Slashdot Mirror
Next-Gen Xbox To Lack Backwards Compatibility?
An anonymous reader writes "Biz news site Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that Microsoft's Xbox 2 won't be backward compatible with games for the current Xbox, and quoting 'sources close to Microsoft's senior Xbox executives' explaining some of the thinking behind the decision. All very cloak and dagger, although I guess whoever told them would probably be in line for a firing if they found out... So, is Microsoft right or wrong on this one? Have any Slashdot readers ever actually used the backwards compatibility on their PlayStation 2?"
This is not good for MS. Releasing two consoles so close together without backwards compatability? Wow. If they kept the compatability I would actually predict XBOX2 to make a splash, but early adoption, lack of development tools, and no backwards compatability? Can you say Itanium?
--Kevin
quoting 'sources close to Microsoft's senior Xbox executives' explaining some of the thinking behind the decision
3. Profit!
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
bummer.
10% of PS2 owners is Xbox's entire market share!
"So, is Microsoft right or wrong on this one?"
They're wrong, of course! Uh.. later I'll come up with a reason, I was just a little short on karma.
"Derp de derp."
Exactly. The Xbox controller has taken on a mythical status all its own.
It's by far the most ergonomical of all controllers.
well, seeing as all of (my friend's) xbox games were just rented and copied onto (his) xbox, (he) doesn't really have any reason to want backwards compatibility, unless you can copy your copied games over to xboxnext!
Because we all know the disaster the SNES was without backwards compatability.
Second, I definitely agree with you, that they've backed themselves into a hole in more than one way. They've decided to change the entire architecture of the system, removing HDDs, going for a different chipset etc. It will be next to impossible for them to get the licenses and then make the thing emulate in time for release.
Third, backwards compatibility was a huge advantage for the PS2 when it came to the market. It meant that people could buy their console and go home and play some excellent games from the PS1 instead of being forced to suffer through some of those horrendous launch titles. Having the backwards compatibility simply adds more value to the purchase.
Looks like Microsoft made some bad decisions here. Surprise, surprise!
Those of us without unibrows and canned ham size fists prefer the smaller, more comfortable S-type, PS2, and gamecube controllers.
I suppose if I was without an opposable thumb I would like the old X-Box controller best.
in fact [the original xbox controller] caused serious cramping after short use
Oh come on, maybe after you had just finished a furious round of masterbating. We all know it wasn't great, but this is just bullshit. I played Halo for days straight as did most of my friends and never had an issue. If you are this frail, perhaps you should forget about gaming altogether.
reminds me of a screen shot I once saw of a funny error message when starting windows:
"cpu not detected. using software emulation"
bite my glorious golden ass.
The reason it's not backward compatable is because Microsoft has decided that the X-Box 2 will run the superior Linux operating system and since they haven't released the previous versions games as open source, they will not be able to play on the new versions.
Given that there are almost 2 decent XBox-only games on the market, it's not that big of a deal. Right?
I started picking up some oldie, but goodie, games that I can't even play...[including] MK Trilogy.
I think's thats what they call a "feature" in the industry.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
Signing up for my copy now :)
Which of the following scenarios best represent your organization's top IT goal?
1) Reduce the number of servers in my environment
2) Upgrade from an older Microsoft platform, such as Windows 9x/NT
3) Migrate away from some or all of a Linux/UNIX server environment
4) Other (please specify, 255 character max)
"UPGRADING WINDOWS TO LINUX".
hehe.