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360's Backwards Compatibility Weak?

Posted by Zonk on from the not-backwards-compatibility dept.

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that the backwards compatibility that Microsoft offered up at the Monday press conference may not be anything approaching what we're used to. Due to the massive design changes in the shift from the Xbox to the 360, Xbox titles may have to be recompiled in order to work on the next-gen console. From the article: "The news has raised more questions than it answers, however, as it suggests that gamers may need to purchase titles they already own in order to play them on an Xbox 360 - and almost certainly means that only a sub-set of Xbox games will ever be playable on the new console." Update: 05/20 15:08 GMT by Z : The article has been updated with a quote from MS specifically saying that gamers will *not* need to repurchase Xbox titles to play them on the 360.

5 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Well Linux users who... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...recompile their kernels every 3 days would be used to this idea, no?

  2. If this is accurate by Xxanmorph · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wouldn't really call that "backwards compatible", more like "not backwards compatible".

  3. Backwards compatibility is hard by AndrewStephens · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I am sure that a lot of comments are going to say the 360 is powerful enough to emulate the slowish x86 in the current xbox, which is true. Unfortunately, it isn't that simple - the rest of the hardware (graphics/sound/controller, etc) is different as well. It may be that Microsoft decided that it was more trouble than it was worth.

    Personally, I think it is a mistake, but obviously Microsoft couldn't afford to pull a playstation2 and put an entire PS1 on the die. This is the downside of going with off-the-shelf parts and not designing your own chips. No way were they ever going to convince Intel and whoever did their video hardware on the xbox to provide a mega-cheap shrunken version that they could cram onto the 360 motherboard.

    --
    sheep.horse - does not contain information on sheep or horses.
    1. Re:Backwards compatibility is hard by sehryan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It can't be that hard. Nintendo is making the Revolution compatible with their entire catalog of games going back to the NES days.

      I'll say it again: THEIR ENTIRE CATALOG OF GAMES

      And yet, the Revolution is the smallest console shown at E3, and Nintendo is hoping to make it even smaller before launch.

      Microsoft cares not for the gaming community, only how to make money off of them. Why let you play Halo and Halo 2 on the 360 for free, when you can pay to buy those games again?

      --
      The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.
  4. Whooptie doo, one possibility by Filiks · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If the average game executable and some key files that need recompiling are 100MB, and I bet most are more like 20MB, MS could release a DVD with 100 recompiled games on it. Just put in the disc, select all the games you and your friends play, wait a minute for the files to copy to the HD, then put in the games actual DVD and play. Since the files are copied to the HD, you only have to do this once.

    Better yet, make the files downloadable for those with broadband. Problem solved, and only about 2GB of hard drive space used for twenty games.