Microsoft Adds Backward Compatibility to Xbox One

[Fanghawk]

Microsoft Adds Backward Compatibility to Xbox One

Starting this holiday season, 100 Xbox 360 games will be backwards compatible with Microsoft's Xbox One, with more to follow.

One of the most contentious points of this console generation has been backward compatibility. While Nintendo offered the ability to play Wii games on the Wii U, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122284-PSN-Games-Wont-Transfer-to-PS4>Sony didn't introduce such a feature while <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124268-Microsoft-Exec-If-Youre-Backwards-Compatible-Youre-Really-Backwards>Microsoft was downright snobby about it. But now it seems Microsoft is finally changing its tune - starting this holiday season, up to 100 Xbox 360 games will be backward compatible with the Xbox One, with many more to follow.

Now there are a few caveats to consider with this information. Xbox One backward compatibility isn't hardware-based, so you can't just insert a disc and start playing. That being said, when you insert an Xbox 360 disc your console will start downloading the game - free of charge. So as long as your internet connection and hard drive can handle it, you'll be playing the games without difficulty.

The good news is that Xbox 360 digital games will transfer automatically to the Xbox One, and multiplayer will be fully supported on backwards compatible titles. An initial list of backwards compatible games <a href=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/backward-compatibility>is available here, and includes popular titles like Mass Effect, Super Meat Boy, and Perfect Dark. You'll have to wait until Fall 2015 for the service to launch, but I suspect this will appease a great many gamers hoping for replay classics on Xbox One.

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[MonsterCrit]

Backwards compatability? At no extra cost right?

 

[Outcast107]

Backwards compatability? At no extra cost right?

No cost at all.

 

[Covarr]

Microsoft really, really, really wants me to buy an Xbox One. Between this and their Oculus Rift streaming announcement, I don't know how I can not get one. This'll be the first generation I've ever bought all of the major consoles.

P.S. Thanks

P.P.S. Just consoles, not handhelds. I still have no intention of getting a Vita.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Oh goody! That just leaves you, sony. Suck it up buttercup, pull up socks, bite the bullet, pull finger out of arse, get act together and catch the fuck up. Stop hoarding all the money and make a good business decision for once. No one will laugh at you. Not since the N.Korea spectacle anyhow.

 

[FogHornG36]

"up to 100 Xbox 360 games"

OH how generis!

only something like 1000 more games to go.

 

[EffectiveKill]

Sony better bring their A game this E3 or they are going to be left in the dust

 

[Tohuvabohu]

"up to 100 Xbox 360 games"

OH how generis!

only something like 1000 more games to go.

This is why I'm skeptical. The 360 had backwards compatibility, and it was... horrendous.

Everyone always goes on about how much they want backwards compatibility. While I don't blame them, no one seems to remember how it worked for 360 - In that it mainly didn't. Only a select few titles were playable on 360, and the ones that were frequently had gratuitous performance issues and sometimes even gamebreaking glitches. Older games running worse and looking worse on newer hardware...

I'm gonna wait and see how this pans out. I'm glad this was finally announced, but skeptical it will be as functional as they say it is.

 

[Snotnarok]

Oh goody! That just leaves you, sony. Suck it up buttercup, pull up socks, bite the bullet, pull finger out of arse, get act together and catch the fuck up. Stop hoarding all the money and make a good business decision for once. No one will laugh at you. Not since the N.Korea spectacle anyhow.

I'm with you and all, but that's gonna be a REAL tall order since the PS3 was a nightmare in development never the less to develop for. To have their system emulate it? I mean that's gonna be hell. The cell processor is powerful but hard to make for vs the 360's 3 core processor it's a very harsh difference.


Really, they should have this function in because there's no reason to upgrade to these new gen consoles. Half the games are remasters and the rest are on other platforms such as the previous gen and PC and there's nothing special. But if it was "hey it also plays the last gen games' then hey, maybe there'd be reason to. It's why I got a PS2, 3 etc.

So, again, I agree with ya but ... probably not gonna happen too fast.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

How can they just throw it in after the fact?
Is this something only new Xbox Ones will be capable of doing, or did the console have this capability to begin with and Microsoft couldn't be arsed to make use of it?

Having backward compatibility from the beginning probably would have helped counter the PR nightmare surrounding the console's launch. Since apparently they can add and remove features whenever the incentive strikes them.

 

[Lightknight]

Oh goody! That just leaves you, sony. Suck it up buttercup, pull up socks, bite the bullet, pull finger out of arse, get act together and catch the fuck up. Stop hoarding all the money and make a good business decision for once. No one will laugh at you. Not since the N.Korea spectacle anyhow.

The 360 was close enough to x86 architecture to make this possible. The ps3 was entirely proprietary and has been recognized as a mistake on Sony's part as an attempt to purposefully obfuscate how to maximize performance because Sony was actually afraid that developers would tap out the machine too quickly. So that makes this considerably more difficult to emulate than the 360 was. I'm not sure the ps4 would be anywhere close to capable of emulating the ps3 even with it being 50% more powerful than the XBO. That's due to the uniqueness of the ps3 rather than pure power emulation.

If it is powerful enough to do that? Then yeah, they can do the same thing. But at least Sony has an excuse and has resolved the problem by moving to x86. Microsoft has had this capability since launch.

I simply don't know how much of a power demand PS3 emulation is. I will add that this is not backwards compatibility. This is only backwards compatibility for 100 games.

 

[Frezzato]

Wow. This is surprising. Come to think of it, it's very cool, I--

This is why I'm skeptical. The 360 had backwards compatibility, and it was... horrendous.

Everyone always goes on about how much they want backwards compatibility. While I don't blame them, no one seems to remember how it worked for 360 - In that it mainly didn't. Only a select few titles were playable on 360, and the ones that were frequently had gratuitous performance issues and sometimes even gamebreaking glitches. Older games running worse and looking worse on newer hardware...

I'm gonna wait and see how this pans out. I'm glad this was finally announced, but skeptical it will be as functional as they say it is.

Damn you and your realism. Demeanor--returned to nominal levels.

 

[LordMonty]

The way microsoft are doing it looks like they're downlaoding a full copy of the game off xboxlive as long as it scans the disk in the drive, this is not emulation in off the disk, this is full digital reworking and a free download, very clever and less troublesome to rework like that.

Pretty cool for free but only 100 games? better imporve to make sony have to follow suit. Same idea and sony can do this without too much trouble bar the preperation and investment in the digital versions.

 

[inmunitas]

Microsoft really, really, really wants me to buy an Xbox One. Between this and their Oculus Rift streaming announcement, I don't know how I can not get one. This'll be the first generation I've ever bought all of the major consoles.

Can the Xbox One handle the Oculus Rift? Don't you need a high framerate and resolution to be able to use it without feeling nauseous?

 

[scotth266]

This is why I'm skeptical. The 360 had backwards compatibility, and it was... horrendous.

The 360's backwards compatibility brings to mind the question "If it only works badly, and only 1/2 the time, is it really backwards compatibility?" My answer is no.

There's a simple reason people want backwards compatibility: it eliminates electronics clutter (which is always nice) and helps you ensure that your old games are still playable even if your old hardware dies. If it turns out that this attempt at backwards compatibility is actually legitimate, I might be interested in grabbing an Xbox One, if only to ensure that I can play my 360 games (the only 360 I had eventually red-ringed).

 

[FoolKiller]

"up to 100 Xbox 360 games"

OH how generis!

only something like 1000 more games to go.

This is why I'm skeptical. The 360 had backwards compatibility, and it was... horrendous.

Everyone always goes on about how much they want backwards compatibility. While I don't blame them, no one seems to remember how it worked for 360 - In that it mainly didn't. Only a select few titles were playable on 360, and the ones that were frequently had gratuitous performance issues and sometimes even gamebreaking glitches. Older games running worse and looking worse on newer hardware...

I'm gonna wait and see how this pans out. I'm glad this was finally announced, but skeptical it will be as functional as they say it is.

They made the same announcements on 360 and said they would continue to work on it till the full library is done. The updates stopped in November 2007. 6 years before the end of the gen with hundreds of unsupported titles.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

I'm just wondering how saves and DLC will work; for example, I have a lot of Mass Effect DLC so will my purchase history be able to let me redownload it at no cost or will I be screwed? It's a start at least and the most interesting part of the presser. Everything else was just typical and all in all pretty average.

 

[DEAD34345]

Yeah, Microsoft can piss off with this announcement. They said pretty much the same thing with the 360, and all we ended up with was a handful of games which barely even worked, then they just quietly dropped the whole subject and forgot about their promises.

 

[Frezzato]

Oooh okay. Yeah, most if not all of the listed BC games are either properties published by Microsoft or developed by Rare (which Microsoft acquired, right?). Eh, don't quote me on that. I guess Mass Effect doesn't fit the criteria.

But I think a lot of those titles were digital XBox Live releases. Did they ever sell titles like Geometry Wars 2 or Jetpac HD on disc? Maybe MS will simply verify who bought what off of Xbox Live and give them the remake.

Anyway, what really interests me is that MS published Crackdown for 360, and even though the first game was fantastic, I wonder who would even still own it on disc? Well, me for starters. And Mass Effect 1. Oh right, and Alan Wake. Surely people still have that on disc.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I'm with you and all, but that's gonna be a REAL tall order since the PS3 was a nightmare in development never the less to develop for. To have their system emulate it? I mean that's gonna be hell. The cell processor is powerful but hard to make for vs the 360's 3 core processor it's a very harsh difference.


Really, they should have this function in because there's no reason to upgrade to these new gen consoles. Half the games are remasters and the rest are on other platforms such as the previous gen and PC and there's nothing special. But if it was "hey it also plays the last gen games' then hey, maybe there'd be reason to. It's why I got a PS2, 3 etc.

So, again, I agree with ya but ... probably not gonna happen too fast.

The 360 was close enough to x86 architecture to make this possible. The ps3 was entirely proprietary and has been recognized as a mistake on Sony's part as an attempt to purposefully obfuscate how to maximize performance because Sony was actually afraid that developers would tap out the machine too quickly. So that makes this considerably more difficult to emulate than the 360 was. I'm not sure the ps4 would be anywhere close to capable of emulating the ps3 even with it being 50% more powerful than the XBO. That's due to the uniqueness of the ps3 rather than pure power emulation.

If it is powerful enough to do that? Then yeah, they can do the same thing. But at least Sony has an excuse and has resolved the problem by moving to x86. Microsoft has had this capability since launch.

I simply don't know how much of a power demand PS3 emulation is. I will add that this is not backwards compatibility. This is only backwards compatibility for 100 games.

Ah I see, that makes some sense in a strange Sony sort of way. So those developers were not lying when they said the 360 was easier to develop for? I was an obliviously bliss casual back then and did not care to look into these points, dismissing them as PR static all too quickly.
Well they do have so many planned remasters to glean sweet monies from. We can only dream of noble aspirations, but I feel Sony might be a little too complacent since the ps4's initial success.