Microsoft Adds Backward Compatibility to Xbox One

[NLS]

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.

I highly doubt they're gonna be emulating the PowerPC based processor of the 360, that's probably not doable on the XB1. Same goes for PS3->PS4, Cell was also based on the power architecture, in addition to having 9 cores and generally being difficult to develop for. Either way, there's no way the XB1 could've purely emulated the 360's processor at launch (or in the future without new dedicated hardware).

Since these intial 100 titles are mostly Microsoft's own games they're probably just going to recompile the original code for x86, hence why the game has to be downloaded to play first.

 

[laggyteabag]

Great news for the Xbox One. I can finally retire my 360.

That being said, though, it does raise some questions about downloadable content. Will Xbox One versions of the games come with all of the DLC for free? Will it only download the DLC packs that you own? What about ones that aren't on the store page, like my Halo Reach Legendary edition flaming helmet?

Also, this is certainly a strange initial list. I expected Halo Reach to be on there, but instead we get Viva Pinata, and that certainly confuses me. Hopefully when it officially launches in the Winter, the list's 100 games will include some bigger titles.

 

[Zacharious-khan]

Well that's not backwards compatibility then is it? that's porting 100 games. No dice

 

[DrOswald]

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.

I highly doubt they're gonna be emulating the PowerPC based processor of the 360, that's probably not doable on the XB1. Same goes for PS3->PS4, Cell was also based on the power architecture, in addition to having 9 cores and generally being difficult to develop for. Either way, there's no way the XB1 could've purely emulated the 360's processor at launch (or in the future without new dedicated hardware).

Since these intial 100 titles are mostly Microsoft's own games they're probably just going to recompile the original code for x86, hence why the game has to be downloaded to play first.

Yeah, it is either recompiled or point fixed software emulation (x360 style emulation), either way it means not a true emulation and I will eat my pants if we get the full library.

Good gesture though, and this could effectively expand the library of the xBone significantly.

 

[Orga777]

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.

If Sony made the PS4 backwards compatible, you would have been playing over $700 per console due to the garbage system architecture from the Cell Processor. And since the PS3 started with backwards compatibility with a $600 price point due to the fact they had to shove in a PS2 into the hardware, NOBODY bought it despite the fact that most of the PS2 library worked on it. A library that is one of the largest and best ever. People are too picky these days. Just keep the dang PS3/360 and you can play the games whenever you want and you will KNOW for sure it will work. :/

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

Total Sony fan here, and I have to say that's absolutely fucking awesome. Good on Microsoft for this decision, and I hope they expand that list even more. Now I just hope that Sony follows suit in the same way or finds out some way to run the discs of previous systems.

 

[ckam]

Well, that's not really backwards compatibility. And with 100 games I wonder which ones are going to be lucky enough to be chosen. That being said, this is totally a step in the right direction.

RIP bandwidth.

 

[erbkaiser]

Wow, that is a great decision by Microsoft. As a total Sony fanboy (when it comes to consoles) I admit I am jealous now -- hopefully Sony will step up.

 

[Spade Lead]

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.

Microsoft just announced their own version of PSNow, not that they are changing things before Sony. Sony already had announced that PSNow would have PS1 and 2 games, and if you read the article, that is basically exactly how XBone's "Backwards Compatibility" is going to work. Still, I think this is a good step for people who had reservations about upgrading to XBOne. I want to get an XBOne for Blast Corps in the Rare Collection, as well as the Master chief collection, I am just not sure if it will be before or after I upgrade to PS4.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Pretty ballsy move for Microsoft, even if it's like the 360's limited "emulation" and they'll likely give up in about two years, when they realize they're not making money off of this.

I'd like to see Sony do something similar, even if only with PS1 and maybe PS2 games, since the PS3's hardware was overly complicated. Still, they'd rather have you pay steady rates (on top of your internet) to stream old games. Maybe this new pressure from MS can at least get them to lower the rental fees.

Just keep the dang PS3/360 and you can play the games whenever you want and you will KNOW for sure it will work. :/

^ Probably everyone's best bet right here. You might have to deal with an extra box, but that box was meant to play the games with its logo on the case, not a half-hearted attempt like the 360 and likely here. Even the Wii had the occasional hiccup playing Gamecube games, and the Wii was practically a GC that took some (light) steroids.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm afraid this only raises more questions that shall probably remain ignored and unanswered for quite a while.

 

[Lightknight]

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.

The good news is that now that both consoles have moved to x86 architecture that all future generations should be backwards compatible or they're full of shit.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

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.

Microsoft just announced their own version of PSNow, not that they are changing things before Sony. Sony already had announced that PSNow would have PS1 and 2 games, and if you read the article, that is basically exactly how XBone's "Backwards Compatibility" is going to work.

This doesn't sound like PS Now. The article and the link make this sound more like you're downloading the full game, just like buying it digitally, and running it off the HDD. PS Now is streaming the game from Sony's servers, where your machine will never really see the game's code.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Sony sold the PS4 as "not Xbox One bad", but recently the Xbox One seems to be far more appealing than the PS4 ever was (it never wasn't appealing so...).

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Only 100 by end of year? They realize that most of anyone who cared about backwards compatibility but has one of the current gen consoles, most likely still has their old one too. They're a year or so too late, the further you get in to a consoles life, the less backwards compatibility means as it's supposed to help support the system around launch when there is a lack of games.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Oh. SNAP!!!!!!!!!

If this works, if I can really toss in Alan Wake, Halo games, Mass Effect games, Gears of War games--and those are all kind of popular, save for Wake--and just start playing them after they download...Microsoft, you will have finally given me a reason to pick this machine up. I'm going to wait until it launches just to make sure it works, but I am totally on board now.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Oh. SNAP!!!!!!!!!

If this works, if I can really toss in Alan Wake, Halo games, Mass Effect games, Gears of War games--and those are all kind of popular, save for Wake--and just start playing them after they download...Microsoft, you will have finally given me a reason to pick this machine up. I'm going to wait until it launches just to make sure it works, but I am totally on board now.

But if you already have a system that plays them, why is this a deal breaker? I want to understand this mindset, generally curious.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

*Walks in* "And here I thought wanting backwards compatibility made us backwards." *Walks back out*

 

[Frezzato]

*Walks in* "And here I thought wanting backwards compatibility made us backwards." *Walks back out*

Wait, you're quoting someone, aren't you?

Holy cripes, you are [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/microsoft-if-youre-backwards-compatible-youre-really-backwards/1100-6408741/]! Well played, sir/madam/Canadian, well played.

.

Well, that's not really backwards compatibility. And with 100 games I wonder which ones are going to be lucky enough to be chosen. That being said, this is totally a step in the right direction.

RIP bandwidth.

Great news for the Xbox One. I can finally retire my 360.

That being said, though, it does raise some questions about downloadable content. Will Xbox One versions of the games come with all of the DLC for free? Will it only download the DLC packs that you own? What about ones that aren't on the store page, like my Halo Reach Legendary edition flaming helmet?

Also, this is certainly a strange initial list. I expected Halo Reach to be on there, but instead we get Viva Pinata, and that certainly confuses me. Hopefully when it officially launches in the Winter, the list's 100 games will include some bigger titles.

I looked up the few games listed on the official site and they're mostly Microsoft-owned or published/made by Microsoft. It's no doubt just the beginning though.

 

[Fijiman]

While I find this good news, I'm still not overly impressed. I will be keeping an eye on this bit of news though.