Xbox 360 backwards compatibility list revealed

[Shifty Geezer]

If they're willing to supply a DVD disc with the emulator on, why not include it in the box so XB owners can play those games straight away without needing to download data? My guess would be to encourage internet access, so where 10% of existing customers are online, much more, 100% who upgrade and want BC, will go online to get the emulation, and probably dabble a little more with online features.

 

[scooby_dooby]

They've mentioned they're looking at other ways to distribute the emulators, like Demo Discs for example.

You can also log onto XBOX.com and burn the file to a CD, or actually have them mail you the CD and pay the S/H fees. I believe you will also be able to go into Kiosks and DL em.

btw: i would sau the number who actually want BC (beside Halo and Halo 2 which are included) is more like 5%, not 100.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

If they're willing to supply a DVD disc with the emulator on, why not include it in the box so XB owners can play those games straight away without needing to download data?

Actually, my guess is that the CD would be hopelessly out of date at the time they would have had to press them and have them packaged for the launch systems. Such a CD would have a much shorter list of games, and MS would get bad press for "limited BC out of the box".

Once the BC list reaches are more mature state, I wouldn't be surprised if either a CD was included and/or the profiles are pre-loaded on the hard drive. I wouldn't expect this for at least 6 months to a year though.

 

[scooby_dooby]

The problem with loading all the profiles, is they're like 5mb each. So, once you get 400 or 600 of em, you're lookin at a couple gigs lost, not everyone is giong to want to waste a couple GB's on BC, especially if they're more concerned with storing video, and audio on their box.

 

[London Geezer]

The problem with loading all the profiles, is they're like 5mb each. So, once you get 400 or 600 of em, you're lookin at a couple gigs lost, not everyone is giong to want to waste a couple GB's on BC, especially if they're more concerned with storing video, and audio on their box.

Well that's a problem only if someone has 400 or 600 games, and i really can't think of anyone at the moment with that many games. And even if there was someone with that many games, would he want to play them all on his X360?

 

[AlNom]

Well that's a problem only if someone has 400 or 600 games, and i really can't think of anyone at the moment with that many games. And even if there was someone with that many games, would he want to play them all on his X360?

I think he was talking about pre-loading all the files onto the harddrive, which is a problem when few people have over even 50 games. It's just a waste of space.

 

[Powderkeg]

If they're willing to supply a DVD disc with the emulator on, why not include it in the box so XB owners can play those games straight away without needing to download data?

The DVD they are offering is for updates to the emulation that weren't included in the box. If you put a DVD in the box it wouldn't contain these updates either. They didn't exist when your box shipped.

And the reason they are offering a DVD is so people who can't/don't want to go online with their 360's can still get the updates.

 

[kyleb]

So they are obviously rendering games like Halo and such with AA at standard resolutions then upsclaing to output them. What about native 720p Xbox games though like the Tony Hawk's? Anyone know if those will be renderd at high res and have AA added on the 360?

 

[AlNom]

And the reason they are offering a DVD is so people who can't/don't want to go online with their 360's can still get the updates.

yup... my cable modem is far from the TV, and I'm not spending $100 just for a wireless adapter that I would only use for downloading free stuff.

 

[scooby_dooby]

$30 generic wireless bridge will do the trick.

Alot of people assume that just because it accepts a USB adapter that they have to use it. It still has an ethernet port that will plug into any old wireless bridge.

 

[c0_re]

So they are obviously rendering games like Halo and such with AA at standard resolutions then upsclaing to output them. What about native 720p Xbox games though like the Tony Hawk's? Anyone know if those will be renderd at high res and have AA added on the 360?

Not so Halo 1 and 2 actually run at 720p it's not upscaled, you need ot download the latest emulation software online the emu software that comes on the box is anchient in compairson.

 

[kyleb]

The shots Bungie posted on their site are obviously upscaled to some extent or another, so I'm not expecting the games to truely be rendered at 1280x720. I'm more curious about the games that are already 1280x720 on the orginal Xbox though as it would be a shame not to see those get AA on top of the true 720p.

 

[AzBat]

Backward Compatiblity Update Available

Details on downloading the updated backward compatibility list are now available...

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardscompatibility.htm

The mail in offer won't be available till "early December". Till then you get it via Xbox Live or by making your own writable CD. You have to download the 2.35MB default.zip file. It's listed as the "November 2005" update. Not sure if that means they will only update the list once a month or not. Anyway, once you downloaded the zip file you'll need to extract the default.xex file (11/17/05 3:39pm) to a writable CD. It has to be the only file on the disk and there can't be any subdirectories.

Here's what the Xbox 360 screen looks like after putting the new disk in drive...

After it finishes updating it comes up with an additional screen that asks to update the operating system software. Once you've agreed, it will reboot and you'll be able to play any of the 212 titles on the list.

Tommy McClain

 

[Zaphod]

Did anyone notice that there are now 12 *less* games on that list than what was there when it was first released? Didn't bother to cross reference to see what has changed, but do "check back often for the latest updates", indeed.

Edit: Nevermind. I simply can't read and somehow missed it on page 2 of the thread. Someone had already pointed it out.