Xbox 360 news - not much of it good, if true

by Ben Zackheim { Mar 24th 2005 at 8:03PM }

Okay, so let's get this straight. If this story on CVG is true, then the following is in our future.

1 million Xbox 360s in Europe by the holidays. 1.5 million by March 2006.
No backwards compatibility
Regional Xboxs, "tailored" to different territories
No hard drive
Current games are being delayed to accomodate the fact that there's no backwards compatibility

All of that, combined, is what we call suckage in the medical community. It's nice that Europe will have a million of the things. But if they don't play my old games…

[Thanks Fady Ibrahim. Again!]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Revlis @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

OK THATS UPSETTING!!! Will the Xbox 2 be the SAME? i really hope not...

Axl Rose @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

If it was made by any other company than Microsoft, it would be better in every catagory than the first. Microsoft is building it, and they just can't make a product, they have to twist the product from the consumer's needs to Microsoft's needs. Why did the original have a hard drive? To replace costly, small storage memory cards. Is the need for saving games no longer there? Or did politics inside of Microsoft remove the hard drive, to a less consumer friendly memory card? Microsoft has to consider the opinions of those buying their product, because they know what they want in a product.

Axl Rose @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

Asher @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

I didn't know the medical community had terms for the Next Box.

Wuddel @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

tailored = crippled

No HD, bummer. My hope is that one can plug in any USB 2.0 mass storage device (memory stick, hard drive etc.) But I wanted to play Republic Commando on it.

billymo @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

i don't see why everyone makes a big deal about backwards compatibility. i've met very few people who wanted to play their psone games on the ps2. it's nice to be able to, but come on... anyone who will buy the xbox 2 this year is an early adopter and most of them will want to play the newest hottest games. i know that i normally trade in any old games to get new ones based solely on the fact that i knew i wouldn't play them after i got the new one ie halo 2, black arrow. i knew i'd like those games so i wasn't concerned that i'd be clamoring for the old ones.

the same applies to backwards compatibility. republic commando won't play any better on the xbox 2 even if it was backwards compatible. so, what's the difference? either you play it on the first one or you play something else on the second one.

maybe you want to trade the old one in. maybe that's the reason you want backwards compatibility. i don't know. all i do know is that a. no one says you can't still have the original big black box alongside the new one: and b. if leaving out backwards compatibility gets me more goodies for the future or a price break, or whatever - i'll take it. watch the bridges burn. lol

now, for the hard drive... i'm disappointed, but i do know that we have to be able to play music from somewhere, we KNOW we'll be able to do that on the chip level. i can only assume it will either be network storage, or maybe the hard drive on your pc will be available (since there's no hard drive, networking maybe possible to your pc. i figure that wasn't available due to possible viruses being transmitted to the hard drive on the original xbox). either way, we still don't know anything and we're panicked over nothing until we know the hard facts.

i think m$ gave us everything we could have wanted in hardware on the original xbox. i'm sure they aren't sitting in offices right now trying to figure out how to disappoint us for the second one.

Russ @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

In an interview on TechTV with J Allard, he said himself that there would be option for all the Halo 2 players to continue on Xbox 2. It will be backwards compatible.

Monmin @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

Hey #4 Russ,

I went to techtv.com but couldn't find the interview. Does anyone know if transcripts are available anywhere?

I'm loving Halo2 online and come christmas time I'm sure I will still be playing it. Especially if they release new maps and stuff.

If xbox 360 is backwards compat I may pick one up asap. If not, no big deal but I will probably hold back for half a year or one year before I get the 360.

ArC @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

Okay, I've followed back to the source article (http://www.mcvuk.com/html/news/story.jsp?newsId=1930545). Let me first say boo to CVG for "reporting" what another news org actually reported, and worse, no link.

Anyways, I still don't understand what "Current games are being delayed to accomodate the fact that there�s no backwards compatibility" means. Do they mean that if something is programmed exactly the way MS wants, it might be backwards compatible? Or do they mean that publishers are turning XBox titles into Xenon titles to escape an XBox shortage? If the latter, that sounds monumentally stupid; that's saying they'll ditch a multi-million userbase to go after a much, much smaller Xenon userbase... who exactly wants to be the next Fuzion Frenzy or Shrek?

Andrew Dinmore @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

For what it's worth; I read somewhere ages ago that Microsoft had announced they'd be doing 3 versions of the next Xbox: one without a HDD, one pretty soon after with a HDD and one a year later that's practically a PC.

As for backwards compatibility, I expect it'll be like most backwards compatibility: most games will work, some won't. I could see games being delayed to make sure they're gonna work on th new platform.

Palmer @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

I don't see BC as a big issue, no-one I actually know plays their PS1 games on their PS2. As long as the launch games are good the system will be fine, and hopefully they allow the option of a HDD or a removable storage device (X-pod anyone?).

Jeremy @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

This information has been taken from year old trashed documents. The xBox 2 (whatever you want to call it) will not ship with a HardDrive, but will be able to purchase one. The Harddrive will also enable backwards compatability, a clever design to get users to purchase a HD instead of including one for free. Anyway wait until E3, we will then be free from 3 'horror' stories a day regarding the next gen consoles.

Marvin @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

I do see where backwards compatibility can be thrown away in the overall design, but remember the xbox was a pretty big machine. m$ had to figure out some way to put it on a diet and make it more appealing, like how ps2 was. That's probably the main reason there won't be a HDD included in the system. As far as connecting xbox360 to your pc is concerned, that is a good idea and could work, the virus problem shouldn't be that hard to get around, it is m$ after all, they know how to make software work. LOL, xbox virus protection programs, that would be funny but actually useful. But i think even with the pc connectivity they would still need some type of flash memory since not everyone uses windows.

crsh @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

comparing BC for the Xbox to PS1/PS2 scheme is pointless: the PS1 is 10 years old, and the PS2 is turning 5 this year. They both have larger markets than the Xbox, they've been around, and people who still play PS1 games do so on their, duh, PS1. MS is new to this game, the Xbox is the original console, Xbox(1)-players has nothing to fall back on with the Xbox2/360/lethalrotation/whatever.

josh @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

One of the nice things about backwards compatibility is the fact that you can sell off your original xbox to put some $$ towards the new one. Also, it means you only have to deal with 1 device sitting with all your other electronics.

I could care less either way because I dont own an xbox, but i'd be upset if i had a library of games that wont work on my new console, as well as having to keep the old console around.

Jason Cecil @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

Backwards compatibility is not the only solution guys. Remember that DirectX drivers are backwards compatible. It would be minimal effort for a team of people to port the handful of timeless X-Box games to X-Box 360. I believe that this is what they will do if the emulation efforts that were looking into for backwards compatibility prove not to be worth their effort. The ported games might require that you insert the original version before playing to verify that you possess a physical copy, for ex. (this is purely a speculative solution).

I also heard Allard's comments on G4, and he was hesitant to give any insight to the backwards compatibility issue. I believe that this is because they were looking into it, but that they hadn't decided if they could "do it right", or that they hadn't committed yet.

None of these points about the next X-Box seem like a big deal to me. I personally think that hard drives in consoles is not a good thing anyways. For one, it costs too much (those costs come back to you, the consumer). If the transfer rates from the game medium are high enough, who needs a hard drive? Lastly, while this could change in the future, very few games actually make use of the relatively large hard drive in the X-Box. Most of them just install a small amount of files, and use the hard drive as a cache. Once again, if data transfer rates are fast from the game medium, who needs it?

The other things in this list of dissapointments just seem like common sense to me. If you were working on a game, would you really want to ship in the middle of all of the X-Box 360 anticipation? Sales, people. Sad state of the industry. You can thank all of the powerhouse publishers.

striegs @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

It all boils down to the reason why you want your next console to be backwards compatible. A lot of people prefer it because you can sell your old system for a quick buck without sacrificing your ability to play all your old games. Though in my opinion, backwards compatibility is most important because you aren't forced to keep your old game consoles continually hooked up should you feel the urge to partake in some retro gaming action.

Say you had all three current-gen consoles. Not only does that mean multiple video inputs and numerous controllers strewn about, it also equates to three machines that you must plug in (not to mention the plugs for the TV, stereo, DVD/VHS players, and the chargers for your portable game consoles).

If you were planning on getting a backwards-compatible Xbox 2, then you could swap the Xbox from your current setup without much of a difference. However, if the Xbox 2 ships without being backwards-compatible, and if it doesn't have a killer app rivaling Halo to make you want to get rid of your current Xbox, you'd have to make room for a whole 'nother set of plugs, cords, and cables.

Then again, maybe Microsoft sees Nintendo charging people to play SNES ports on the GBA and figures to get in on the action by selling everyone another copy of Halo 2, knowing that people would line up in droves to buy it. That $ in Micro$oft is there for a reason, you know.

Joey Geraci @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

The hard drive has nothing to do with transfer rates, no matter how fast they are, It will be quite loss to the consumer to be without a hard drive and have to pay for those expensive memory cards. As far as backwards compatibility, this is a big issue, and I don't see how some of you can't see that. There are a large amount of people that never got into any of the current generation of consoles and are waiting for the next generation (like me), but would like play the great games that are out now for the xbox on their shiny new console. If they don't do this I will be very disapointed, and I suspect I won't be the only one.

Samuel Lago @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

There is no HDD to cut costs, and it will allow people to specify the amount they want. Maybe even hook it up to their computer or an online drive (stopping piracy)?

Regional services is the new thing, that's why I have a Hotmail.co.uk adress, and MCE is being systematically rolled out to EU countries, don't forget MS are trying to marry up the Xbox with the MCE OS, I am in favour of the regional things, so long as boundries are not fortified.

As for backward compatibility, well I don't understand, must be a cost thing, I guess they don't want to lose on every box like last time.

Power666 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

The X-Box was MS's diversion for Sony to keep the PS2 focused on solely on gaming. During the days of the PS2 launch, there was a enough 'what this system can do' articles that it could threaten the functionality of a low end PC. Granted by low end PC functionality is defined mainly by surfing the web, email and word processing. The reason MS got into the console market was to project their Windows business. Financially, the X-Box has been a failure for the company (only for one quarter the X-Box division has managed to produce a profit). Transforming a PC platform into the console market with the X-Box has several advantages. The first developer kits for the X-Box mirrored those for DirectX development on the PC. The decision to include a hard drive may have been to provide more flexibility with games or just because the X-Box was so intrenched with its PC roots that it couldn't be removed.

As for the X-Box 2, they're attempting to make money with this generation. The decision not to include a hard drive makes financial sense, though without some form of massive storage backwards compatibility maybe impossible. Backwards compatibility would be a 'free' feature to add in terms of hardware as it would just be an emulator. The X-Box 2's hardware is so radically different that there is no other option except emulation for backwards compatibility. I can see MS using its X-Box Live services to store saved games online due to the cheap costs involved on MS's side. With regards to the idea of X-Box 2's tailored to regions, it wouldn't surprise me. MS went out of there way with insane bundles to gain market share. In Australia, MS bundled four games, two controllers and sold it less than what the standard US system was selling for taking into consideration exchange rates.

I however doubt the 1 million unit launch for just Europe if the rumors of the system's power are to be believed. The graphics chip in the X-Box 2 is said to be based around ATI's R520 chip. If the only customization of the R520 were to make it more console friendly (ie functioning as the system north bridge, removing PCI-E support) it would be too massive of a chip to produce in the numbers necessary for a 2005 launch. The Taiwan facilities ATI contracts have their production lines booked beyond capacity. The only way ATI could produce numbers like for MS would be if the chip isn't as powerful as the R520 will be on the PC. Considering that MS wants to rival Sony in terms of hardware power, having a weak graphics chip would to be a serious liability.

Praxis @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

"In an interview on TechTV with J Allard, he said himself that there would be option for all the Halo 2 players to continue on Xbox 2. It will be backwards compatible."

That could mean an optional addon that adds a HD and Pentium 3 processor. That would be enough to enable backwards compatability.

He said an option, not that it would be built in.

The XBox 2 can not, possibly, in ANY WAY, run XBox 1 games without the Pentium 3 processor. I've seen the specs and run the math, and there is no way the X-2 can emulate the P3 from the X-1.

So any backwards compatability will be by way of addon.

TSA @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

I think everyone is getting a little to excited.
If microsoft doesn't include some kind of mass storage device they are stupid.
Downloadable content could make them alot of money.
for example the halo 2 expansion pack will be available via xbox live.9 new maps downloaded directly on to your "HARD DRIVE". for $19.99 multiply that by the # of diehard xbox live players with halo 2=!!ALOT OF EASY MONEY!!

Graeme @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

i reccomend boycoting the xbox2 if theres no backwards compatability....the money i've spent on games!..

Kevin Wright @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

well... I happen to not own an xbox but own the new small ps2 (my old ps2 was stolen >< (the 1st xbox cost like $500 when it 1st came out! THATS STRAIGHT UP INSANE BULLSHIT) and for all that backwards capability and that crap... i dont really care since i dont have an xbox... let alone any games for xbox, lol but ya im sorry for all of u with like 600 xbox games =/ (i just say the video about the xbox 360 a few hours ago lol, looks pretty cool)