We've heard
the requirements, and J's given
his reasons, so it's only natural that we've come to
this conclusion: that only owners of the hard drive-toting Xbox 360 Console system will be able to play this
current generation's Xbox games (leaving hard drive-less Core system owners proverbially out to dry). Various
news
reports in recent days, however, seem to lend credence to the theory that current and future "AAA" (er, premium)
Xbox titles currently in development will come with the proper 360 emulation profile right on the discs themselves. Who
knows to what extent current Xbox 1 titles nearing completion have this extra-special code hidden away
(Hot Coffee-style?), but games already released, like
Halo 2, may have been developed too far in advance of the final 360 beta kits to meet this on-disc demand.
(Although you can bet that a Halo 2 emulation profile will be sitting pretty on that bundled hard drive at
launch for those who pay $400 for their systems; see some leaked pics for
alleged visual proof.)
The other interesting wrinkle in this story is the scope of Core compatibility planned for these titles. The level of on-disc inclusion was limited to only the most promising gen-one titles because there apparently weren’t enough “resources” to work with and support every Xbox 1 dev team out there. That’s really unfortunate, especially considering Microsoft’s push for industry dominance, but the reasons for originally stating support (when they didn’t outright deny it) for only the top Xbox titles become clearer by the day. Let’s hope that the Xbox team can get the most bang for their buck this way, and throw Core owners a few Xbox 1 bones in the process.
[via GameTab]
