xbox 360
Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility Updates "Winding Down"
Posted by Michael McWhertor at 8:20 AM on January 10, 2008
Speaking with Albert Penello, group marketing manager for the Xbox 360, at CES this week, we touched on the future of the Xbox past. The most recent update to the list of original Xbox games that are playable on the Xbox 360, bringing the total to 465 previous generation games may very well be the last, according to Penello. "I don't know if we have plans to do any more releases," Penello said "It feels like we kind of hit the point of diminishing returns there. I know with the Xbox Originals, there are still things happening there, but in terms of a lot of engineering work around bringing out new titles, I think they're winding that down."
He pointed out that Microsoft's promise to focus on the "top selling" original Xbox titles has been, from a corporate standpoint, delivered upon. "For the most part, we've crossed off games that people want to play," he said, adding that "There's always going to be a notable exception here or there."
Penello noted that, outside of Halo 2, internal data points to low numbers of backward compatible games being played on Live, with BC updates "not being downloaded that much anymore."
While some of the more fondly remembered Xbox games, like Otogi and The Chronicles of Riddick, haven't made the list yet, Penello tells us not to hold our breath. "At this point the stuff that's left is work per title, every title now is almost a one-off. Right now we have to think, are we really going to do 300 one-off titles? I know it's not exactly the answer everyone wants to hear, but I feel like it's time."
Watch for more from our interview with Penello later.

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
KEELr
Posted 5:54 PM 9/1/08
Then ffs get Rallisport 2 out on "Originals".
It was the best racing game last gen, and It still looks better than most games today.
KEELr
FellTheDabus
Posted 5:41 PM 9/1/08
Desperately wanted to see Otogi there :(
FellTheDabus
big_world
Posted 5:38 PM 9/1/08
[begin explaining how backwards compatibility for most consoles, the Xbox especially, is increasingly unnecessary over time]
Blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. lah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.
[end explanation]
big_world
ectogamut
Posted 5:36 PM 9/1/08
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PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!
ectogamut
okenny :)
Posted 5:35 PM 9/1/08
People need to save this awesome whining and moaning and petitionize (is that a word?) this stuff! I'm sure Microsoft is still willing to bend over backwards to please if they see enough people are interested. The tone of the statement sounds like they may still have one more load to blow so people can take their chances and wait or be (proactively) vocal to the right people in hopes they might listen.
okenny :)
Nobuyuki
Posted 5:31 PM 9/1/08
Still no Otogi, the only two XBox games I still own. Other than Steel Battalion, but I'm not gonna hold out hope on that one.
Nobuyuki
Justcrim
Posted 5:24 PM 9/1/08
Rallysport Challenge 2 was a large seller!!! Way more then Sneakers anyway!!! Gah, sometimes I just think these people dont know what they are saying...
My point is still the same, I WANT RALLYSPORT CHALLENGE 2 ON MY XBOX 360! (NFL Fever 2004 would be cool too since I still play that on my Halo Edition Xbox)
Justcrim
ConstantCupcake
Posted 5:22 PM 9/1/08
Well damn. I actually really wanted to replay Riddick but didn't think to check it's BC before giving my old box away .
ConstantCupcake
spartan1308
Posted 5:21 PM 9/1/08
@dv8godd: I saw that game on Amazon a couple months ago and went searching only to find it wasn't BC. That is the only game that I know of right now that I'd really care to see added to the BC list. I never played it, but it looks great.
spartan1308
Rohsiph
Posted 5:19 PM 9/1/08
I'm pretty surprised, but maybe I shouldn't be . . . have copies of Gun Valkyrie and Sudeki I'd like to get around to that I bought after my X-box died, assuming they'd eventually go BC. Sudeki merely because it's pretty much the only RPG on the console . . .
I suppose I could live if they never got around to them . . .
Rohsiph
Indy_aka_Rex
Posted 5:09 PM 9/1/08
I WANT THE WARRIORS AND BROTHERS IN ARMS, GOD DAMMIT.
Indy_aka_Rex
SithNinja
Posted 5:08 PM 9/1/08
@IAMELEVENEIGHT
I got mine on the "second wave" shipments (60gig no Talledega Nights) a few months after launch so that would explain it.
SithNinja
Triple07
Posted 5:00 PM 9/1/08
...Timesplitters??? Cmon the fourth one is coming out and your not going to make 2 and 3 backwards compatible?
Triple07
Sorwah
Posted 4:54 PM 9/1/08
I expect a future update. After each update we continue to hear from Microsoft saying they are looking on stopping it. Then a few months later comes an update. It's becoming the boy who cried wolf.
Sorwah
JohnnyHundo
Posted 4:54 PM 9/1/08
I'd like to see more games become BC (all preferably) - but really it's okay if it doesnt happen, because MS owes us nothing.
I am glad I hung on to my XBOX 1 though - because I still have a few games to get to on that system.
Warriors, PoP2/3, Dreamfall, Advent Rising... whew... and a few others... Who am I kidding though really - I have too many games as it is now - and getting the 60GB PS3 didn't help - as I'm wading through a pile of never before played PS2 games - currently FFX. Which is J-pop-licious.
JohnnyHundo
DaveB
Posted 4:53 PM 9/1/08
Fucking Zyananide please. Oh and Capcom classics collection.
DaveB
Billkwando
Posted 4:45 PM 9/1/08
WHAT THE FUCK? SNK NAO!!!
Billkwando
Zeb
Posted 4:25 PM 9/1/08
Man, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath was practically the only Xbox Original game that I really wanted to get a chance to play.
Come on Microsoft, you know we want it.
Zeb
SAKY
Posted 4:23 PM 9/1/08
Ass rape from MS. Again!
I'm sure the thinking here is "hey we can sell the full games for $15 on the marketplace. Why let them play for free? also, we won't have to spend money developing software emulation!"
Brilliant!
But hey, we got 450+ games out of it, that ain't bad.
SAKY
RPGZero
Posted 4:23 PM 9/1/08
Forgot to mention that as for new titles all I'd really like that isn't there is Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.
I'd like to see all 3 PoP games, and BG&E added too but I wouldn't play them since I already did. TTT is pretty much all I have left I still want to play that isn't already supported. Oh well I'd like to play Merc too but can't because of how its impossible with the crash bugs in it.
RPGZero
Qube
Posted 4:20 PM 9/1/08
My anger over lacking BC has wained over the years. Right from the beginning, I really wanted Oddworld Stranger's Wrath, but I've come to accept it's not going to happen.
I think the best thing they can do now is stop going vertical (no new additions) and spend some time going horizontal (fixing existing titles). For example, I still can't get past the 3rd level Panzer Dragoon Orta (PAL).
My original Xbox is working fine, so I upgraded it as much as possible by getting component cables (for progressive scan), an optical audio cable (for 5.1) and a Logitech wireless controller.
Even without upscaling to my TV's native res (1360x768) like the 360 does via VGA, you'd be surprised how good the original Xbox experience can get... assuming you have room for the behemoth under your TV.
Qube
RPGZero
Posted 4:18 PM 9/1/08
Fix Mercenaries 1! The game is barely playable with all the bugs and crashing! Grrr, knew I should have bought it for PS2 instead.
RPGZero
TearsandScreams
Posted 4:12 PM 9/1/08
@htd: mostly I concur. However there is the occasional hard to find gem. I managed to get Dreamfall for £15 on ebay, been looking for that for ages. And had I not found it I would have downloaded if it was available.
TearsandScreams
FanDam
Posted 4:11 PM 9/1/08
I still have my Xbox, although honestly I expected RalliSport Challenge 2 to be playable now.
FanDam
captain_dl
Posted 4:02 PM 9/1/08
What a bunch of crap!!! The only game I held on to was SSX On Tour and it never made it to the BC list. I guess I'll be trading it in now. The whole thing is they will be releasing games over the Xbox Originals now and want us to pay for them again. Crap I tell you!!!! C R A P !!!!!!!
captain_dl
kruador
Posted 4:01 PM 9/1/08
I own the original Halo: Combat Evolved from when I got my original Xbox. On the whole it's nicer to play on the 360 (due to the better controller - the minor changes from the S are worthwhile) but there are still some horrible laggy areas, like when you first go out into the pyramid/ziggurat area on Assault On The Control Room. Suddenly it drops to about 10fps, not what you want when you have a pack of Covenant heading towards you with Ghosts, Banshees and a Covenant Tank all in the same area.
Wonder if they've fixed the lagginess on 99th Street, and the flickering legends on the map, in JSRF yet? Nope. Oddly, Skyscraper District and Pharaoh Park seems to play OK.
As for why there's no hardware BC and no mini-original Xbox: Intel own the rights to the Pentium III-M processor used and wouldn't do a die-shrink for an end-of-life product, nVidia owned all the rights to the GPU and wouldn't die-shrink that either (plus they already had a big falling-out over royalty payments). The 360 uses a processor design that could be licensed (IBM PowerPC, 3 cores, two threads per core) but isn't compatible with x86 code used in Xbox games, and a GPU from ATI also not instruction-compatible with the Xbox GPU.
kruador
BTS.WRKNG
Posted 3:55 PM 9/1/08
1. THE WARRIORS. Am I the only one who likes this game enough to replay it multiple times? This is the main reason my Xbox is still connected to my system.
2. BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL. I know I'm not the only one who wants this one.
3. I bought several of those arcade/8-bit compilations also, including the Capcom one, the Taito one, and some others I'm probably not remembering. The Atari Anthology made the list; why not the others? So that we can buy all those old games AGAIN as individual XBLA downloads?
How much would it realistically cost Microsoft to do those 300 one-off titles? Am I expected to believe that they CAN'T AFFORD IT? To abandon this effort now would be a huge insult to people who built up an Xbox library and then upgraded to the 360 based at least in part on the promise of ongoing backward compatibility updates.
BTS.WRKNG
eelmonger
Posted 3:52 PM 9/1/08
There's a tiny voice in the back of my head that tells me "Someday they'll get Steel Battalion working...somehow." I really want to believe him, but I'm probably just going to have to buy a cheap, used Xbox and save it for when my current one dies if I still want to play it in a few years.
eelmonger
jihadjoe343
Posted 3:52 PM 9/1/08
The only game that I used the BC for was Halo 2 so I'm not really sad or surprised that they're stopping releases. Sure, this'll probably piss a few people off, but if you're so determined to play old games it'd probably be best to keep your old systems or find a cheap used one.
jihadjoe343
EvoAnubis
Posted 3:48 PM 9/1/08
Personally, I see the whole BC thing being less and less of an issue. There are so many great 360 games out right now, why do you guys care anymore?
My 60GB PS3 is fully BC, but the only games I really play using that are Fire Pro Wrestling Returns and the occasional game of Prince of Persia or Second Sight.
Mostly, I play my "this-gen" games. And the 360 has WAY more of those than my PS3 does, so . . . again, what's the issue?
EvoAnubis
Rodent
Posted 3:48 PM 9/1/08
@elpierce:
The thing about BC is it's nice to be able to play the older games once in a while. And without BC there are very few options for enjoying the classics...unless you wanna re-purchase them from a download service such as XB Originals.
Think about movies. What if you bought your favorite movie, watched it a bunch of times, and then suddenly they released a new dvd player that didn't play your movie. The only other way to watch that movie again would be to re-puchase it either for the new format or through a download service.
Rodent
Cutriss
Posted 3:46 PM 9/1/08
I guess this piece of news fell by the wayside some time ago, but it was officially stated that Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is *NOT* coming to BC because the publisher is remaking the original game with a bunch of new content to release it on the 360, and they didn't want the existing game's sales/existence to cannibalize the new game.
As for some of the other titles, you will never see MechAssault, 007: Agent Under Fire, or Splinter Cell (among a few others likely) on the 360 because those games have buffer overflow exploits in their savegame handling, and preserving those exploits could provide an attack vector into the 360 itself.
Cutriss
RetroBob
Posted 3:42 PM 9/1/08
Not acceptable. There are so many more games people want to play.
RetroBob
Rodent
Posted 3:40 PM 9/1/08
I would love to see the 2 Brothers in Arms games and OddWorld Stranger to be added to the BC list. Please.
Rodent
elpierce
Posted 3:40 PM 9/1/08
I've never understood people's demand for BC in any format (PC, PS, Xbox, Nintendo...)
I don't want a CD player that plays records. That's why I own a record player. No company owes me anything.
elpierce
PapaBear434
Posted 3:39 PM 9/1/08
It makes sense. I mean, with Sony putting it on the back burner, it makes sense for Microsoft to back off support of it. Why waste time doing it if it's not important anymore?
We're well enough into the next gen to stop worrying about it so much.
PapaBear434
theflux
Posted 3:36 PM 9/1/08
Kung Fu Chaos still doesn't work. WTF :(
theflux
KeroseneClimax
Posted 3:30 PM 9/1/08
Don't care if Penello thinks SNK games fall into the "one-off title" Category. Give me KOF 2003 and SVC Chaos. I paid for them on the X-Box, I want backwards compatibility for them on the 360. I consider it selfish to not at least give a little back to those who stuck with Microsoft when everyone called their system a failure, Brick Box or a vacant void of mediocrity for frat boys. I bought Halo then, don't want a new one. Same applies for SVC.
KeroseneClimax
XbhaskarX
Posted 3:29 PM 9/1/08
BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL.
XbhaskarX
dilpickies
Posted 3:23 PM 9/1/08
All I want is Kung Fu Chaos.
It sucks that this apparently is too much to ask.
dilpickies
superbagman
Posted 3:23 PM 9/1/08
@dishwasher: Ah, I never owned a Xbox 1 but always wanted to play Mech Assault. So a month before the 360 launch I bought it assuming it would be backward compatible since it was one of the first Xbox Live capable games... boy was I wrong. Let's cross our fingers!
superbagman
Kai_
Posted 3:21 PM 9/1/08
Now that these brainwashed fanboys will pay $10-15, why allow them to use their old discs? Good move... may as well milk your loyal customers for all they're worth.
Wait, isn't that why consumers resented Sony in 2006? Ooops.
Kai_
lordargent
Posted 3:16 PM 9/1/08
Prince of persia 1 (backward compatible with minor issues)
Prince of persia 2 (not)
Prince of persia 3 (not)
/also, psi-ops is not BC either
lordargent
OniBeowulf
Posted 3:15 PM 9/1/08
it kinda sucks when you check the list and see that Marvel vs Capcom 2 is on the list so you find it cheap ($50 I couldnt find it any cheaper) and you get all excited to play it again to find out your characters look like pixel barf...it kinda rains on the parade. I just wish they would fix what they started.
OniBeowulf
GameraTheGreat
Posted 3:13 PM 9/1/08
OTOGI!!!!! They had better not pass on Otogi 3. That game would give them mileage in Japan.....I am quite upset that there has been no mention of a next-gen version.
GameraTheGreat
ShaggE
Posted 3:09 PM 9/1/08
@Capt-Fury-: Ah, haven't tried that one. Just going by what I have tried.
Good thing I'm an MK guy, since both Deception and Armageddon run perfectly :D (although some of the unlockable videos in Deception flicker like strobe lights... so heads up to any epileptic MK fans :P)
ShaggE
DaiMacculate
Posted 3:09 PM 9/1/08
@Guild_Navigator: Yeah, I loved Otogi. I'd probably buy a PS3 if it got Otogi 3, since Microsoft/Sega/FromSW don't seem to be in any hurry to put one out for 360. It was the first game I got with my XB1, and when I realized it wouldn't work on the 360 I almost wanted to cry.
Also, I miss my random crappy XB1 fighting games like SVC:Chaos. Damn, I may just have to buy another XB1 at some point ;)
DaiMacculate
TheOtherBarber
Posted 3:06 PM 9/1/08
my favorite 3 Xbox games still need to be on there: Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix. I'm asking for 3 measly titles Microsoft - make the repayment for downed Xbox Live a backwards compatibility update consisting of all original Xbox games, which i think would make ALL Xbox owners happy instead of a free Xbox Live Arcade game.
TheOtherBarber
Capt-Fury-
Posted 3:04 PM 9/1/08
@ShaggE:
Marvel vs Capcom 2 says hi....
Capt-Fury-
0ldb0y
Posted 3:04 PM 9/1/08
Too many new and current gen titles beating down on our wallets for me to worry about obscure titles of the past. Forward march!
0ldb0y
PriorMarcus
Posted 3:03 PM 9/1/08
@Okari: The 40GB has none... that's more than... well, it's not much at all really is it. Especially when you consider that it's the only version currently available in the UK.
PriorMarcus
parad0x360
Posted 3:01 PM 9/1/08
@P.N.03: like he said those are 1 off games. Meaning they work because of work that was done for a top tier title. They didnt mean to make it work it just does which means it probably didnt use much if any of the xbox's custom feature set.
There are some games I wish were on there but..i find even when a title i really wanted to play is put on the list, i play for maybe 20 min and then leave it alone.
What i do is leave the xbox cables connected and just put the xbox away. The cables are hidden behind the tv stand and my tv has plenty of component inputs...which doesnt really matter anyways since i use hdmi for my ps3 and 360.
parad0x360
beem
Posted 3:01 PM 9/1/08
Well I do applaud them for their efforts with the BC. Considering that when they originally announced back at E3 05 that the 360 would be compatible with the top selling Xbox games only. They're doing a lot more than they had originally bargained.
Still, it would be nice to play some Voodoo Vince, Riddick, Otogi, and BG&E in 720p glory.
beem
Smeer516
Posted 2:59 PM 9/1/08
Bummer, was still waiting for Silent hill 2 to join the BC roster.
Smeer516
Hiero Glyph
Posted 2:59 PM 9/1/08
@dishwasher: Agreed. Although I would settle for an Xbox Original title for MechAssault as well. I still have my disc in hopes that one day I can pink-button with my Kit Fox again.
Hiero Glyph
Sekiria
Posted 2:59 PM 9/1/08
@obijuan71:
Amen! I'm tired of of these messed up "BC" games like MvC2 and KoF 2002/2003 (where one plays sort-of and the other not-at-all.)
If they want more playing the BC games, advertise the fact that you can a bit more. As of now there are still plenty of good games that are not on the BC list. Hell, I still say if they would go back and add achievements to the Xbox1 games (say 500 a pop, maybe 1000 for the really good ones) that you would see a slew of people buying & playing the games again.
Sekiria
HootieMac
Posted 2:58 PM 9/1/08
Alls I needs is Gauntlet: Dark Legacy and I could pack my original X-box aways. DAMN YOUS!!! (shakes fist)
HootieMac
ShaggE
Posted 2:56 PM 9/1/08
Disappointing, but at least what IS emulated is emulated well.
ShaggE
webrunner
Posted 2:56 PM 9/1/08
So no SVC Chaos? :(
webrunner
PlaidNinja
Posted 2:55 PM 9/1/08
LAME.
Hows about making a mini xbox 1 like the slim ps2? Not all of us live in cavernous mansions with enough room to hold every damn giant console out there.
PlaidNinja
Tiberian
Posted 2:54 PM 9/1/08
@Okari: And theres a huge reason why it has 95% BC. Although it uses some software BC it still has some hardware left inside of the PS2, its not full hardware BC but does have some. The 360 uses FULL software BC. Thats why the 40gb PS3 will never support old PS2 games because it has none of the hardware at all and Sony will never do full software emulation for 1000+ games. I think its damn good that Microsoft even did it.
Tiberian
Psychotext
Posted 2:53 PM 9/1/08
@Okari: If you count games that will load... yes, but not if you actually plan on finishing the game or having sound / fmv. You know, minor things like that.
Psychotext
skullivan
Posted 2:53 PM 9/1/08
Still waiting on the two Capcom Classics Collections to be made BC but I guess they'd rather cash in on those titles one at a time...
skullivan
rickyyo
Posted 2:52 PM 9/1/08
@Okari:
But when Microsoft says they are playable they are when Sony says it. It's quite frankly "oh yeah half assed" or "yeah the menus don't work".
rickyyo
Maldron
Posted 2:51 PM 9/1/08
@Okari: Yeah, but if you average it out with the 0% of the 40G that's like... 49% BC. And that's crap, I tells you, crap!
Just doing it before somebody else does.
Maldron
DARTH_TIGRIS
Posted 2:50 PM 9/1/08
@duderdude2:
I LOUDLY second that: WHERE'S OUR BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL???!!!
DARTH_TIGRIS
crosswayboy
Posted 2:49 PM 9/1/08
It would be nice if they added the original Splinter Cell on there before they call it quits, but overall I'm satisfied. Thanks, MS!
crosswayboy
Okari
Posted 2:46 PM 9/1/08
@iameleveneight:
The 80GB has 98% BC. Thats more than the 360 will ever have.
Okari
iameleveneight
Posted 2:44 PM 9/1/08
@nutmaniv:
Its got to do with the liscensing for the graphics system if I remember correctly. The original Xbox used Nvidia technology and would have had to liscense it for use in the 360 as well. The BC bypasses that.
iameleveneight
htd
Posted 2:44 PM 9/1/08
as most used xbox games sold at <$5 in ebgames, I wonder why people want to waste their precious little xbox360 HD space and download XB origins.
htd
Spiffyness
Posted 2:44 PM 9/1/08
@dv8godd: AGREED. That's one of the best games on Xbox and one of the main ones I've been waiting for (still have mah Xbox, but it r broked). Beyond Good and Evil I can do without, since it's on other consoles, too (though I have the Xbox one, so I can't say for sure how solid the other versions are).
Spiffyness
iameleveneight
Posted 2:42 PM 9/1/08
@SithNinja:
How old is that PS3? Because depending on the version, the reason your PS3 works so well is because it HAS a PS2 built in because they didn't get the software ready in time.
iameleveneight
nutmaniv
Posted 2:42 PM 9/1/08
@SithNinja:
sorry for double posting here...
I believe the reason its hard is because there was some problem with the chipset of the original Xbox and something made it not compatible with the 360 which is why it had to do Software BC. On top of that, they have to write a new emulator for practically every game.
nutmaniv
4dSwissCheese
Posted 2:42 PM 9/1/08
Still a few straglers, but I've generally been satisfied with Xbox BC.
4dSwissCheese
Jay
Posted 2:41 PM 9/1/08
I was still hoping for Strangers Wrath and the Warriors to go BC...I suppose now all hope is lost.
Jay
nutmaniv
Posted 2:40 PM 9/1/08
Its winding down, but we will see more updates still. Every game that gets added to the Xbox originals will either already be BC or will be made BC because they both use the same emulation program.
Really I think most 360 owners would like to see Xbox BC support dropped. Wanna know why? The reason friends lists cant go over 100 is because original xbox games only supported up to 100 friends. Same thing with an integrated clan service and a lot of other features people would like.
nutmaniv
dishwasher
Posted 2:40 PM 9/1/08
better not wind down before mech assault!
dishwasher
dv8godd
Posted 2:40 PM 9/1/08
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath needs to be in that list before the end or I'm gonna wind Penello down and teach him how to hold HIS breath. :(
dv8godd
SithNinja
Posted 2:39 PM 9/1/08
Why is it so hard for M$ to do backwards compat? I haven't had any trouble playing any of the PS1 or PS2 games on my PS3.... Oh well at least KOTOR works on my 360.....
SithNinja
josh924
Posted 2:39 PM 9/1/08
That doesn't make sense; if they wanna keep adding downloadable Xbox Originals, they're gonna have to keep doing BC updates, seeing as how the Xbox Originals games run on the same emulator as BC games.
josh924
duderdude2
Posted 2:39 PM 9/1/08
Where's my Beyond Good and Evil?!
duderdude2
Trochan
Posted 2:38 PM 9/1/08
That's a shame. They probably covered all the popular titles by now, though.
Trochan
blackadvent
Posted 2:38 PM 9/1/08
Does this mean the BC Ninjas are being downsized?
blackadvent
P.N.03
Posted 2:37 PM 9/1/08
"For the most part, we've crossed off games that people want to play..."
Yes, like all those Cabela hunting games, the plethora of old sports titles, and cow plop like Catwoman, Pitfall: the Lost Expedition, and Trivial Pursuit Unhinged. :P
P.N.03
vicviper
Posted 2:37 PM 9/1/08
Hey, M$! How about making all the SNK games I foolishly purchased instead of just downloading the roms, backwards compatible?
vicviper
mquest
Posted 2:36 PM 9/1/08
Crap...I wanted to try Otogi...
mquest
uninterested gamer
Posted 2:35 PM 9/1/08
I wants RedVSBlues on my XboxsLives. That's it.
uninterested gamer
obijuan71
Posted 2:34 PM 9/1/08
Could you asK him if at least they are going to fix the glitches on the BC of Marvel Vs Campom 2 ???
obijuan71
Guild_Navigator
Posted 2:32 PM 9/1/08
That's too bad. Otogi and Otogi 2 were the last two games I was pulling for. Oh well.
Guild_Navigator
Nightshift_Nurse
Posted 2:32 PM 9/1/08
"Penello noted that, outside of Halo 2, internal data points to low numbers of backward compatible games being played on Live, with BC updates "not being downloaded that much anymore."
Because as we all know, the only game worth playing is the game that features on-line multi-player.
Nightshift_Nurse
megahurtz
Posted 6:56 PM 9/1/08
Sucks, since there are still a lot of very good games spread through all kinds of different genres from the old xbox that either aren't BC or work poorly on the BC. Still, this isn't all that unexpected. For probably the last year, every time a new dashboard and BC update are looming, there are people rumbling the same line this guy is saying here. Most of the popular titles are working, lowered interest in BC games, titles not added by this point would require significant work, etc etc.
If this really is the end, we all knew it was coming.
megahurtz
KaneRobot
Posted 6:48 PM 9/1/08
Pretty weak effort on MS' part on backwards compatiblity. Yes, they continued updates for a while, but half the games released were either glitchy or not worth getting excited about in the first place.
KaneRobot
Devenish
Posted 6:45 PM 9/1/08
First I apologize if this comes off bitter but it's been a long time coming…
Microsoft sure it's fine go ahead and start winding down on backwards compatibility as we continue wind down interest in the Xbox brand. Because this is just one more thing to add to the RROD I've gotten, A refurbished replacement unit that sounds like a house cat died while giving birth in it, and the shady Live service we have been paying for that lacks dedicated game servers on our own bandwidth.
So what is the new M$ slogan going to be "Jump Out"!?
Devenish
dv8godd
Posted 6:45 PM 9/1/08
@spartan1308: It was, in a word, "tremendous".
Everyone I know who has played it sticks it in their top xbox games. It is my personal favorite xbox game, hands down. If you've ever played Oddworld games and enjoy FPSs, you owe it to yourself to find a way to play it. That it got overlooked is, to me, on par with lackluster sales of Beyond Good and Evil and Psychonauts as the biggest sins committed by last gen's gamers.
And Lorne Lanning, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Oddworld... very smart guy. I've heard him speak about some stuff he's got on the horizon... could be very cool for the industry as a whole.
dv8godd
Nickatiah
Posted 6:24 PM 9/1/08
damn M$ for not doing SvC Chaos and while im at it damn SCEA for not bringing it to the states in the first place.
Nickatiah
Darkest Daze
Posted 6:15 PM 9/1/08
So Otogi and Beyond Good and Evil aren't wanted because they aren't online....huh?
Darkest Daze
Cornerb0y
Posted 6:07 PM 9/1/08
I STILL WANNA PLAY ALL MY SNK GAMES AND OBSCURE ON 360 DAMN IT! GET WORKING ON THAT SEXBOX!
Cornerb0y
munkah
Posted 6:01 PM 9/1/08
For every multiplatform xbox game that doesn't work on 360, we can always good search for the ps2 or gc version and play it on PS3 or Wii. I just want Breakdown fixed for PAL consoles, it crashes when you press a button.
munkah
Erwin211
Posted 8:11 PM 9/1/08
Hey all you boppers out there, where is The Warriors?
Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours, if you can count. Now let's look at what we have before us. We have Armed and Dangerous next to Breakdown. We've got Half Life 2 right by Halo. Nobody is wasting nobody. That is a miracle. And miracles are the way things ought to be. You're posting right now on Kotaku with 100 members from over 15 countries. And there's thousands more. That's 20,000 hardcore members. Forty-thousand, counting sister sites, and twenty-thousand more, not organized, but ready to post. 60,000 posters! Now, there ain't but 465 games in the whole list in the BC list. Can you dig it?
Can you dig it?
CAN YOU DIG IT?
Note 1: I would quote Ajax, but that's pretty much an insta-ban. Well, maybe I could say, "Those lousy skinhead f****!" but MS doesn't like being called that.
Note 2: Where is Advent Rising too?
Erwin211
TheKbob
Posted 8:03 PM 9/1/08
I would say I don't care, but I sold my PS2 and I want Psi-Ops and Gladius real bad... :(
Never got a chance to play Otogi... maybe when the system is $20 used, but then again, it's just so BIG O__o
I only have 2 Xbox Original games: Ninja Gaiden Black and Panzer Dragoon Orta. Both great, but Psi Ops and Gladius would make me VERY happy.
TheKbob
JasonTerminator
Posted 7:48 PM 9/1/08
Advent Rising
Area 51
Arx Fatalis
Beyond Good and Evil,
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
Crazy Taxi 3
Destroy All Humans 2
Deux Ex: Invisible War
Dino Crisis 3
DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball
Gladius
GunValkyrie
Headhunter: Redemption
Hitman 2
Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes
Legacy of Kain: Defiance
LOTR: The Two Towers
Mechassault
Metal Gear Solid 2: Subsistience
Metal Slug 4 & 5
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Otogi 1 and 2
Prince of Persia 2
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Second Sight
Silent Scope Complete
Star Wars: Clone Wars
SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
The Matrix: Path of Neo
The Warriors
Unreal 2
X-Men Legends 1 and 2
Those are all the non backwards-compatible games I own for Xbox. Now, some I understand Microsoft not caring about (Mechassault, I'm looking at you!), but there are some serously big names on this list that I'm surprised are still getting snubbed. . I don't expect every game to get ported, but why give up? If anything, it would show that Microsoft cares more about goddamn backwards compatibilty than Sony does. And I support anything that makes Sony look bad.
JasonTerminator
ARboom
Posted 7:19 PM 9/1/08
STILL waitin' for my hi-def METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SUBSISTANCE mother fuckers!
ARboom
eastx
Posted 7:14 PM 9/1/08
es, like all those Cabela hunting games, the plethora of old sports titles, and cow plop like Catwoman, Pitfall: the Lost Expedition, and Trivial Pursuit Unhinged. :P
Trivial Pursuit on Xbox is actually great. Kind of a precursor to Scene It, but simpler.
eastx
immovableshark
Posted 3:52 PM 9/1/08
This is completely selfish, and I don't know how many others care, but where the ---- is my Metal Gear Solid 2 on here?
immovableshark
FunkyJ
Posted 9:23 PM 9/1/08
@beem: YAY FOR VOODOO VINCE!
What I don't understand is Voodoo Vince was an MS developed and published game.
Surely the code is sitting on a server somewhere in Redmond and someone could sit there and make it work...
FunkyJ
MCFarley
Posted 11:46 PM 9/1/08
I'm still waiting on X-Men Legends 1 and 2 to get BC.
MCFarley
Exanity
Posted 11:08 PM 9/1/08
I am really disappointed in Microsoft. :( They promised BC, and so far they have not even begun to cover some of my favorite games. Advent Rising, Otogi 1 and 2, and ect. I guess I should just be happy that they got around to Phantom Dust. Well, if they are going to stop making games BC, they better work on an easy way to bring over old xbox saves, because I am tired of starting over every time I want to play a xbox game on my 360.
Exanity
Sorwah
Posted 11:08 PM 9/1/08
Well at least the 360 received updates instead of the one update Sony released.
Sorwah
kylenalepa
Posted 11:07 PM 9/1/08
I am required to post this in every thread having to do with Xbox 360 BC:
PLEASE FIX MERCENARIES.
That is all.
kylenalepa
beem
Posted 11:05 PM 9/1/08
@FunkyJ:
The way I see it, all M$ published titles should be BC right off the bat (if not first priority). It is a bit questionable though. We've got a BC upgrade for Blinx (another M$ published & owned title) but not one for Vince (possibly the closet to an original M$ mascot aside from Master Chief or Blinx).
My instincts tell me that if VV's not included in the next BC batch, then M$ is salvaging it for the Xbox Originals. In any event, it's a good thing I still held onto the original xbox.
And to CUTRISS:
What are you talking about? All three Splinter Cell titles are BC on the 360. SC1 looks amazing in 720p.
beem
Zunnoab
Posted 11:00 PM 9/1/08
So once the product is successful the commitment to quality ends? No thanks, though over the years I should have expected this based on how Microsoft works once it has a piece of the pie, I'm very disappointed.
Zunnoab
Detha
Posted 10:58 PM 9/1/08
Where's my Shaolin Monks? I wanted to play that so bad.
I mean, really, Fairly Odd Parents over Otogi and Popular fighters?
Detha
cindersphere
Posted 2:06 AM 10/1/08
No stranger wrath. Man this totally suck.
cindersphere
Farron
Posted 11:41 PM 9/1/08
NOOOOOOOOO!!! :( They still need to make 'Oddworld: Starnger's Wrath' backwards compatible before they finish.
Please add this title MS people!
Farron
FyreWulff
Posted 4:26 AM 10/1/08
They need to come back and fix Halo 2' emulation so that I can play a map online that I paid 12$ for, thankyyouverymuch.
FyreWulff
hdevires
Posted 5:51 AM 10/1/08
This is sad. I bought Mech Warrior and Metal Gear Solid 2 yesterday (they were $2.99 and $4.99 respectively, how could I say no?) before checking backwards compatibility. Ah well.
hdevires
commandersheppard
Posted 7:08 AM 10/1/08
Dammit, COME ON! I have one game left that I can't play, and it's my favorite one! If I never play Deus Ex again I think I'll freak.
commandersheppard
Chilly Hollow
Posted 6:51 AM 10/1/08
There are some excellent xBox games (listed above) which are not playable on the 360 and it's a crying shame. But this is not only a business decision, it is in line with Microsoft's policy of ignoring the off-line player. If they can't money off you on xBox Live, they don't care about you as a consumer.
I've always complained about how short-sighted this is on Microsoft's part. There are huge sections of the U.S. (not to mention the rest of the world) which have no access to broadband. Microsoft could make me even more loyal to their console if they would try to accommodate us. Think how annoyed you'd be if new maps or items for your favorite game were only available through Live and you were off-line! And of course multi-player play is inaccessible to me. Can you imagine how unhappy that makes me?
Rant over. Guess I'd better go check on whether the November compatibility is available on a disk yet. At least the last one was a lot cheaper than the previous one.
Chilly Hollow
jaffy
Posted 12:01 PM 10/1/08
oh yeah, and Spartan: Total Warrior
...and today was going so well - dammit! >=(
jaffy
jaffy
Posted 11:58 AM 10/1/08
Yeah, this topic touched a nerve...
- Otogi 2
- Prince of Persia 3
- Chronicles of Riddick
Three of the greatest Xbox experiences out there get no BC love...
Oh yeah, and I'm still smarting over Burnout Revenge being ported to 360, instead of being made BC.. |=(
jaffy
taomaster99
Posted 2:17 PM 10/1/08
meh
taomaster99
CorpZ
Posted 3:46 PM 10/1/08
I really wish they would fix the BC for Thief: Deadly Shadows, having the flames, and moon light shown through walls is ridiculous. My original XBOX died a few months back and I haven't been able to play this game since I finally found a copy at a local Gamestop.
CorpZ
Jfebs
Posted 10:36 PM 10/1/08
I've kept my Xbox, because I feel it's better to play Xbox games on the original hardware anyway, just for the authentic experience without the fear of emulation errors. I might feel differently if I had an HDTV. But the one game I've actually wanted to play on 360, to bring over to friend's houses without the Xbox, is Brothers in Arms (and/or its sequel). It's still my favorite game for me and a friend to splitscreen online against another team of two. The strategy is deep, the combat intense. I've been waiting for the new 360 version, but if the gameplay is changed and I don't like it, I may never be able to play the game I liked again.
Jfebs
Sloopydrew
Posted 8:12 AM 11/1/08
It ain't over 'til Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is on that list. Period. I figured Chronicles would never be on the list (sadly), because of the lookalike remake.
Sloopydrew
digiwalsh
Posted 7:12 AM 13/1/08
If you really really care that much about xbox 1 games, you'd still own the xbox.
It's time to let the 360 staff concentrate on the future of the console, you can pick up an xbox 1 preowned for the price of a new 360 game, so there's still plenty of options for people who have to play those old games.
digiwalsh
Billkwando
Posted 7:46 AM 14/1/08
It's bad enough that they screwed us on any possibility of Steel Battlion BC (what with no way to plug the controller in) but screwing us on Capcom vs SNK, Samurai Shodown IV, King of Fighters 02, KOF: Maximum Impact, SNK vs Capcom: Chaos, and Metal Slug is just ridiculous.
There are other huge titles as mentioned above.
Billkwando
Kortir
Posted 10:21 AM 14/1/08
We still need Timesplitters. ;_;
It's time to split!
Kortir