VG Leaks: BC for NextBox to be an add on, can play offline

I wonder if it would be possible for the optical drive in the Durango to be used to play disc based 360 games on the mini.
 
It says networked together not daisy chained. You put your new cool xbox top box in bedroom. Put your durango in the living room. When you put a 360 disc into your durango it connects to new xbox slim baby top box and start playing your old 360 games. Still don't completely buy this though. I'm still betting on durango having BC internally. Still better option then no BC like PS4.
 
Never bought the rumors about always online; not because MS were not cunning enough to want to do it, but they're too smart to even attempt it. They'll find a "balance" that allows them to exploit enough out of the customer, but nothing as outrageous as not supporting offline play whatsoever.

As for used games, there was just no way it would be an outright ban of used games. Once again, there might be a balance at play here (see: online pass....etc).

And just to reiterate my thoughts from previous threads, I believe ALL the negative press will subside after their big Durango reveal. Not because they deserve to go without bad press, but because they know exactly what to show to keep people (most people) in the industry happy.
 
Silly me, I always thought 'backwards compatibility' meant I could take the games I bought for my game console and play them on the next version of the console. This sounds like I have to re-buy my games. Am I missing something?

They need a new term for this, because 'backwards compatibility' means something else.
 
TheJollyCorner said:
potentially brilliant, sales-wise.


You make MS supporters essentially:

-buy their brand new next-gen console
-buy a new (mini) 360 with no disc-drive so the new console can play old games


And people are applauding this?
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sounds great. one thing people said about the PS3 when Sony removed BC was why not sell it as an addon...

me? i'll just keep my old 360 around...
 
PG2G said:
I wonder if it would be possible for the optical drive in the Durango to be used to play disc based 360 games on the mini.
Click to expand...

I so wish I could pop a 360 game in the Durango and then download a DD version for my 360 mini.


Dreams...
 
chubigans said:
This is the dumbest idea ever. Buying a console that piggybacks off another console to give me BC from my last console doesn't sound like the best way to go about this.
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No, the dumbest idea ever is requiring a constant internet connection to play games and this rumor seems to make more sense than the other ones. It's certainly more specific.
 
I am almost sure that the user has to buy a DLC to activate BC function. See Media 8 center upgrade for windows 8.
(/geld klopperij)
I am so tire to hear all the news regarding the next Xbox.
 
surly said:
Odd how a mention of this hasn't been in any of the thread titles yet: -


I guess people aren't in such a rush to post this over the previous rumours. Funny that.


It's a great idea.

The $99 device is stand-alone. It functions like a Roku box but also gives you the XBLA marketplace. The market is big for devices like that, but this would be the only one that offers a decent game selection.

If you have a 360 already, you don't need the $99 device to play 360 games. If you are buying a Durango and you didn't own a 360 and want to play 360 games, you will now have a cheaper way of doing so.

The alternative would be to put 360 hardware inside Durango, pushing the price up when not everybody cares about BC anyway.
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Funny that MS including an option for BC (i.e gamer oriented) is not being praised to counteract all the posts of how they hate gamers
 
chris0701 said:
But how the 360 game audio/video being output ? Through Durango or 360 STB ?
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I don't know what 360's have what AV output possibilities, but they could all stream AV back to Durango over the network and let it pump it to the TV.

Think, again, of remote play on handhelds or cloud streaming. Everything gets fed back and forth over the network. You don't need anything majorly proprietary in terms of hardware input/output.
 
bananas said:
No. That's not what it says at all.
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When the Durango (game machine) launches, it will not support backwards compatibility for 360 games out of the box. Instead, this functionality will come from the other unit that will be networked with the Durango to provide this (not unlike the DVD add-on for the original Xbox).
Click to expand...

The purpose of the smaller Xbox unit is to compete with Apple TV, but also provides XBLA and 360 game support which will give it an edge over Apple TV. The rumors of “always online required” comes from the smaller Xbox unit which may not have a disc drive and like Apple TV it would require a network connection and internet to provide any real functionality. It may be possible they will design both consoles to be stackable.
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Now they could be talking about an add-on and a new Xbox and sloppily referencing them but it sounds like one thing.
 
So essentially their solution for Durango owners who want to play their 360 games on the console...is to sell you another 360 and attach it to your Durango...

..and people are lapping it up?

Wow...Yep.. Microsoft have won if they can get away with that.
 
Superflat said:
This sounds really interesting. So this add-on, what does it seem like it houses? Just a mobo+processor? Does it have everything inside it that a 360 has (video card, ram, whatever else)? Does it not have a HDD and instead share with the Durango? I don't have enough knowledge to make an educated guess.
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My guess would be that it has everything a 360 has minus the optical drive and it'll have onboard flash storage instead of a hard drive. Maybe a small amount that you can increase via USB, like you can with the 360.

It aligns with something Paul Thurrott said on Windows Weekly a few weeks ago, as he said that the $99 model would play XBLA games and "be used for backwards compatibility", but I didn't consider that he meant it in this way.

Taker666 said:
So essentially their solution for Durango owners who want to play their 360 games on the console...is to sell you another 360and attach it to your Durango...
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If you have a 360 already, you would just keep that. I love how people are trying to spin this into a negative though! lol. If MS announce some great new games soon, the bitter tears are going to come flooding out of my monitor.
 
Puppet Shadow said:
Silly me, I always thought 'backwards compatibility' meant I could take the games I bought for my game console and play them on the next version of the console. This sounds like I have to re-buy my games. Am I missing something?

They need a new term for this, because 'backwards compatibility' means something else.
Click to expand...

That's not what the news says.
 
Puppet Shadow said:
Silly me, I always thought 'backwards compatibility' meant I could take the games I bought for my game console and play them on the next version of the console. This sounds like I have to re-buy my games. Am I missing something?

They need a new term for this, because 'backwards compatibility' means something else.
Click to expand...

What I'm getting is that you put your old games into the DURANGO only when the add on is hooked up to it in order to play them.
 
this is pretty much what we heard in the first round of rumors a long time ago. probably the best strategy that microsoft can put together. a $150 always online box could work. maybe in a year or two they could work out a strategy for streaming durango games to it. that'd be killer.
 
Dunlop said:
Funny that MS including an option for BC (i.e gamer oriented) is not being praised to counteract all the posts of how they hate gamers
Click to expand...

Probably because it's a weak solution where you can just keep your current console and experience the same thing. It literally doesn't solve a single problem.

That's my only issue with it, over the fucking moon the always-connected to play thing is debunked.
 
So GAF pretty much loved that patent Sony floated around a few months back with the add on device to enable PS3 BC but when Microsoft looks like they're doing it....

Salty. So very salty.
 
Dynopia said:
That mini 360 is genius.

Not only will it add to 360 LTD (for MS to stay ahead of PS3, if it means a jot) but it gives durango BC all the while giving MS more profit.

Perhaps not entirely consumer friendly at least the option is there, but yeah, genius move from them from a business/profits pov.
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Yeah this is purely a business move, otherwise they would have just put this in the Durango or release it as a proper 360 revision with a disk drive in it.
 
I wonder if the 'HDMI Input' mentioned in the earlier leaks would be used to facilitate using an existing 360 in place of the newer 'mini 360'?
 
I suppose if the Xbox "mini" is as small as a Roku or Apple TV (or smaller) it wouldn't be too much of an issue having it attached to the Next Xbox. Obviously people who already own 360s wouldn't have any use for this device, but doesn't it still seem kind of impractical for those who don't? If I'm a new owner, who has never purchased a 360 in the past, wouldn't I be purchasing the Next Xbox to play Next Xbox games only? For people who already own a 360, and use the excuse that they would like to trade in their 360 towards the price of a Next Xbox (and probably get like $100 for it from Gamestop), why would they then RE-buy the Xbox "mini" to add backwards compatibility?
 
ii Stryker said:
This makes complete sense to me.

Backward compatibility is important to me but will come at an additional cost where as that cost doesn't immediately exist for someone who doesn't care about BC.

This is actually a brilliant strategy.

May 21 is soooo ffaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr aaaawwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy
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t1369155600z4.png

yep.
 
So, $99 for 360 Jr. Nice. MS, always thinking ahead. Why buy 1 console when we can make you buy 2? Go ahead Sony, you got this. Just avoid $499 at all costs. $399 or bust. I can't imagine what this stackable thing will be like. Definitely confusing. Definitely gonna weird people out. Just keep ur 360's people.
 
This doesn't sound too bad, i.e. we can still play games offline (bless the Maker), and we have BC... for a price. Might pick up the 360 addon when my current 360 breaks.
 
Superflat said:
This sounds really interesting. So this add-on, what does it seem like it houses? Just a mobo+processor? Does it have everything inside it that a 360 has (video card, ram, whatever else)? Does it not have a HDD and instead share with the Durango? I don't have enough knowledge to make an educated guess.

It sounds good for convenience, but for now this seems only half a step better than just keeping both consoles so I dunno if I would want to spend another hundred bucks for it if I pick up a Durango.
Click to expand...

Full 360 chipset, harddrive, networking capabilities, and wireless stuff for controllers/headsets/etc.. I think they're going to sell it as a digital only 360 that adds to the Durango experience. So you could essentially buy full games on Games on Demand and play full 360 games on the mini. Now, connect it to the Durango, however they plan on doing that, and now you have access to all 360 games on the Durango because of the mini.
 
GavinGT said:
It sounds like there's no playing of 360 discs with this 360 mini. I don't think you're going to pop a disc in your Durango, have that disc data streamed to the 360 mini, have the video/sound signal processed there, and then sent back to the Durango. That just doesn't sound feasible, at least not if they're aiming for a wifi interface. More likely, if you want to play 360 discs on your Durango, you'll want to buy an already existing Xbox 360 model that contains a disc drive and connect that to your Durango.
Click to expand...

I would assume that you would be able to install the disk wirelessly from the Durango drive to the Stingray. Apple already allows a similar wireless disk install option for its Macbooks.
 
Router said:
So GAF pretty much loved that patent Sony floated around a few months back with the add on device to enable PS3 BC but when Microsoft looks like they're doing it....

Salty. So very salty.
Click to expand...

Yep, lumping a vocal minority together means that everyone is salty. Come on.
 
I actually like the idea of BC as an add on. If you want it, and are willing to pay for it, then you have it. This means that 100% and proper BC is available on Durango.
 
Nice to see Microsoft finally woke up and decided to actively control some of the information messaging getting out to the public following Sweet Billy-gate.
A lot of this new info sounds promising.
 
KAL2006 said:
Why so much negativity I think that's a great idea. I'm getting a PS4 nextgen and I wish Sony did something similar with PS4. A £99 PS3 Ultra Slim without a disk drive, that plays PSN games only and has Apps like Netflix. Can be connected to PS4 for full backwards compatibility.
Click to expand...
How would it have "full BC" without a disc drive? It would mean buying all your PS3 games twice.
 
jmdajr said:
Are 360 games and xbox live games considered the same?
Click to expand...

Yes. There's literally no difference when it comes down to what it takes to run them.

BlazingDarkness said:
No I don't think you'll be able to use an old 360 with the Durango, that's the whole point of the new Mini, so it offers TV functionality but also has the benefit of 360 BC. I think it'll do exactly the sort of thing you doubted, putting the disc in the Durango but having it essentially play through the Mini and display on the TV.
Click to expand...

We'll see.

Ahasverus said:
No matter if it plays offline games or whatever, it's inferior specs and obligatory kinect are a terrible idea.
Click to expand...

I'm fine with both.

BlastProcessing said:
I would assume that you would be able to install the disk wirelessly from the Durango drive to the Stingray. Apple already allows a similar wireless disk install option for its Macbooks.
Click to expand...

That would be a great workaround to the potential problem I mentioned.
 
I know The Verge ran rumors last year of a new 360 that came with no disc drive and was meant to be a competitor of Apple TV.
 
BlazingDarkness said:
My understanding of the devices;

XBOX360 Mini device
- No disc drive, so it's essentially useless as a standalone XBOX for gaming, but good for TV functionality alone
- Requires an internet connection to function
- Access to the XBL marketplace and whatnot (so it can play downloadable titles)
- Will share some features of the Durango TV (IPTV) functionality (to combat Apple TV)
- Required to play 360 games, when connected with the Durango, can NOT play 360 discs when not connected


Durango
- The new 'new' XBOX
- Plays Durango games etc, uses Kinect functionality
- Will not play 360 games, you must hook up the Mini device once you insert a 360 disk to play (you put the 360 disc in the Durango disc tray, but it runs only when connected with the Mini)
- Requires an internet connection for TV functionality
- Plays used games
- Plays offline games
Click to expand...

Yeah that sounds like it. Even sounds sort of similar to some of the earliest rumors we started hearing about Microsoft actually planning two units.

Honestly I hope Sony does something like this, and it's probably totally feesable to see them try it later down the line, especially since they were thinking about doing it for the PS3.

jmdajr said:
Are 360 games and xbox live games considered the same?
Click to expand...

Yes.

H_Prestige said:
LOL, how is this different than just keeping your 360 side by side with a Durango?
Click to expand...

One less device you have to hook up to your TV. I imagine that when the mini add-on is hooked up to the Durango, it won't need its own HDMI cable and power source.
 
I like this idea. The new X360 sku:
- $99 w/ no disc drive
- can buy XBLA and 360 games digitally as a standalone
- can only play 360 discs if hooked to Durango to use its drive (encourages new sku 360 standalone owners to upgrade)
- seamless 360 play through Durango via disk or digital

Definitely encourages existing 360 folks to spend an extra $99 for the new sku:
- can sell off old 360 and controllers
- only need one controller, interface, box (new sku stack), and TV connection to handle 360 and Durango games
- faster 360-experience startup (please)
 
BishopLamont said:
Right, its a new 360 that can't play 360 games unless you have the Durango.

....But you can do other stuff? Why would you buy this if it isn't to play 360 games?
Click to expand...


It can play everything on XBLA. I'm sure it won't be the only 360 still available, but it'll be a cheap one they pitch for casual users. They'll probably change their strategy around same-day digital releases of retail 360 games once this is out too...
 
Miles Quaritch said:
It is. Now I don't have to worry about losing my content when my 360 dies and MS have stopped making them/they are extremely hard to find on the market.

It's also better than a streaming solution for the exact same reasons people don't want an always online console. Spotty connection, data caps, etc.
Click to expand...

Let me spell it out for you

DURANGO DOES NOT HAVE BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY (according to this info)

if you are relying on buying a separate XBox360 Mini which will be running the games and streaming the data to TV via Durango. It is not a solution for backward compatibility because it is the same, heck even worst than just keeping the Xbox360 you already own because it doesn't have a disc drive so you lose all your existing disc games.

If you are worried about bandwidth caps, buying a console that doesn't have a disc drive and replies upon you downloading huge files from the internet is not for you. Keep your current disc based console and play your disc games.

You can contort your mind and twist it to any extent you want but again DURANGO does not have native backwards compatibility just like PS4.

Edit: And it is not an ADDON, it is a 360mini without a disc (like ouya). It is a console on its own but streams game to tv via Durango going by the rumor.
 
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