X360 Ditching Backwards Compatibility
- Thread starter rounin
- Start date
exactly like i + and others predicted ages ago
the only reason they included the emulation of some xb titles (ie its not true BC) is to when they were hyping up the xb360 at launch, they could say yes the xb360 is BC
well chalk up another broken promise for the xb360 (how many is that now 3?)
sony no doubt will just be as bad (though u can bet the house on the ps3 BC is gonna be much much better)
the only reason they included the emulation of some xb titles (ie its not true BC) is to when they were hyping up the xb360 at launch, they could say yes the xb360 is BC
well chalk up another broken promise for the xb360 (how many is that now 3?)
sony no doubt will just be as bad (though u can bet the house on the ps3 BC is gonna be much much better)
BC isn't profitable but I think what Sony is trying to do is add value to the PS platform.
In marketing speak it goes like this...
When you buy Playstation, you are guaranteed almost 100% BC, whilst the competitor offers half assed BC (>5% of titles?) and empty promises. The Playstation platform offers a longer lifespan for the console- compare upcoming games like FF12 and GoW2 to the barren release list for Xbox1. Developer support goes without saying.
Sony can position PS3 as a more expensive comsole because its perceived to be more valuable.
In marketing speak it goes like this...
When you buy Playstation, you are guaranteed almost 100% BC, whilst the competitor offers half assed BC (>5% of titles?) and empty promises. The Playstation platform offers a longer lifespan for the console- compare upcoming games like FF12 and GoW2 to the barren release list for Xbox1. Developer support goes without saying.
Sony can position PS3 as a more expensive comsole because its perceived to be more valuable.
scooby_dooby
Legend
What did they originally say at E3 in 2005? "top selling xbox games"
The quote you provided is more PR than anything, and is fairly recent if i'm not mistaken. The only 'promise' they ever made was to have the top selling games BC, and it seems they've done that.
If I were actually into using my 360 for BC, I would think that I'd prefer to have MS work on improving the performance of some of the real top games like NG, Halo, Forza etc (which don't run so hot) rather than trying to get every game in the library 'working'.
Here's the BC list btw:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm
207 titles and counting, pretty good effort. I would say they definately overdelivered, I was expecting maybe 100 tops.
The quote you provided is more PR than anything, and is fairly recent if i'm not mistaken. The only 'promise' they ever made was to have the top selling games BC, and it seems they've done that.
If I were actually into using my 360 for BC, I would think that I'd prefer to have MS work on improving the performance of some of the real top games like NG, Halo, Forza etc (which don't run so hot) rather than trying to get every game in the library 'working'.
Here's the BC list btw:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm
207 titles and counting, pretty good effort. I would say they definately overdelivered, I was expecting maybe 100 tops.
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bullet point on the box, that's all BC is IMO
I didn't expect more than 100 either (and only wanted Halo2)
200+ AND STILL COMING... is pretty good
doesn't sound like a half assed financial or technical effort if you ask me. (as some seem to accuse)
I didn't expect more than 100 either (and only wanted Halo2)
200+ AND STILL COMING... is pretty good
Rockster said:
doesn't sound like a half assed financial or technical effort if you ask me. (as some seem to accuse)
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mckmas8808
Legend
Sis said:
So we shouldn't discuss something that someone important like Peter Moore says? That's like Phil Harrison saying something about the PS3, Xbox Live, and the PC and us not talking about it. Oh wait.
mckmas8808
Legend
bleon said:
No you are WAY off. They would have had BC in the PS3 regardless if MS didn't even make a Xbox 360.
Yea, Sony already said before xbox360 that their console platforms would continue to be backwards compatible at least one generation back.
With PS3 they go two generations BC, add to that the selected back catalogue of PSOne games for PSP, and it really doesn't look like BC was something they added just for fear of xbxox360.
With PS3 they go two generations BC, add to that the selected back catalogue of PSOne games for PSP, and it really doesn't look like BC was something they added just for fear of xbxox360.
kyleb said:
How very true. I was actually entertaining an idea of a web site, that would count the number of days without a BC update, have lists of popular games not working (people could vote what games they want), and good games not workin (by metascore or gameranking), known glitches with the BC games etc. With luck it could send a message to Redmond. I just don't have the time and resources. People should be more vocal with their BC demands and make it harder for MS to make dismissive comments like this.
Actually the pre-played sales of xbox games did skyrocket in conjunction with the xbox 360 bc compatible games... initially
At least that's what happened at the store that I work at.
Although this doesn't really help getting MS or their developers profits, but it sure did help giving gamestop/eb games their increased pre-played quotas.
so bottomline is that Microsoft isn't really benefiting from bc, aside from bragging rights...
because a good portion of the games that people want to play on the list is either discontinued/out of print or just hard to find nowadays.
the only game people play for bc is halo2... that's it... really...
The only real thing that bc is good for is when someone is feeling nostalgic, and wants to play that rare gem in the plethora of xbox games, they won't need to drag and dust off their old "unsexy" xbox system that they have hidden in their closets...
I also want to point out that most people that bought an X360 did ask about bc, but I really don't think they will use it... to them, it's just something "good to know"...
either or, they've already given enough games to be bc-ed, if they stopped and focused on something else to improve gaming on the X360, then I'm all for it.
on a side note, a microsoft rep came to the store today with some pamplets about present and upcoming attachments for the x360, they have the camera and the HD-DVD add on in their product line already. although no MSRP is given on those two, the featureset seems nice... sadly, he had no clue what those were for
At least that's what happened at the store that I work at.
Although this doesn't really help getting MS or their developers profits, but it sure did help giving gamestop/eb games their increased pre-played quotas.
so bottomline is that Microsoft isn't really benefiting from bc, aside from bragging rights...
because a good portion of the games that people want to play on the list is either discontinued/out of print or just hard to find nowadays.
the only game people play for bc is halo2... that's it... really...
The only real thing that bc is good for is when someone is feeling nostalgic, and wants to play that rare gem in the plethora of xbox games, they won't need to drag and dust off their old "unsexy" xbox system that they have hidden in their closets...
I also want to point out that most people that bought an X360 did ask about bc, but I really don't think they will use it... to them, it's just something "good to know"...
either or, they've already given enough games to be bc-ed, if they stopped and focused on something else to improve gaming on the X360, then I'm all for it.
on a side note, a microsoft rep came to the store today with some pamplets about present and upcoming attachments for the x360, they have the camera and the HD-DVD add on in their product line already. although no MSRP is given on those two, the featureset seems nice... sadly, he had no clue what those were for
If BC isn't of interest to gamers because they don't want to play old games, Nintendo are making a real blunder with their virtual console
Shifty Geezer said:If BC isn't of interest to gamers because they don't want to play old games, Nintendo are making a real blunder with their virtual console
not quite the same since there is a difference in the sellability of the product...
they are not going against sony or MS directly but is going for the "and might as well buy this" option...
Nintendo's bc is there because the hardware is directly correlated (an added bonus), while the X360 and XBOX isn't...
different market/gimick/whatnot/whatever you want to call it....
admittedly the games, in general, aren't even in a similar projected consumer targets...
and the dl scheme they will be using for their retro gaming is pretty much synonimous to their "old games go handheld rehash yet sells well so let's do that all over again scheme" which XBOX live is countering through the xbox live arcade dl scheme...
And Sega with their back catalogue on XBLA.
BC is different from "retro" You must skip at least one generation from between until you get that "retro cool".
I just checked the local official xbox site, and there's absolutely no mention of backwards compatibility on xb360 specs or anywhere on that site any more.
I understand BC is not the no.1 feature when shopping for a new console, especially if you previously haven't owned the last gen box.
Personally to me, it is a very important feature as I have 50+ titles already on my shelf, and I am not planning to ditch and sell them even though I might not play many of them very often, I know I will miss the gems among them in years to come if I'd sell them.
Good games are good games even if the graphics are outdated. There are some gems that I'm sure will stand the test of time, some of them are even such I am not so sure there will be a next gen game of same genre that would surpass the old one, or even a next gen game of same genre at all as some of them really are in a genre of their own.
BC is different from "retro"
You must skip at least one generation from between until you get that "retro cool".I just checked the local official xbox site, and there's absolutely no mention of backwards compatibility on xb360 specs or anywhere on that site any more.
I understand BC is not the no.1 feature when shopping for a new console, especially if you previously haven't owned the last gen box.
Personally to me, it is a very important feature as I have 50+ titles already on my shelf, and I am not planning to ditch and sell them even though I might not play many of them very often, I know I will miss the gems among them in years to come if I'd sell them.
Good games are good games even if the graphics are outdated. There are some gems that I'm sure will stand the test of time, some of them are even such I am not so sure there will be a next gen game of same genre that would surpass the old one, or even a next gen game of same genre at all as some of them really are in a genre of their own.
Most likely backwards compatibility is going to be a personal issue to each person. To me, I just don't care. If it is there....okay, if it's not there....so what. From every console I've owned, none have been backwards compatible with the previous generation (Gensis to Saturn to Dreamcast) and it never bothered me.
I also believe as time goes by and the "current" generation is more in play, backwards compatibility becomes less of an issue. I played a few of my original Xbox games on my X360 when I first bought it.....but I just don't ever find myself wanting to play those games anymore. You get used to the new systems advanced features and the old Xbox games feel old.
Of course if I must play an older Xbox game, I still have my Xbox
Tom Crews
I also believe as time goes by and the "current" generation is more in play, backwards compatibility becomes less of an issue. I played a few of my original Xbox games on my X360 when I first bought it.....but I just don't ever find myself wanting to play those games anymore. You get used to the new systems advanced features and the old Xbox games feel old.
Of course if I must play an older Xbox game, I still have my Xbox
Tom Crews
tcrews said:
Good point - Playstation has been the only platform to offer backwards compatibility at all. The fact that Microsoft has attempted and succeded (to a certain degree) at providing it is a true sign of support for gamers and what they want. Financially there comes a time when they need to look at when it is costing them too much to support too small a user group (games that didn't sell well). Where they stand with that on xbox games I don't know. But to expect literally every game that sold all of 100 copies on xbox to be playable on 360 is a waste of MS time/money.
From a PR standpoint this was a mistake. If they are intending to stop work on bc they should not have said anything about it at all until after the Holiday shopping season. Those who say only hardcore early adopters really care about bc - I think you're forgetting the legions of parents out there that appreciate the idea that their money/investment in xbox games doesn't/didn't go out the window. Especially in light of the unusually short xbox lifespan.
On the other hand, from a PR standpoint, I appreciate the straight shooter mentality that Moore approched the question from. He could have spewed the same old garbage that we would expect from those trying to sell us the world. I appreciate the up-front honesty.
On another note, personally I don't like the way xbox games look upscaled through the 360. My projector does a better job at scaling the original image. This is one aspect I was truly let down with considering the prelaunch hype of some to say "When 360 launches the first thing I'm going to do is play halo 1/2 at 720!"
I've heard conflicting reports on the success that Sony is having on ps3 bc. Does anyone have an update on where they stand?
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