360 backward compatibility's days numbered

[Cuddly Knife]

Xbox chief Peter Moore says "nobody is concerned anymore about backward compatibility."
By Tim Surette, GameSpot
Posted Jun 1, 2006 1:17 pm PT
When the Xbox 360 was announced, one of the hot topics on gamers' minds was backward compatibility. People wanted to make sure they could play Halo 2 on the new machine, as well as anything else that may be in their Xbox libraries.

The 360 came out of the box with more than 200 games on its BC list, but has since seen few updates to the list. As Microsoft pushes forward into the next generation, does that mean additions to the Xbox BC list are going the way of the dodo?

According to a Kikizo interview with Microsoft VP Peter Moore, that could very well be the case. "Nobody is concerned anymore about backward compatibility," Moore said. "We under promised and over delivered on backward compatibility. Yeah, there are a few games...It's a very complicated thing. Developing software emulation for this thing is very complex work."

While phasing out BC with future Xbox games was almost certainly going to happen sometime, Moore's comments seem to imply that it's happening sooner than most thought.

"More are coming...but at some point you just go 'there's enough,' or 'let's move on'...people aren't as worried about a game being backward compatible," he said. "I like to think we upheld our end of the bargain [with backward compatibility]."
Jerks

Bolded parts are really big piles of poo. "Overpromised and uderdeliver"-STFU!!!!! What a steemer to lay on the heads of all gamers who had some kind of faith that this would be followed through.

Almost all of the games I own are not B/C:
Otogi 2
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
The Warriors
Silent Hill 4
Fatal Frame 2
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Psychonauts
DOAU
Shenmue 2
and more!

[Glockstar]

That's BS.

And it really pisses me off.

It's insulting! Both to us gamers and the gamemakers, to think or suggest that all of our "old" Xbox games are no longer worth playing.

But maybe it wouldn't bother me so much if I had reassurances from them that they were going to keep on producing the original Xboxes for many many years. I seriously doubt that they'd want to do that tho'. To think that once my Xbox goes kaput, and that I probably won't ever be able to find a reliable replacement, that that would be the end of my Xbox gaming days and that my original Xbox library would then suddenly be rendered utterly worthless... :mad:

[shogun]

Being in marketing must do some funny things to a person. You hype a bunch of games one moment, only to turn around and treat them like they aren't worth playing when they risk giving you bad PR. As if Peter Moore could make it any more obvious that his vocal opinions are nothing beyond saying whatever it takes to get his current pet project off the shelves.

I could probably nab a hundred bucks off selling my XBox, money I could put toward a 360. This would essentially make the HD 360 only $299 for me. Of course, that would be if XBox 360 was fully b/c....As it stands only about half my games work.

"overdelivered" indeed....:rolleyes:

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

To me, the b/c games seemed to lean towards the mainstream, since they were supposed to be the "top-selling" Xbox titles (along with crap that luckily gets b/c because the code must have been similar). What MS failed to realize was the early adopters of the 360 weren't the mainstream crowds, and that most of the games we wanted to be b/c weren't "top selling" Xbox titles.

I always felt that if it wasn't all or nothing when it came to b/c, then it would be half-a**ed. And it definitely was half-a**ed.

The only b/c game I played was Jade Empire.

[slade]

Thankfully, they got the only Xbox game I really cared about to be backwards compatible.

[Glockstar]

From Microsoft Games Global Marketing team:

Lots of talk about backwards compatibility online today. We wanted to get to the bottom of it all, so we went right to the team working on the next back compat update. We hear directly from them that they're in the testing phase of another update, and it should be out in the next few weeks. We saw the list they're testing, and it looks like they're hoping to add at least a dozen titles.

Long before the launch, we thought we might hit a few dozen titles, and we all feel pretty good about the list of well over 200 titles on the back compat list today, including many of the games that you’ve asked for. You all have heard us say the work isn't simple. Many games did unique things to take advantage of the processing power of the Xbox, and that makes it difficult to emulate, especially when we then have to make new code work with existing (and future) compatible titles.

But rest assured, we're not done yet.

We know for a fact that there are lots of people who continue to care about backwards compatibility, including the "Emulation Ninjas" who are working full time on the updates. And those of us posting on this blog. And, of course, many of you.

Stay tuned for more information about the upcoming update…

http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/06/01/535135.aspx

[Cuddly Knife]

Thankfully, they got the only Xbox game I really cared about to be backwards compatible.
Barbie's Horse Adventure? No wait, I know. Azurik. J/k. I know it's Cel Damage.

12 12 new titles, huh? I bet maybe only one of those will be on the list that I made earlier.

Egg.

[BoyVsCar]

This seems no surprise to me and is why I made no plans to utilize the B/C functionality of the device. I keep my Live! enabled XBox handy for XBox games... but I understand that for several reasons this may not be feasible for everyone.

When I have tested B/C games I have been unhappy with the results... I guess I am not a big fan of rendering anomolies like seam tearing and whatnot.

I, much as stated earlier by another, always felt this would cause more ill sentiment then goo din the end unless they were able to accomodate essentially all games.

[theWacoKid]

Moore clarified what he meant by nobody is concerned anymore about b/c. They're not concerned about achieving b/c. His statement was misinterpreted as nobody cares about b/c.

As testament to MS's ongoing efforts in this area, they just released a b/c update for 21 games. A lot of filler, but titles like Doom3, Lego Star Wars, Dreamfall, Fatal Frame, Rallisport Challenge and Silent Hill 4: The Room are now b/c on the 360.

[Cuddly Knife]

But still no Stranger's Wrath, Otogi 2, Panzer Dragoon Orta, and Burnout 3.