Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility Finalized

News for nerds writes "Microsoft has finally announced the list of the 213 Xbox 1 games playable on Xbox 360 at launch. A software emulator is required for each original Xbox game, which means you need an HDD for these games to work on Xbox 360. While it is expected that the list will grow in future via Live update, as of now it lacks first-party titles such as Project Gotham Racing, and other popular titles such as DOAU/X, Doom 3, Far Cry, KUF, Panzer Dragoon Orta, the Splinter Cell series, and the SW: Battlefront series." Xbox.com is also featuring an interview with Todd Homdahl about the quest for compatibility.

Comments

My collection

[ninjakoala]

Just to give you an idea of how bad it looks at the moment, here is my collection divided into working and not working:

Working:
Amped, Colin McRae '04, Dead or Alive 3, Fable, Forza Motorsport, Fusion Frenzy, Halo, Halo 2, Jade Empire, Phantom Crash, Sega GT 2002, Knights of the Old Republic, Knights of the Old Republic 2, The Thing

Not working:
The Bard's Tale, Blood Wake, Burnout, Dead or Alive Ultimate, Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair, Morrowind, F1 Career Challenge, Project Zero, Gunvalkyrie, Knockout Kings 2002, Links 2004, Mechassault, Outlaw Golf, OutRun 2, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Phantasy Star Online I+II, Project Gotham Racing 2, Rainbow Six 3, Rallisport Challenge 2. Jet Set Radio, Serious Sam, Shenmue 2, Splinter Cell, Taito Legends, Unreal Championship, Wreckless, Yager

And here I was thinking "oh, ok, a couple of my games won't work... worst case scenario half won't work". This is just crazy though. I hope they boost the compatibility in a big way, or I just can't see my self upgrading, since that would mean I would have to keep the current black box under the tv as well.

Re:My collection

[RogueyWon]

I've got a 360 on pre-order, which I'll be picking up the day it comes out. I've been a vocal defender of the X-Box and the 360 for some time. Even I have to admit that this list is not good enough. The impact of this on my own games is:

Working

BG: Dark Alliance 2, Battle Engine Aquilla, Crimson Skies, Forza, GTA3, GTA:VC, Halo, Halo 2, Jade Empire, KOTOR, KOTOR 2, Spyhunter 2.

Not working (*s indicate games whose inclusion here frankly defies belief, as they've been major titles)

Area 51, *Burnout 3*, *Burnout Revenge*, *Chronicles of Riddick*, Colin McRae 04, *Full Spectrum Warrior*, Mechassault, *Mechassault 2*, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Secret Weapons over Normandy, *SW: Republic Commando*, Wallace & Grommit.

The titles I've starred there are some of the biggest games on the X-Box. A good number of them are relatively recent releases. As far as I'm concerned, there's no excuse whatsoever for them not being included. All I can say is that this will need to change by the launch date.

Emulation +

[GweeDo]

Don't forget that all your emulated Xbox games can now be ran at 720p or 1080i with full Anti-Aliasing as well. This could help a number of games look really nice. Here are some shots of Halo and Halo 2 in 720p from Bungie. It does make a very nice difference.

Re:PS2 and PS1 games?

[nathanh]

Didn't Sony include the essential bits of the PS1 system in the PS2 in order to allow backwards compatibility?

Correct. The IOP (IO processor) on the PS2 normally handles input from the DVD, game controllers, USB, etc. However it's basically a souped up version of the PSX CPU with all the associated bits, so send it the right instructions and it detaches from the EE (main processors) and the system becomes a nearly 100% compatible PSX.

Sony could do this because the PSX CPU was 33MHz and had 2MB SDRAM and mere kilobytes of graphics memory. When the PS2 was being made the cost of each IOP must have been measured in tens of cents. The Xbox 360 is being released too soon after the Xbox; the 733MHz Celeron plus the NV25 GPU is still fairly expensive.

Re:PS2 and PS1 games?

[sznupi]

Actually, PS1 has 1MB of Video RAM (also models starting from around 98 have 4MB main RAM...but that's moot point anyway since it was used at most as data buffer, often not at all).
But of course your argumentation is correct.

Re:PS2 and PS1 games?

[Txiasaeia]

The Revolution will NOT be backwards compatible beyond the Gamecube - unless you think that they're going to include cartridge slots? Any games previous to Gamecube that are playable on the Revolution will be those that Nintendo decides to sell/rent/whatever from their online service. And they'll be played on what? Yes, software emulators.

From IGN's Revolution FAQ: "At E3 2005, Shigeru Miyamoto said: "We have not set a price or determined a list of software for the Nintendo Revolution download service. But, we're looking at this as a consumer service and not so much from the business end. What we want to do is provide the product that is going to make the Revolution the console that people want in their homes. So it actually might be driven from the consumer end rather than from us. You know, the games that they most want might be the ones that we do. From a technological point, we can do any of them. It's just, we haven't determined which ones we'll do yet.""

If they're not looking at selling these ROMs from a business end, it seems to me that they're going to either give them away or sell them for a negligible price. Now, this might not be "backwards compatibility" with the NES, SNES, and N64, but it's as close as you're going to get. I'd rather get these ROMs legally from Nintendo than play them illegally through an Xbox/Xbox360 anyway.

Re:BLAH!

[NanoGator]

"They could've just included an XBOX subsystem inside the 360, just like the Commodore 128 had a C64 subsystem."

And add even more to the cost + having to buy chips from both NVida and ATI? Heh. There's a brilliant move.

"And didn't the SNES have (to be bought separately) a NES adapter?"

No.

"Can't the Gamecube play GBA games?"

No.

"Frankly I can't understand why the decision of software emulation. But well, this is Microsoft."

Cost and practicality.