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Xbox 360 Backwards Compatible?
Gamespot is reporting that, on the OurColony.net 360 footage, current generation Xbox titles are viewable being played on the 360 console. From the article: "There is also a screenshot of the new Xbox Live dashboard with the words 'Xbox 1 Zone' clearly marked and an icon of the current Xbox title Fable. Finally, a screenshot of the forthcoming Xbox Live Marketplace clearly shows Halo 2 maps being offered for download. However, while such shots imply backward compatibility, such functionality is not yet official. Microsoft executives have said themselves they cannot address the issue until next Monday's media event at E3--at the earliest."
Who cares? If you love your old XBOX games that much, just keep it and play your old XBOX games on it. This feature seems to be just another "tick" for the marketdroids to put in the box.
Believe me, for people like me, with seven gaming systems currently plugged into the home theatre system, reducing that number by one, especially when that one system is a system as space-hungry as the Xbox is worth something. If it doesn't cost much to make that possible, terrific.
Nintendo is another good example. The Nintendo DS and the Gameboy Advance can load just about every game cartridge produced for the Nintendo gameboy line, and I really like that. You get a better playing experience on the Gameboy Advance SP than on the non backlit Gameboy/Gameboy color and you don't need to keep the old handhelds around (though I still do it, for nostalgia's sake).
So, yeah, I think there are several good reasons for backwards compatibility. :)
Instead of emulating everything, I bet high-profile games and games that are in the platinum selection will simply be ported over to the new architecture. I mean, unless the game used a lot of assembly, the code should pretty much compile from one platform to the other, except for the shader code. So the only thing you have to do is put the old Xbox game in, the 360 reads the DVD header, realizes it's Forza, downloads a game update for it that replaces the executable. Now, when the 360 detects that game, is boots the 360 executable version from the HD or memory card instead of the version from the DVD. After all, all the content can be reused. Only the actual executable and dynamic libraries need to be ported.
Most people don't realize this, but the GBA had backwards compatibility with GB, SGB, and GBC games by including a Gameboy Color on a chip. The older gameboy carts are larger and have a different voltage, so when they are in, the hardware activates the GBC on a chip. When GBA games are in the slot, it activates the GBA circuitry. Both can't be active at the same time. Since many people like to use Flash carts for the GBA, so that they can make a game playlist of their favorite titles, similar to how an MP3 player lets you make a music playlist of your favorite tunes, all without lugging around the original media... work began on an unofficial, yet high-quality Gameboy emulator for the Gameboy Advance, so that people could use a GBA flash cart to include a playlist of their favorite GBA titles as well as their favorite GBC, SGB, and GB titles.
Little did people know at the time that the GBC-on-a-chip would be done away with in Nintendo's next portable. Hence the Gameboy emulator for the GBA became even more important.
So to play old (non-Advance) Gameboy games on a DS, get a GBA flash cart. Put Goomba (GB emulator for the GBA) on it, and then you can play GB and SGB games on your DS. Of course, with the SGB games will play as if they are in a black and white Gameboy and not a Super Gameboy, so you won't get the Super Gameboy enhancements, such as more colors, borders, and other special features.
There are many other uses for these flash carts than piracy. Rip your own games and make your own multi-carts of your favorite titles. I have a multi-cart containing my favorite NES titles along with my favorite GB titles. So one little cart can fit hundreds of great games. That way I can have a variety of great games (puzzle, action, rpg, racing, shooter, etc) without lugging around handfuls of carts.
One last note. The Goomba page I linked above is the official site, but it lacks the most recent version, which can be found at the author's personal page. You can also find the latest version of his NES emulator for the GBA.
Funny how an unofficial NES emulator existed for the GBA long before Nintendo got around to re-releasing their classic series for the GBA. Too little, too late, Nintendo. I still have over 100 NES carts in my closet. I am not about to pay full price for them all over again, and yes I still enjoy playing them.