Where the Xbox 360 falls short

Nope. Dumb rant. Next?

i don't see this as a big deal, because if you've got an xbox, you've got your saved games and can put them on a memory card. you can just play the old games on your xbox.

i think microsoft will solve this with an xboxlive update that allows you to upload saved games and download them. i think 3rd parties will also solve this with memory card adapters or something similar.

i think the last point is silly. Microsoft still gets money on the old titles and they've not killed off the old console for exactly that reason. plus people who're buying old titles need to be able to experience live against those who just couldn't buy a 360 yet.

I agree with,

-I never cared that none of the Nintendo consoles were BC.

-I never cared that none of the Sega consoles were BC.

-I don't care if Microsoft's consoles are BC.

This is called taking potshots at a system you are biased against for one reason or another. So what if you can't transfer game saves. Crying over not having your DOA swimsuits shows just how much of a tool you are.

The fact of the matter is that if you support transfering data from the Xbox to the Xbox 360 you could put whatever you want in there using an Action Replay, and then there are soft-modding problems all over again.

Why can't people understand that MS has built a damn good system and stop being nit picky about everything. I'm not parting with my original Xbox (I have it signed by Red vs. Blue among other things) so I don't have to worry about these problems (but I suggest professional help for your video game masturbation to DOA girls).

I'm sure some third party will come up with a solution to put a Xbox 360 card in your Xbox controller, so stop whining. God, I'm starting to believe that Sony really does have agitators planted in the crowd to try and hurt MS. I wouldn't put it past them.

So if I have never played Xbox not even once in my life would I do better to buy one and pick up tons of games cheap and wait for 360 to hit a normal price ?????

See I thought backward compatible might allow me to skip the big black box but now I am not so sure !!!

Yeah, I don't think that this is really a big problem for 360...

I think that's what I'll be doing though, buy an XBox 1.0 and some of the better games... and wait until they make something really good before I buy 360.

Hell yeah it matter I worked hard for each one of my Swim suits and now I don't get to see them bounce on the 360? WTF!

Oh well still not getting one just because I didn't like my X-box that much to begin with, not worth buying something else to be disappointed with.

Microsoft doesn’t want to support transfer of saved game data or backwards compatibility because it would depress sales of Xbox 360 titles if people were still playing old titles

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Oops.. one problem.. developers get screwed. They will immediatly halt production of Xbox 1 games because they know the public won't be able to play the new games on 360.

Look at the DS.. still kick ass GBA games being done.. they run just fine on DS so you don't have to worry about leaving old devs out in the cold while they kick around ideas for DS games. Makes for a smooth transition (Yes and PS2 did it first.. smart move Sony)

daver,

The majority of the people who seem to be complaining about BC are the ones who never wanted to buy the Xbox but yet want to play all the games on it (explain that one to me).

It seems the people that are complaining are the ones with the "Well,I own a PS2 and/or Gamecube but there were some titles on the Xbox that MILDLY interested me" attitude rather than the people going "Holy shit dude,did you see Forza Motorsport? That game looks awesome!"

You're telling me that people who were really interested in the games waited years after they came out to play them? Somehow,I find that hard to believe. If I wanted to play a game that looked really cool,i'd get it sometime relatively close,not 5 years down the road,else that means i'm really not too interested in it afterall.

And why are people complaining about playing the old Xbox games? If these games looked so interested to you why don't you already own an Xbox to begin with?I can understand maybe if there's some exclusives on the console you want to play,but isnt that the point of buying the console,because it has awesome exclusives? It would be like me complaining that the PS3 isnt backwards compatible because I want to play the first Metal Gear Solid but was too stubborn to buy a PS1.

The way I look at BC is that I invested in a machine,i'm not going to throw it out once a new one comes out because that's like throwing $500 dollars into the garbage can. I'm going to keep my console and play the damn thing,it cost me enough.Just because my PS2 can play PSX games didnt mean I tossed my PS1 into the garbage. Unless I could find someone who would pay for it the full price I did when I first bought it then and i'd get my money back full 100%,it would be like me putting my paycheck in front of my face and lighting it on fire.

So right now it looks like i'm going to need one of those bigass modulators because i'm going to have my PS2,PSX,Gamecube,Sega Dreamcast,N64,Xbox and now the Xbox360 hooked up to my television set.Just wait until guests come into my house,I think they're going to figure out what one of my hobbies are. I actually built this little docking area out of wood and stained it/furnished it all nice with a little area to cover the wires up. My setup looks like a display booth in a gaming magzine.

I'm not saying you're wrong for your opinions on BC,i'm just saying that if you're concerned about being able to play all the Xbox titles you missed then why didnt you buy an Xbox to begin with if these games interested you so much?

I've never understood the big deal with backward compatible on a home console. I think I've only once played a PSOne game on my PS2.

I guess its cool to have the option, but do people really use it enought that its a big deal if a system has it or not?

If the PS2 wasn't backward compatible would it have been that big of a deal to gamers, is it that hard for them to just switch a system out. Look at what Nintendo does, the SNES, N64 and GameCube all use the same video cables so I can just easly unplug one and switch it.

#2 OTAM,

It's called progression. They never did it because they either didn't think of the idea, or didn't have the technology. Backwards compatability may not be that great for everyone, but it is of massive benefit to some.

Nintendo is supposedly making their entire library backwards compatible (albiet through emulation), and Sony is currently working on their 2nd BC system.

Personally, I don't think Microsoft should incorporate backwards compatbility unless they can fully deliver. But yeah, I'll still buy me a 360 :D

NOT having BC means all consoles are equal. Each generation, you start fresh. Having BC means that you've got a vested interest in the platform, and switching platforms means you lose all your games.

For me, as a gamer, BC is incredibly important.

OTAM

See the price is now right for Xbox, the console sells for 200 CAD and I can pick up about 20 really good games for under 200 dollars which is a good deal to me as opposed to the 60 per title new games (in the market ) would cost. There is a three hundred dollar price difference between xbox one and two and this is a large chunk of money but if Xbox 360 was fully able to play xbox games then I can save myself buying the same thing twice and free up some shelf space AND tv connections into the bargain plus the fact that I could play the Xbox games on a better controller than the original xbox controller.

BC is much more important than people realise !

There will most likely be something to put your gamesaves onto the 360. I say the new Xbox360 memory cards will probably be able to download/upload gamesaves between each console.

I own my original Xbox and don't plan on getting rid of it so,well,honestly none of this even remotely pertains to me. If it wasnt for the 360 being able to stream music from the PC and read MP3 players i'd be more pissed about my music having to be re-ripped to the console.

Put it this way,

If 360 is properly BC then I will buy it and lots of original Xbox games and some new games too.

If it isnt properly BC then I will wait a year or two and just get myself an Xbox for now as I missed too many good games on that machine. And then of course the PS3 might come out and kick ass and I might decide to get that instead because I had not yet invested in the next gen ! So can anyone see how important BC becomes ???

So which is the smarter move on MS ???

I have to have a Media Centre PC to benefit from streaming to a 360.

I think MS have cracked it ! They have managed the trojan horse. People dont want to watch movies on their computers because the screen is too small and the sound is nt usuall sufficient but by streaming from a hard drive I can do pretty much anything I want !!!

So I can download my movies from itunes and my songs from itunes and store them on my terabyte hard drive and i can stream them through an xbox 360 and watch them on h def tv in h def all thanks to ms via apple !!!!!

what happens to the xbox when tv's can receive the streamed data bypassing the trojan ?

I totally agree with #10. Great point.

When I had a PS2, I picked up some PSX games for the first time (I was a Saturn loyalist). While backwards compatability wasn't a dealbreaker (by the time I got a PS2, the Dreamcast was dead), it was nice to be able to pick up SFA3 for $8 and some other PSX games I missed out on. Thouse there's nothing on the XBox that terribly excites me and I am certainly not interested in the Xbox 360, BC on the PS3 and Revolution is definitely a good thing.

Agree. BC is important, but if I can't use my saved game info, then what the hell is the point? When my friends come over and we want to play multiplayer games with all of the content that we unlocked, we have to do it all over again with the 360. Soul Caliber II for example. That took a while to unlock it all, and I dont want to do it again. Also, memory cards can only hold a small amount of data and so not all my data can be backed up that way. In all I'm not very happy with it. Mostly because they COULD do it, but they choose not to.

@daver:

except that you can't listen to songs from itunes and probably also not watch the videos from itunes on your xbox360.

also, there are already tvs that can stream divxs and stuff. i worked on the platform 2 years ago. i wouldn't recommend it though, i'd stick with a dedicated console that's easily upgradeable and with plenty of power.

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since the backwards compatability is upgradeable, i'm wondering if they'll have some intelligent options to speed games up and make them look better, like the PS2 has. oooh vodoo vince at 1080i.

Not to start an arguement, but doesn't the PS3 have this same problem? Aren't they using duo sticks for memory instead of PS2 mem cards? So in effect, neither next gen system is FULLY BC, right?

Do I agree with this rant? No, not at all. However, all ranters have a right to their opinion, even if they don't really seem to make sense...

Wow, I'm amazed at how many people missed the point of my Rant.

This isn't an issue of backward compatibility, per se. It's about preserving your weeks and months and years of data. If you lost your Word documents, music, pictures and p0rn everytime you upgraded to a new computer, you'd be pissed. But people seem willing to toss aside their game progress like it's nothing.

Xbox is the first generation of console to include a hard drive, essentially a PC technology. Early on, people were complaining that the Xbox was too much like a PC. Transferring files from one PC to another is a trivial matter. Moving saves from an Xbox to an Xbox 360 should be equally so.

And the arguments about region encoding for DVDs rage on to this day. Why are people so OK with a developer being able to lock up your hard-earned game saves? I can understand why DOAX and Steel Battalion did this, but Transworld Snowboarding? What was that about?!

Buying an Xbox instead of a 360 won't help, really. You'll just build up save games and other data on the old platform and you won't be able to reclaim them if/when you upgrade. If it were me, I'd start any new Xbox 1 games (starting, oh, a month ago) on my 360 next month. The only gating factor here is availability of hardware (there's expected to be the usual holiday shortfall) and whether Microsoft offers an emulation profile for the title in question anytime soon - or ever.

-=Gamewatcher

As #19 mentioned, how is Microsoft looking to depress sales of the Xbox, when you look at sony, and the ps3 has no slot of the existing memory cards?

I'm not sure why you can "rant" about lack of backwards compatibility, they never said, oh yeah, you'll be able to transfer all your stuff over to every generation, you shouldn't expect it.

If you want to keep playing all your xbox games with all your data, you'll need to keep your Xbox.

If you want to play your PS2 games with all your data, you'll need to keep your PS2.

However in the case of the Xbox, these are principally due to limitations in the design of the original machine, Microsoft fucked up and they know it. In the playstation, it's supposed to have like three different memory card slots, what is stopping them from throwing on a compatible one?

Spartacus, SHHHH! Quiet! The 360 SUCKS, IT'S FACT I READ IN ON THE INTRANETS!!! PWNED!

It's noisy, smells funny and will be the most expensive gaming system in history. It is surely doomed to fail because nobody will be able to afford replacing the hard drive every 3 months.

You know why it's called the 360? Because thats how much it costs!!! Since Xbox 360 core system REALLY is $360 since you have to buy a memory card. As if the PS1, PS2, PS3, GameCube and Dreamcast all didn't come with free memory cards. What? They didn't??? Oh my. I guess I am red in the face.

Well at least you can play every PS1 games on the PS2! EAT THAT XBOIYS! What? Stop bugging me, what do you want now? The PS2 wasn't completely backward compatible with all PS1 games? Really? Crap. I'm going home to beat up my little sister, this place sucks.

[Statement above does not reflect the opinions of Art Guy, his employer or any rational human being.]

BC is not very important, why would you even bother with playing an xbox1 game on the 360, it's not an xbox1 it's an xbox360, did anybody complain when nintendo didn't do BC with the n64 or the Snes, they had plans to but they didn't, If microsoft wanted to make the 360 BC then they would have to pay royalties to Nvidea, which would in turn drive the price even higher, I currently have 126 xbox 1 games and I don't plan on playing any of them on the limited xbox 360 BC, I'll just have to pick up my xbox 1 controller and play games just as usual,

hmm... Do I really want to play tony hawks underground when I can play tony hawks american wasteland......?

#22 Art Guy

The PS2 was like 99% backwards compatible. That's not too bad. I'm not sure how backwards compatible the Xbox 360 will be, but from the way they talk, I'm guessing it won't be that great.

Considering their doing it through software emulation I have to applaud their efforts. I just hope they aren't making a few titles work so they can stick 'Backwards Compatible!' on the label...

"Why would you even bother with playing an xbox game on the 360?It's not an xbox,it's an xbox360.I don't plan on playing any of them on the limited xbox 360 BC.I'll just have to pick up my xbox controller and play games just as usual"

Wow,at least someone else understands this concept.

BC is obviously only good for a few reasons...

1.) You never owned the previous console.
2.) You don't like keeping old consoles if you don't have to.

The compatibility that the 360 offers is perfect for me. I only ever play Halo 2 on my Xbox. I'll be able to play Halo 2 on the 360 (no doubt). Therefore I can have more room in my living room entertainment center, plus, sell my old Xbox for a little cash or store credit (or even give it to a friend.)

Backwards compatibility is a nice selling point (similar to it being a DVD player and media center extender).

Caleb - True, but the PS3 uses different architecture than the PS2 and the PS1. We don't know what PS2 and PS1 games will work on the PS3.

We still don't know what older third party games will be backward compatible on the Revolution.

And, we still don't know what games will be backward compatible on the 360, we may very well be pleasantly surprised for all three.

Arguing for any one console at this point is pretty silly. Every system has it's own plusses and minuses, the only losers here are those who blindly only buy one console.

Personally, I'd rather NOT have backward compatibility for a few reasons. The PS2 had to add extra chips to get PS1 support (costs $), the 360 has to pay nVidia license fees (costs $), old NES and SNES games will not be free on the Revolution (even if you already own a copy). Adding backward compatibility cost us, the gamers, money. Plus there is something great about dusting off the old systems and putting in the carts. I just don't get the same nostalgia from playing the game on a newer system.

Looking ahead into the future, I see backward compatibility breaking. For example, in order for the PS9 be completely backward compatible, it will require chip sets or software emulating the PS1 through PS8. I'd rather Sony spend that time, money and energy making the PS9 be as good as it can be for the money. But that's me.

Not a big deal for me. Would have been nice but then again I don't really have that much time to be going through all my old games to play with unlocked content. If I really want to then I'll just plug in my XBox or I'll find the cheat codes and unlock things that way on my 360.

I want Microsoft to make XBox 360 the greatest performer in the console marketplace. I do not desire any comprimises that could dumb the system down to play old games.

I'm not selling my original XBox and I'll also play the old generation titles for some time to come. If you don't already have a original XBox, you should get one, as there are plenty used boxes and games for sale on Ebay.

At $150 new it an absolute bargin for the amount of fun you can have.

You'll forget all about B.C. on your 360 with they finally release games made for the 360 and are taking full advantage of the new hardware. Don't expect the Launch Titles to represent the machines true capabilities.

It will be in the second & third round of 360 releases where developers will begin to show they understand how to fully utilize the new hardware.

I'm wondering. I've got one of those Max Drive Xbox memory card thingies that looks just like a USB memory so you can plug it into your PC, and you plug it into the Xbox via an adaptor lead.

I wonder if I plug that into the 360's USB port it'll see the saves on it?

Hopefully there will be some kind of option for this. It could easily be done with a set discs designed for this and an ethernet cable. Also it might be possible to use an Xbox controller with the USB connector and a memory card to transfer the transferable data (many things like downloaded content can't be transfered to the memory card).

And for all the BC bashers BC is nice for saving shelf space if nothing else. Especially since console makers think they have to try to give these thing "cool" designs. I am sure that like me many people think it would be better if they had the foot-print of traditional home theater components. Right now I have 4 consoles and no shelf space for any more.

WAIT! have you people not realized that MS has ALREADYU made a contract with NVIDIA to get everything BC? do you guys not knopw that over time EVERYTHING will be BC?
this is just a rant by an uninformed site. and to whoever said about hard disc failures, the Xbox 1 had a hard disc. what about that? what about losing a small memory card? hows that? another useless rant.

I own both PS1 and PS2 and personally i found the PS2 to be such a great jump from the PS1 that i had really very little interest in going back to play PS1 games cuz the graphics were quite, well, crap. the only reason i go back on occasion is to play the absolute awesome games, (for me thats Metal Gear Solid), i really have no interest in playing my other 40 PS1 titles at all.( i guess i should've sold em). that said i think backwards compatibility is better with this next gen because moving back down to this level isn't really a big downgrade, theres some damn good looking games available on current gen, so its not going to disappoint me every time i start up an old game.

BC.... An interesting question. I am split 50/50 on the issue. I think it's important at the launch of a next-gen console due to the limited next-gen titles available at launch & the fact that people are playing & involved in the current-gen games. However, by the 2nd wave of next-gen titles it becomes a mute point.

Having said that I think MS had to do a quick 180 regarding BC. If you remember back at E3, MS was pretty much stating that there would be no BC for the 360. Well, they caught a lot of crap for that & have been scrambling to recover.

Unfortunately, in their zeal to revamp the entire Xbox system & experience, (Xbox live), they forgot about all those dedicated Xbox “live-ers” playing, oh I don't know,...HALO 2!

Imagine getting your new 360, setting it up, transferring your live-1 account to the new live-2 system & then deciding that you want to play Halo-2 online. Well, without BC your Halo-2 disc would not work in the 360.

So you might think, I'll just boot up my Xbox-1 & play Halo-2 w/ it. Now I'm not sure how the whole live account transfer will work but I would not be surprised, (this is MS), if after the transfer occurs you would no longer have access to your old live-1 account. At that point you would be screwed.

So, kudos to MS for making the right choice & adding BC back into the 360. I'm sure it's very expensive, (royalties to Nvidia), & the cost of writing the emulators, (game by game), along w/ testing & certification. All to hold gamers over for about a year or in the case of Halo-2 until Halo-3 comes out.

i always expected that i wouldn't be able to transfer my game saves from xbox to xbox 360, just because u can't currently copy saves to another xbox in some games, so this don't really bother me, which is a reason why i have refraned from buying ne xbox games until i get a xbox 360

backwards compatiblity made the ps2 as popular as it is today, when the ps2 launched it had a rubish line up and there was worries that it wouldn't even dent the dreamcast but because all ur old faves worked on it peoeple didn't care that the launch line up sucked and brought a ps2 neway coz they knew that there would be great games for the ps2 in the end, if ps1 games didn't work on ps2 then we'd all be buying the latest dreamcast games still

My GBA Micro isn't backwards-compatible, and it doesn't bug me at all. Why? Because I wouldn't want to play crappy Game Boy or GBC games on my Micro, anyway. The choices on GBA are good enough to make the previous GB libraries look bad.

I was a launch purchaser of the PS2, and I almost NEVER used the backwards compatibility. Why? Because the games on the PS2 looked and played better than 95% of the games on the PS1. I bought the PS2 to play current-gen games, not previous-gen games.

Seriously, nobody cared that the SNES didn't play NES carts. Nobody cared that the Genesis didn't play Master System carts. Nobody cared that the N64 didn't play SNES carts. Nobody cared that the GameCube didn't play N64 carts. Nobody cared that the Saturn didn't play Genesis carts. Nobody cared that the Dreamcast didn't play Saturn discs. Nobody cared that the DS couldn't play original Game Boy carts. Nobody cared that the Atari Jaguar didn't play 2600 carts. Suddenly, everybody's crawling out of the woodwork yelling "Oh noes! I can't play all teh Xbox games on teh 360!" and acting like it's the deal-breaker for the 360 launch.

Look- Your Xbox doesn't automatically die on November 22. It doesn't have an expiration date that makes it fry and stop working when Microsoft releases a new console. Stop being such babies about out. If you really want to play the lesser-known games, or hang on to your game saves, then KEEP YOUR XBOX, IDIOT!

For me, it makes no difference. I don't have any major game saves. I sold my Xbox, and have no problem starting over with any game. I'm a gamer- I like playing games!

Jeez. If you base your console purchase decisions on backwards compatibility, then perhaps you should just hang on to all your PS1 CDs and DEMAND that Sony make the PS3 capable of playing PS1 games.

Me? I like to see NEW things, NEW technology, and NEW games. I don't want a console to be crippled by BC just to make a few losers who can't let go of their old games happy.

Now, i'm not going to read through all these comments, but a couple within the first few irked me.

First of all, I would wait months after a game is released to buy it. I'd have just as much fun with it if I get it in December as opposed to July, and I could probably save $20-$30. As a college kid, that's huge.. that's dinner for a week.

Before my next point I must mention that I own a Gamecube and plan on buying a Revolution. My plan is to trade in the Gamecube system to help pay for the Revolution, because as I mentioned earlier, I'm by no means rich. Also, If you own an Xbox 1 and it was totally BC, would you honestly unhook the Xbox 360 to play Xbox 1 games? No, because that'd be Re-tar-ded. So, in essence, you'd just have a big, ugly, black box sitting around gathering dust... Why do that when you could sell it to help pay for the new console?

The first person mentioned that this is just taking 'potshots' at the system. That's not any more admirable than you making silly claims and saying senseless things like I pointed out above.

Oh, and #40, I do care about backwards compatibility. I have about $1500 in games.. I want to be able to play them next-gen. No one cared that the other systems were backwards compatible, because A) Backwards compatibility wasn't around then and B) because in most cases your mommies and daddies bought the systems and games for you.

We're in an age where BC is relevant and common. That makes us desire it more... and it's really not too much to ask for.

BC isn't a major issue for me since I have an xbox already and will be buying a 360.

I look at BC as an extension of the xbox 1 user base. So when people buy the 360 it will basically be like adding users to the 11+ million xbox users already established. This gives developers more customers, thus more incentive to make games for that system. The reason PS1 games were still being made well into the PS2 lifecycle was due to BC.

BC is good for developers who still are currently making xbox 1 games. It doesnt automatically doom their project (that may have been in development for a while) to the walmart bargin bin. BC is good for publishers who could still make money from the sale of xbox games.

Will BC be a deal breaker for those buying the 360...? If you alreday have an Xbox..I doubt it. Like most, I never played any of my PS1 games when the PS2 was released, so the feature didn't make much difference. For those who may not have an xbox then it would be a strong maybe. Depends on how bad they really want to play xbox 1 games. But as stated previously in the comments, if you wanted to play xbox games you would already have the system.

OK, here's the deal with Backwards compatibility: it really helps early adopters.

1. If I shell out $500 for the system, accessories and a game, I probably only have one game. Unless it's backwards compatible with my old games: then I can enjoy them all on the new system while I wait for more new games to comeout.

2. If the Xbox is now obsolete because I can play all the old games on the new console, then I can get rid of it. I can sell it on Ebay for $50 and buy another new game for my system. SOMEONE out there is just waiting to pick up an old Xbox on the cheap.

Even if you don't have an old Xbox, you might decide to get a 360 if playing all the old games is worth it to you as well.

When I bought my PS2, the first game I got for it was an old Playstation game: because I knew it was good, and the PS2 memory cards were frickin' expensive. I rented PS2 games, found a quality title and bought it.

I'm a gamer on a budget, and I love backwards compatibility.

just played xbox360 in kiosks in walmart and man was i dissappointed..look the graphics are nice and stuff but to those whoever said xbox 360 is just xbox 1.50 is so right, theres no real "jump" everything is rehashed..better xbox live and then what? i know there are lots of great features..but where the hell is the innovation?my god!...nintendo has this cool controler that can do lots of neat stuff, ps3 for gods sake can recognize facial features (if someone doesnt believe me on this one ill gladly give the link)..now those are real innovaTION. THOSE ARE REAL "JUMPS"...man what microsoft is doing is just being a typical corporation, take the money off our pockets with just rehashed product...youll see what i mean when you played the xbox 360..dont get me wrong i have xbox, i liked it..but i dont want an xb0x 1.5, i think ill wait for the real xbox 360....come on bill freakin wake up and get your thumb off your butt....ps3 hope you dont dissaappoint and asame for you revolution