Phil Spencer Wants to Make Original Xbox Titles Backwards Compatible

[Buizel91]

As much as I would like this, it seems like it would be odd if only because the 360 can't play every original Xbox game...unless there's an update I missed out on but the last time I tried (and this was about a month ago) my 360 couldn't play Whacked!, Otogi 1 or 2, Voodoo Vince...well really it was just those two, I was surprised when it read Silent Hill 2 and 4, Amped, the Halo games. I love the original Xbox but I'm not going to get an Xbone to play those games. I'm going to try finding an Xbox that still works or find someone who can fix mine.

Does Stubbs the Zombie work on the 360 by the way? Not that I can afford it at the moment but it's one of those hidden gems that I always hear good things about.

The 360 can play Original Xbox games but not all of them, most of the popular ones were backwards compatible (Morrowind, Starwars Battlefront one and 2, Knights of the old republic 1 and 2, and the original Halo and it's sequel) but i believe this was over a period of updating the menu, by the time the 360 had hit it's 5 year mark it could play a hell of a lot of Xbox games.

 

[LTD]

If they made every title backwards compatible, I just might buy the console. Too bad the backwards compatibility doesn't include Lost Odyssey or Bayonetta.

Both of those were added last month.

 

[gsilver]

There are more, or at least more important, titles from the 360 that I'm still waiting on.
Especially the XBLA Sega ports, like Guardian Heroes, Bangai-O and Radiant Silvergun.

 

[Transdude1996]

On a pedantic note all Playstation 3s can play Playstation 1 games from the disc, so Sony beat them to it a decade ago. Of Sony also ballsed it up many years ago too when they removed PS2 compatibility from the slim PS3, making a box that could play every Playstation games ever inexplicably able to play PS1 and 3 but not 2 games.

It's very strange to think that the $599 fat PS3 was the ultimate cross compatible console and we never even realised it.

That's because the PS3's BC is utter crap. Granted, it's not as bad as the 360's, but it is still enough of a problem that any game needing a consistent frame rate becomes terrible, or even unplayable, after a certain point. And, this is true for all PS1 and PS2 games being played on the PS3 (Even the PSN downloads).

Edit: Reading up a bit more on it, and here's the order of PS1 BC from best to worst:

• PS2 > PSP > Vita > VitaTV > PS3

 

[Voxoid]

I'd definitely pick up an xbone if I could play all of my old classics but the trouble is that Phil's always saying but never doing. When it's announced that BC is a feature, then I'll buy into it.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Both of those were added last month.

Nice. Now I just have to wait for the Internet in my area to be upgraded.

 

[new_age_reject]

As much as I would like this, it seems like it would be odd if only because the 360 can't play every original Xbox game...unless there's an update I missed out on but the last time I tried (and this was about a month ago) my 360 couldn't play Whacked!, Otogi 1 or 2, Voodoo Vince...well really it was just those two, I was surprised when it read Silent Hill 2 and 4, Amped, the Halo games. I love the original Xbox but I'm not going to get an Xbone to play those games. I'm going to try finding an Xbox that still works or find someone who can fix mine.

Does Stubbs the Zombie work on the 360 by the way? Not that I can afford it at the moment but it's one of those hidden gems that I always hear good things about.

Big shout for Stubbs the Zombie!!
I haven't had a console for years, PC gaming for me, but Stubbs the Zombie is one of the games I would love to play again.

 

[Xorph]

On a pedantic note all Playstation 3s can play Playstation 1 games from the disc, so Sony beat them to it a decade ago. Of Sony also ballsed it up many years ago too when they removed PS2 compatibility from the slim PS3, making a box that could play every Playstation games ever inexplicably able to play PS1 and 3 but not 2 games.

It's very strange to think that the $599 fat PS3 was the ultimate cross compatible console and we never even realised it.

From what I've been told, the PS2 backwards compatibility was removed because it had a tendency to wear out the disc drive's laser at an inordinately fast rate. Still a shame they chose to remove it rather than fix it, of course.

 

[fix-the-spade]

From what I've been told, the PS2 backwards compatibility was removed because it had a tendency to wear out the disc drive's laser at an inordinately fast rate. Still a shame they chose to remove it rather than fix it, of course.

The reason was to cut costs, the very early PS3's had an entire PS2 chipset in them, which gave it seamless compatibility with PS2 and 1 but was obviously an expensive way to make a console.

That was cut within months of the launch for an emulator based set up which was altogether less effective. The issue with disc drives is an off and on thing for Sony that goes back to the PS1. I've heard all kinds of bizarre explanations like running DVD movies in the PS2 or Blu Rays in the PS3 would 'age' the laser and make it fail. It's more likely that as the biggest moving part in a console it's the most likely to develop a fault, 360s and Xbones are prone to developing drive faults as well after all.

 

[spartandude]

Putting Phill Spencer in charge of the Xbox One is probably the best decision they made. I've still got a few OG Xbox games lying about. And selling them digitally would be cool. I still havn't gotten a Xbox One or PS4 yet but I am leaning once again towards Xbox.

 

[josemlopes]

Both of those were added last month.

Nice. Now I just have to wait for the Internet in my area to be upgraded.

It works with the cd, just saying since you were uninformed about the two games being available maybe you are uninformed that it isnt just for digitally purchased games.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

It works with the cd, just saying since you were uninformed about the two games being available maybe you are uninformed that it isnt just for digitally purchased games.

I don't read that much on consoles since I am a PC gamer, and the physical media isn't the issue. The issue will be having to download a multi-gigabyte hardware update as soon as I turn the thing on.

 

[darkrage6]

Oh man if this actually works, Sony is so fucking screwed. They've already been outsold by Microsoft for the past three months:http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/14/13283118/xbox-one-ps4-npd-sales-figures-july-august-september-2016

 

[gorfias]

Oh man if this actually works, Sony is so fucking screwed. They've already been outsold by Microsoft for the past three months:http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/14/13283118/xbox-one-ps4-npd-sales-figures-july-august-september-2016

That's in the US alone. Globally, PS4 is still dominating but I don't know for how long. The S plays 4K discs, has better wireless adapter on 5 Ghz while PS4 on 2.4 Ghz, you can keep your internal disc and add an external (I put on another 3 TB) longer battery life for good easily replaceable rechargable batteries than PS4 controller. All good reasons to prefer the Xbox one to the PS4.

The BC all the way to 2002 games would be fun and likely easy to do. The idea will be a seller for people who still have og xbox games. I have some polished versions of games from then (Halo 1 and 2) and they play as well as any modern shooter to me. Many other games from that era I can and do play on PC (Like Old Republic). But in these days of ever changing gaming models (cell phones, facebook apps, Steam) and ever more polished games, I can't write I think this will be that big a deal. I'll spend much more time on Forza Horizon 3 tonight than I'd spend on the og Forza bc. I might load that up for the fun of compare contrast but that's about it.