time around, and that's the point I was making. Sony will have a much harder time making PS3 backwards compatible compared to teh previous attempt with PS2.

You need to stop being so unreasonable and think about it for a moment.

 

[mckmas8808]

Thanks for supporitng my point. Sony had the entire pSone in hardware. There's no way they can have the entire PS2 in hardware this time around, and that's the point I was making. Sony will have a much harder time making PS3 backwards compatible compared to teh previous attempt with PS2.

You need to stop being so unreasonable and think about it for a moment.

How am I being unreasonable? Don't you think it's unreasonable to think that the Xbox 360 will have better BC than the PS3? Your quote.

The fact many xbox games didn't get right to the hardware will probably increase the chances of it being backwards compatable.

That dear sir seems more unreasonable than anything that I've said.