So is it likely that Xenon will be backward compatable?

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psycho_snake

I went to WAGs boutique and all I got was a sniff
Ive been holding out on an Xbox for a VERY long time now. there are only a couple of games that really interest me, such as Halo, Halo 2, Ninja Gaiden and Jet Set Radio Future, but Ive realised that I want to play those games.

Now, I was thinking about holding off an Xbox and wait until Xenon to come out. So far, Xenon is appealing to me, the announcements of SC4 and POP3 already make me want to buy it and if it is backward compatablei can play all those games without having to buy an Xbox.

Ive been following news about Xenon, but Ive not read too much about the issue of backwards compatability. I just need to know what is more likely to happen, will MS be smart and make Xenon backward compatable or will they be a bunch of dumbasses and leave out that function?
 
No, but if you've waited this long i guess you might aswell wait till May to find out for sure.
 
They should...I love having just my PS2 hooked up so I don't have to break out my PSX everytime I want to play a game. Too many cords to deal with, I already have a rats nest back there.
 
There's every chance it would be BC (although I have no intension of selling my XBox, hence it doesn't matter for me).

We'll know in 2 months. :)
 
No their not going to hold back the power or make their console even less profitable to get backwards compatability. Unlike the other two.
 
No.

well, the base Xenon model, without the harddrive (Xbox Next) and probably even the model *with* the harddrive (Xbox Next HD) most likely will *not* be backwards compatible with Xbox games.

but the third Xenon model (Xbox Next PC) *might* have backwards compatibility, assuming of course that the reports of 3 versions of Xenon/Xbox2 are true.



see this thread for more info on Xbox Next PC
http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=39734&highlight=$600
 
CrimsonSkies said:
No their not going to hold back the power or make their console even less profitable to get backwards compatability. Unlike the other two.
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You have no idea what your talking about and thats not the reason why 360 won't have BC.

And Psycho you can't wait next month for E3? There is nothing wrong with waiting because you will have more information before making your decisions AND the price of Xbox is likely to go down this year too.
 
I think there will be one "base" Xenon that maybe includes a scratchdisk built-in, but has an expansion slot for an external hard drive. Now, I strongly believe MS will release not only HD's in two or more sizes (20 Gigs, 60 Gigs), they will also have a HD that also "unlocks" backwards compatibility, much like they had a device that unlocked DVD playback on the Xbox. This way, only those who really want it can pay the royalties and costs for it. The Hard Drive will become the new "memory card" in that the vast majority of owners will buy one eventually because while the games work without it, they'll work even better (especially online) with it. The MMORPG's will also *require* the HD. Hard drives are becoming so cheap these days that they're nearing the threshold of where bigger memory cards were back in the day.

20 Gig HD = ~$49, 60+ Gig = $89, BC Compatibility + 20 Gig HD = $99
 
Shaheed79 said:
You have no idea what your talking about and thats not the reason why 360 won't have BC.

And Psycho you can't wait next month for E3? There is nothing wrong with waiting because you will have more information before making your decisions AND the price of Xbox is likely to go down this year too.
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i was joking around, I can wait, but Im a cheapass:P
 
CrimsonSkies said:
No their not going to hold back the power or make their console even less profitable to get backwards compatability. Unlike the other two.
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Are you being sarcastic? I can't tell. :lol :lol
 
Don't they pay N-Vidia royalties for each graphics chip in each xbox? Would they have to do the same thing to have bkwds compatibility next-gen?

That would seem to me like a big impediment to bkwds compatibility for xenon.
 
Deku Tree said:
Don't they pay N-Vidia royalties for each graphics chip in each xbox? Would they have to do the same thing to have bkwds compatibility next-gen?

That would seem to me like a big impediment to bkwds compatibility for xenon.
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Well for one, NVIDIA sells the chips to Microsoft. So this might make things a bit different.

Two, the XBOX games running on Xenon would require Xenon to emulate some proprietary NVDIA shaders tied to some custom code specific to NVIDIA hardware. AFAIK, you can't patent programming code in general, not unless it is tied (specialized) to specific hardware which is the case.

Not to mention some reverse engineering would be required. The whole Xenon/BC idea reeks of a legal nightmare.
 
Well, right now MS pays those nVidia royalties, but if they offered an add-on, some/all of those nVidia fees would be shifted over to the consumers who really wanted BC....
 
CrimsonSkies said:
No their not going to hold back the power or make their console even less profitable to get backwards compatability. Unlike the other two.
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How does software emulation hold a console back?
 
The next Xbox will NOT be backwards compatible. Unless they either want to a) Include the original Xbox chipset (which they definitely won't) b) Write emulation software (which they almost definitely won't).

On the other hand, contrary to the troll above, backwards compatibility will cost Nintendo next to nothing, They're using the same processor architecture, and teaming up with the same graphics hardware developer, making it all somewhat of a snap.
 
DirtyHarry said:
T b) Write emulation software (which they almost definitely won't).
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they've been working on that -- 360 is definately powerful enough to handle it, but whether or not its going to happen, though, i don't know.
 
bitwise said:
they've been working on that -- 360 is definately powerful enough to handle it, but whether or not its going to happen, though, i don't know.
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Come to think of it, they do now own Virtual PC...
 
trilobyte said:
Virtual PC can barely run windows apps efficiently, let alone complex 3D games.
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Agreed, but it means they already have a solid foundation to work with. Also, keep in mind that the Xenon is rumoured to have something like a dual core 3GHz processor.
 
Also, keep in mind that the Xenon is rumoured to have something like a dual core 3GHz processor.
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correction, triple core 3 GHz processor.

b) Write emulation software (which they almost definitely won't).
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why not? Sony is in just as complex of situation as microsoft, if not more so for B/C on PS3 for PS2.

but the third Xenon model (Xbox Next PC) *might* have backwards compatibility, assuming of course that the reports of 3 versions of Xenon/Xbox2 are true.
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There won't be a Xenon PC.
 
element said:
why not? Sony is in just as complex of situation as microsoft, if not more so for B/C on PS3 for PS2.
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Not really, since they designed their own graphics hardware last time around, and since they have already shrunk the PS2 chipset down considerably for the slimline model. Which means they have two not completely unrealistic options available.

That said, I really hope Xenon does have backwards compatibility. As I don't own an Xbox, that would go along way to selling me personally on one. I want my JSRF and PDO, dammit.
 
Not really, since they designed their own graphics hardware last time around, and since they have already shrunk the PS2 chipset down considerably for the slimline model.
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Well they can either emulate via CELL and the Nvidia chipset without having the EE/GS in there, or they can take the hit and put in an EE/GS in each PS3 (unlikely). In the first instance they would have to write some wicked emulation software, which I highly doubt they could get close to 100% B/C with a solution like that.
 
trilobyte said:
Virtual PC can barely run windows apps efficiently, let alone complex 3D games.
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Xbox doesnt run a fully fledged windows OS though. Its only a stripped kernel and DX libraries. The only hard part they would find is translating nV calls into ATI ones.
 
CrimsonSkies said:
No their not going to hold back the power or make their console even less profitable to get backwards compatability. Unlike the other two.
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WHAT WHAT WHAT


You're kidding right?
 
element said:
Well they can either emulate via CELL and the Nvidia chipset without having the EE/GS in there, or they can take the hit and put in an EE/GS in each PS3 (unlikely). In the first instance they would have to write some wicked emulation software, which I highly doubt they could get close to 100% B/C with a solution like that.
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does the EE / GS execute out-of-order instructions? That's somewhat of a problem with cell, being as cell is an SIMD (I think that's the term) processor.
 
i never thought i'd say this... but i'd really like backwards compatability. obviously, its not a deal breaker, but it sure would be nice to be able to throw on some old xbox classics, especially if those classics would also support high def tvs like xbox 360.

if its running emulation, would it be possible for games that ran at 30 to be at 60 on 360? sorry if thats an ignorant question
 
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