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[BudokaiMR2]

BC was never promised or touted as a major selling point of 360. It is just an obscure feature that may be or may be not used by 1% of 360 buyers. Every sane person will value playing new, "next-gen" (har, har) games over old crap he has beaten countless times, even in "upgraded" (har, har) graphics.

I don't see it as a major selling point to most people, no. But this post seems to assume that everyone who buys a 360 has a Xbox. I agree if you have an Xbox then it is useless, and if you have played every game on Xbox already, then yes it useless.

But, I am sure Microsoft wants to increase their share in the console market, right? Then you would want people who didn't buy an Xbox, to buy a 360, correct? Microsoft's target audience isn't Xbox owners, it is the entire market. Having a bigger library to choose from is definitely a draw for people like me who didn't own a Xbox.

 

[Farmboy]

You're not qualified. Trust me. So few people have the Xbox 360 that word of mouth of its non-compatibility will reach quickly to the few people that have it, and the rest will go in with that assumption.

I can only offer anecdotal evidence, but every semi-casual, non-forum-reading gamer that has asked me about the specifics of the 360 (at least half a dozen) assumed it would run Xbox games, and all reacted quite surprised/disappointed when I explained the situation. Based on personal experience, I'm pretty certain that the general assumption of Joe Casual is that the 360 is fully BC, like the PlayStation 2. Of course, it's not Microsoft's job to educate them on this subject, and it's not unreasonable to simply fault the consumer. But it will no doubt lead to some disappointed buyers in the future and has probably already lead to some 'replacing' their Xbox with a system they thought would run their old games.

Also, look at it this way: when a console/handheld retains the name of its forebear, it's likely to be BC, right? The only mainstream exception is the Super NES, and that's not a very recent example. I guess people tend to assume that the Xbox 360 is an Xbox, capable of everything the last one could do and much more.

 

[Raiden]

Whoa they actually have a team for that shit? Really it seems all they worked on was Halo 1 and 2, thinking of them working more than 10 seconds to make KOTOR 2 BC makes me go roflzorsright, that shit is unplayable, i dont care if it takes months to get some new games on the BC list, but for fuck sake do it right.

 

[Panajev2001a]

One thing pisses me off about having to wait supposedly till March for any BC updates: the December 2005 update broke things in Halo 2 adding some nasty and annoying glitches (like the GUI burn-in glitch). Could the at least fix the glitches they did add before that date (it is worth noting that Halo 2 had no real problem before the last BC patch was released) ?

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I thought MS said every single game will be playable eventually through BC.

 

[Borys]

It's the 3rd month of 360's live, you can pick any from almost 20 different 360 games out there + arcade titles, there are lot of titles coming out in the upcoming months (Oblivion is 20th March IIRC) AND there is a fucking E3 in May with dozens of announcements (Halo 3 trailer?).

There's really no point in waiting for a better BC - just forget it entirely and concentrate on new games.

If you really want to play say Black - pick it up for the PS2. PSTwo takes much less space than a Xbox.

 

[dskillzhtown]

BC was never promised or touted as a major selling point of 360. It is just an obscure feature that may be or may be not used by 1% of 360 buyers.

Yeah, but it is a feature of the 360 and you think that expecting a feature to work correctly is somehow insane or asking too much of MS? I just think that if you say x game will work, then it should, period. If it doesn't work, then take it off the list.

 

[FiRez]

Wait, updates coming later in the year = dead?

my thoughts, exactly

sometimes GAF makes no sense at all

 

[Apenheul]

There's really no point in waiting for a better BC - just forget it entirely and concentrate on new games.

Some people bought a 360 so they thought they could finally play those neat xbox games they've read and heared about while waiting for new games. They may not have bought a normal XBOX since they knew the next one was already coming with BC. How many more posts is it going to take before you realize that?

 

[godofcookery]

my thoughts, exactly

sometimes GAF makes no sense at all

just a matter of seeing the recent update, the quality overall, and not having any faith.

of course there was a question mark at the end of dead! at least its in question.

 

[Mrbob]

We also have to wait and see how many games work in the update.

The only game I have right now I really want working is Ninja Gaiden Black. It is painful to see all the slowdown in the game, but I read the BC team knows about this and is working on it. I'm hoping that they can work with third parties to get new Xbox games working on 360. Most importantly Starcraft Ghost. I don't want to get this for PS2, but I will if I have too.

I would say MS has some time. It isn't exactly like there are an abundance of systems out there. Not even all the Xbots who want the system have it yet. If they can nail down most of the BC by Fall 2006 (with games running near perfect) then I think they will be fine.

I would also like to see a list of notes which each update too. So we know what games are added, what fixes are made, and if there are any issues with games. MS just throws up a list of games that are compatible, but don't list any issues.

 

[Jonnyram]

I just wish they'd put some effort into getting the Japanese titles working. The Japanese BC list is pitiful. Maybe (hopefully) they have a JP team that isn't taking a holiday right now.

 

[trmas]

Maybe its because the launch software isn't that great (rushed and not-really next-gen looking). It's a complete travesty that excellent games like Ninja Gaiden and other XBox showcases aren't playable. Thus the term half-assed. If it hadn't been so half-assed, I might have bought one myself because the online is flawless.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

The saddest point is that there is no middle ground here on GAF, there's noone level-headed here. You either are posting as a:

Blind Fanboi:

- best launch ever!
- best hardware ever!
- LMAO who needs HD-DVD media? DVD-9 is enough!
- SC >>> MGS
- Live! Arcade >>> whole PSWho library
- who needs BC when there's PD0, Kameo and other 11/10 titles?
- Live! is only $50 a year and I'd pay even $500 a year because it's that good!
- Halo > PC gaming
- etc.

or a:

Rabid Hater:

- LMAO at the "next-gen" graphics
- Xbox could do that
- Live! is a rip-off, PC online is free
- M$
- you bought 360 to play some shitty 2D, 8MB arcade games? that are free on PC?
- 2 failures: HD-DVD addon and HDD
- online is a fad, 2M people played online on Xbox; PS2 has 100M users
- what a shitty BC service - Barbie Horse Adventure and Ninja Gaiden in 2 fps
- 360 is a poor man's PC with PC ports
- etc.

Every fucking thread is like that. BC, HD-DVD, Splinter Cell, Rare. People who can't see a damn flaw in their system and in MS and people who see *only* flaws. Usually you don't even have to open a thread to know what's inside.

:lol

My opinion is a bit from both categories. What does that make me?

 

[littlewig]

MS promised BC, you can sugarcoat it all you want, but we still don't have BC. Also, considering that Revolution and PS3 will both have BC, there is a right to complain.

This defense for microsoft's lack of concern for BC reminds me when Nintendo fans defended Nintendo for not supporting online gaming with the GC. Fanbyos will be fanboys.

 

[HokieJoe]

Good old MS, selling yet another lie. Gotta love 'em.

:::rollseyes:::

Jesus trmas, your hate of MS knows no bounds.

 

[HokieJoe]

MS promised BC, you can sugarcoat it all you want, but we still don't have BC. Also, considering that Revolution and PS3 will both have BC, there is a right to complain.

This defense for microsoft's lack of concern for BC reminds me when Nintendo fans defended Nintendo for not supporting online gaming with the GC. Fanbyos will be fanboys.

I'm not sugercoating it. For me, BC was always the icing- not the cake. I can see why people who counted on it are upset, but I don't really get the drama queen stuff either though.

Oh wait...

It's a process fellas'. Let it play it out before you prenounce BC dead and MS AM DOOMED to the great hall of SUXXORS! The only game that I wish would work flawlessly is Ninja Gaiden Black.

 

[kaching]

As for the haters saying "buh, buh, buh PS2 did it!" - so what?
SNES didn't, N64 didn't, neither did GameCube nor Dreamcast - you don't have a point to base your attacks on.

Yes, let's condone the industry's general inability to plan with more forethought and the disrespect that platform owners have shown for their back catalog in the process. Let's NOT push for progress, a better implementation than predecessors achieved, or anything like that. I mean, hell, why do we even care so much about all of integrated online features the 360 has out of the box? None of those other platforms had them...

I mean - what would you like to play more: Black or Halo 3?

I'd like to play both, and with one coming out within the next month and the other not even officially announced and only vaguely assumed as arriving at the end of 2006 or sometime in 2007, I don't even know why you'd have thought the decision to buy one would impact the buying of the other.

they delivered the most complex piece of software ever written in emulation history, owning thousands of GAFFers when the BC list was revealed they deserve it.

How impressive their emulation code may or may not be is academic. In practical terms, the team assembled to address BC with Xbox had to know their job would be a largely thankless one among non-fanboy customers if they couldn't achieve close to 100% BC. I'm sure Xbox execs only exacerbated the challenge for them by hemming and hawing for so long over the issue and thus this extended vacation for the BC team is probably a guilty bribe for cracking the whip under severely compressed timeframes. But that doesn't change the fact that there's a massive gap between what should have been targeted and what has been achieved so far.

 

[Diablos]

Question: does the backwards compatibility issue stem from the fact that Xbox used nVidia and the 360 uses ATI, and the hardware overall is different; OR, is it because a lot of games used the hard drive as a cache and to make them work with 360 requires patches that make the games think a certain area in memory is the hard drive?

Because if it's more of an issue with the hard drive, just simply say that from now on, to ensure backwards compatibility, you must have a hard drive and you must apply a patch to make all of those games work with the 360 hard drive. Doesn't sound like a painful solution to me if backwards compatibility is really important to you, the gamer.

 

[sonycowboy]

Question: does the backwards compatibility issue stem from the fact that Xbox used nVidia and the 360 uses ATI, and the hardware overall is different; OR, is it because a lot of games used the hard drive as a cache and to make them work with 360 requires patches that make the games think a certain area in memory is the hard drive?

Because if it's more of an issue with the hard drive, just simply say that from now on, to ensure backwards compatibility, you must have a hard drive and you must apply a patch to make all of those games work with the 360 hard drive. Doesn't sound like a painful solution to me if backwards compatibility is really important to you, the gamer.

A hard drive is already required for BC. It's predominantly an issue of the NVidia chip emulation, combined with some other architectural issues.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

2 out of my 10 Xbox games are BC. The best part is that while Quantum Redshift works, Rallisport Challenge 1 & 2 do not. What a joke.

 

[LakeEarth]

I still feel that some companies are telling Microsoft NOT to get their games BC. Mainly ones that can lead to XBLA games, ie Arcade compliation disks, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, etc.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

I still feel that some companies are telling Microsoft NOT to get their games BC. Mainly ones that can lead to XBLA games, ie Arcade compliation disks, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, etc.

Or stuff that's being ported to X360 like Burnout Revenge or Far Cry. Its bullshit I tells ya.

 

[adamsappel]

When there's a critical mass of titles that make it worthwhile to update

That's the one that pisses me off. Microsoft isn't going to release a title or two as they become compatible, rather they'll wait until there are 2 dozen titles to announce and make a big PR stink about it.