No Backward Compatibility? So What?

[Vigormortis]

snip

And what's more, most of the much older consoles didn't have backwards compatibility because:

A: From a hardware standpoint it was ludicrous to even consider it.

B: Gaming was still viewed as a niche. A fad. Gaming platforms nothing more than overly expensive toys.

C: There wasn't exactly an enormous back-catalog of games that would suddenly become "obsolete" with the release of a new generation of consoles.

Flash forward to today and we have thousands upon thousands of titles spanning decades. Not to mention entire communities; many linked through the internet; that help keep older games relevant and flourishing.

So, given how gaming has changed I don't think it's too much of a stretch to expect at least some amount of backwards compatibility with older consoles. Especially if you're only going back one generation.

But you know what OP? You're right. The console makers have every right to not put backwards compatibility into their new line of machines. Just as I have every right to say, "Well that's fucking stupid. Guess I'm not buying your console then."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On a side note:

This whole affair wouldn't be such an issue if console makers weren't so God damned stingy with how people can place content on their systems. PCs, while having their own issues, at least have an open software environment. This lends itself beautifully to developers, or even community modders, being able to generate emulators for older games to run on newer hardware.

If consoles adopted a system similar to this, and did away with at least some of the corporate red-tape, the gaming community at large would do much of the "backwards compatibility" work for them. They wouldn't have to worry about making their consoles compatible at a hardware level.

 

[Requia]

The Original Xbox has a pretty crappy library, there is a reason why it was called "The Halo Box". If you didn't like that one game, Halo, chances are you wouldn't like the Xbox.

I never got this. Jade Empire, KOTOR, KOTOR II, Fable, just for the exclusives I personally loved. And there were plenty of non exclusives that matter if you're coming in from no console or the Gamecube.

Also, it had decent BC, I played 3 of those on the 360.

 

[funkzillabot]

I take exception from your use of the word "entitled", as if backward compatibility is only something YOU PEOPLE are worried about, and not something that effects us all. I, like other people, only have so much space in my entertainment cabinet and so much money to spend, that I don't think it too much to ask that my $500 dollar game system play my old games, (which are only on DVD) and my 30+ downloadable games, that I still play, to work on my account, connected to my new system. "I" (like everyone else) have supported the company, for years and was a loyal customer -- so they are going to repay MY LOYALTY with......"Thanks, but tough luck sucker!!"

Being a customer to a company is a contract. (No different than a player signing up with the NFL.) If said company, is doing something that I no longer like or disagree with -- that contract is broken. I am allow to take my business else where. (See how this works?) This isn't about "entitlement" it's about respect, a mutual agreement. And it works both ways, if a company (or corporation) can't be bothered to show the smallest interest in customer loyalty, then there is no reason why I should give MINE in turn. And anyone who give loyalty (and money), without getting the same in return......is a fool.

 

[mysecondlife]

I won't demand backward compatibility now but I'll want it 5 - 6 years from now. I know my PS3 isn't going to survive forever. and if I happen to buy PS4, I don't want to be forced to buy another PS3 to replace it.

 

[Roxor]

Why do people want backwards compatibility in consoles?

Because every PC has had it for the last 30 years.

 

[Something Amyss]

snip

And what's more, most of the much older consoles didn't have backwards compatibility because:

A: From a hardware standpoint it was ludicrous to even consider it.

B: Gaming was still viewed as a niche. A fad. Gaming platforms nothing more than overly expensive toys.

C: There wasn't exactly an enormous back-catalog of games that would suddenly become "obsolete" with the release of a new generation of consoles.

Not to mention the lack of virtually any standards for manufacture.

I'd say a big part of it is that removal of something gamers have come to expect is not a good idea from a PR level at the very least. Now, I know the 360 never went full BC, and I know the Vita can't play PSP UMDs, but recent systems have set a general trend of backwards compatibility.

I also think it's not promising given the disregard they have for gaming with their new system, period. The console is said to get extra power from cloud-side, but that only works as long as the service is around to do that. Given it doesn't take us that long to see abandonment in games, the additional abandonment of hardware does not look promising.

This whole affair wouldn't be such an issue if console makers weren't so God damned stingy with how people can place content on their systems. PCs, while having their own issues, at least have an open software environment. This lends itself beautifully to developers, or even community modders, being able to generate emulators for older games to run on newer hardware.

If consoles adopted a system similar to this, and did away with at least some of the corporate red-tape, the gaming community at large would do much of the "backwards compatibility" work for them. They wouldn't have to worry about making their consoles compatible at a hardware level.

It's a shame they're so scared of not having complete control. Tha's why we're getting all this BS from the One in the first place. Not just no BC, but a lot of the other issues people have.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't care, so you shouldn't either. STOP CARING!

It doesn't matter to MEEEEE, so why does it matter?

Obviously you know nothing about 1st gen xbox, jon snow.

I know it's clearly an issue of care, since you've already established that the reason they break so frequently is lack of care. Therefore, if it broke, you must not care for it well.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

*Le sigh* This thread again...

We got to remember that these new consoles need to convince us - the customers - that they're worth our money, not the other way around. If the customer can't be convinced that the product is something they want or need, then they simply will not buy it. Backwards compatibility is one feature that matters to some people, and thus could sway them into buying the new console over just sticking with what they already have or buying the competitor's console / investing into a PC instead. Whether they think it's important or not is irrelevant; many potential customers such as myself find backwards compatibility a big deal and thus could be won over by such a feature.

Case in point - the entire reason I got a PS3 in 2006 instead of a 360 was because of backwards compatibility, as I owned a PS2 previously but not an original Xbox. To this date, every PS3 I've had - including my current one - have been backwards compatible. I buy and own more PS2 games than I do PS3 games, and I haven't had a PS2 in several years. Things like having a HDD instead of constantly buying memory cards as well as wireless controllers that dogs / kids / tangles won't damage make me feel like my PS3 is a direct upgrade to a PS2 and is worth the price I paid for it.

That is why backwards compatibility is such a big deal to me, and that's what's important for any console - providing what the customer wants. It's alone won't make or break a console, but it is one more incentive for people - especially people like me who may not have bought the previous console - to pick up the new console.

 

[Daw]

my 40" lcd tv is my main monitor for my PC, Which can emulate pretty much anything and play any old game i want to go to a little trouble to get working.
much less fuss than consoles are. ^_^

But it isn't very hard to make your hardware able to play old games if they put a day of work into it, They just don't want to market something they could make more money selling old consoles for. ^_^

 

[Tanakh]

I have but to wonder at the mental health of the people saying they want it because PC gaming has featured this for all it's history. Guess they either have zero memory and logic or they are new to PC and don't really remember anything before 2000.

 

[Jopoho]

Because backwards compatibility allows for several things for those with a comfortable, but not overly so, financial situation:

With backwards compatibility, I can trade in an old system to try and offset the cost of the new one, while still maintaining my library of games.

If I decided to go with a different companies console, one in which I never had the previous generation, I can experience games I never got the chance to. Maybe these games end up as download, but maybe not.

Old games are a great way to have fun on a budget. I still, probably buy as many gamecube an xbox games as I do 360 ones, because even if used games are offered at pretty absurd price points sometimes, they are still less than a retail game.

 

[runic knight]

-snip-

Don't forget the handheld consoles, most every gameboy was compatible to the generation previous.


I'd mention pc, but that comes off a little unfitting. A multi-media, all in one device that plays not only upcoming games, but backwards compatible back to the start is just impossible in a box hooked up to a tv. Well, unless you just hook the pc to the tv itself...
Why does anyone want the xboxone again? Oh, right, the exclusives. Wonder if microsoft will ever realize that the reason people by game systems is for the damn games.

Ah well, hopefully their market strategy of concentrating on an increasingly shrinking player base of the "dudebro" will backfire and wake the rest of the damn industry up a little. Comic book industry of the 90's all over again.

 

[DrOswald]

Okay, I see people getting pissed about the Xbox One (and the PS4) not being backward compatible. You can't even use the same controllers on the new consoles.

Why are we complaining about this? Consoles have never been backward compatible, have they? Not truly. I mean, I grew up playing on Nintendo consoles, and those were always radically different each generation. Hell, the cartridges were different shapes from one to the next. The discs were different sizes once they started using discs.

Do people really feel entitled to backward compatibility in the games they buy? Why?

--Morology!

My views on backwards compatibility and why it is important:

From a personal point of view: Newer consoles don't last as long as old ones. I fully expect my Xbox 360 to be a brick in 5 years while my Super Nintendo will still work as well as it did ten years ago. This is no ones fault. The new consoles are far more complex and therefore break much easier. But it does mean that backwards compatibility is far more important. When my Xbox 360 dies, my massive collection of games will instantly be worthless. I don't want that to happen, but because the Xbox One is not backwards compatible it is already a certainty.

From a wider cultural pint of view: Without backwards compatibility all the art of video games that has come before is lost. Imagine if every 10 years all movies were lost. Imagine how it would cripple the growth of film as an art form if no one could ever again watch Citizen Kane or The Godfather. Art is often advanced by looking to old ideas for inspiration. An old idea is imitated, twisted, changed in some way and something new is created. Historically, this has been important to all forms of art. Backwards compatibility is important for the continued growth of video games as an art form.

 

[wulf3n]

]There's no such thing as a HDMI splitter (yet)

Yes there is, there has been for a while.

Just Google it.

 

[Vegosiux]

From a wider cultural pint of view: Without backwards compatibility all the art of video games that has come before is lost. Imagine if every 10 years all movies were lost. Imagine how it would cripple the growth of film as an art form if no one could ever again watch Citizen Kane or The Godfather.

Unless they still have that VCR thing that plays videotapes, that is. And a black&white television. And...

Yeah, those entitled whiny brats, why can't they appreciate all these action blockbusters they're being force-fed all the time and the shiny effects and...

...say why would you even want to watch that 3-hour thing that contains one explosion and at most two shootouts, if you can watch RDJ punch bad guys in the face...in 3D!?

Sheesh!

Get on with the times, people!

[/sarcasm]

 

[The Enquirer]

If a new system did have backwards compatibility I would consider buying it. It would mean that even if there was no game I wanted for it at the time when I bought it, I still have a monstrous ps2 and small but fun ps3 library. Backwards compatibility would encourage me to take a chance on a next gen console, or at least more seriously consider it than I am now.

 

[slobolobo]

Backwards compatibly isnt much of an issue because its not as if you need a subscription to go online with the 360, and will probably need a new one for the Xbone. Essentially what there saying is they dont care and they will probably enjoy the double money coming in.

 

[slobolobo]

double post