Pre-huzzah: Psychonauts spotted on back-compat list
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Dec 12th 2006 at 6:55PM }
For a brief moment in time, an updated version of the Xbox 360's backwards compatibility list was exposed for all the internet to see. Though it was yanked in a matter of minutes, one new entry stood out like an atomic mushroom cloud in a serene, children's playground. Not to imply that Psychonauts is capable of melting children or flooding large masses of land with deadly radiation, but its presence was rather devastating to the psyche.
In case you weren't aware (and clearly you aren't much of the time), Tim Schafer and his team at Double Fine did extraordinary things with Psychonauts, managing to take the seemingly incompatible platformer and adventure genres and mash them together like two pieces of clay. That's before they twisted the whole mess into a variety of amusing shapes.
Oh, there's a whole bunch of other new games too. However, when asked about the exact release date of this December update, Microsoft warned us that the list is not final. "We'll have more news soon -- as I'm sure you're aware with any software development, things can change at any time so we want to make an announcement when we're sure we've got the final, solid list."
View the non-final, slightly wobbly list of additions after the break.
[Thanks Nick! Thanks to Richard from Xbox 360 Fanboy for remembering to take a screenshot.]
The following games are listed as "new" in the preliminary December update list:
- All-Star Baseball 2005
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Dead or Alive Ultimate
- Destroy All Humans!
- Dynasty Warriors 4
- Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick
- Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy
- Family Guy
- Far Cry: Instincts
- Incredibles
- I-Ninja
- Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
- Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
- Moto-GP
- MX Unleashed
- Open Season
- Pariah
- Psychonauts
- Rainbow Six: Lockdown
- Rapala Pro Fishing
- Scarface
- Shark Tale
- Shenmue II *
- Splinter Cell: Double Agent
- The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
- Ultimate Spider-Man
- Wakeboarding Unleashed: Featuring Sean Murray
- Whacked!
- Winback 2: Project Poseidon
- Xiaolin Showdown
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Johnny Hundo @ Dec 12th 2006 8:22PM
Warriors, come out and playyyayyyy.
First dibs on Warriors replacing Psychonauts as the poster child for backward combatibility issues??
Hundo
directhex @ Dec 12th 2006 7:05PM
Ooh! Shenmue 2!
All I need now is JSRF, and I'm sold on the 360.
Neil @ Dec 12th 2006 7:05PM
I'm sorry but Indigo Prophecy should be headlining this story. Psychonauts is great and all but it's still just a zany platformer.
Brimmo @ Dec 12th 2006 7:09PM
Why is everyone creamin themselves over Psychonauts. I mean, yeah, it's a quality game and all but is there seriously no other game that isn't compatible that no-one wants more than Psychonauts?
Is Outrun working on it yet?
logikil @ Dec 12th 2006 7:10PM
For the love of Games, Where the hell are Chronicles of Riddick, Panzer Dragoon, JSRF, and a couple others i can't think of at the moment. At the very least give me those 3 freaking games, i am not asking for much.
Brimmo @ Dec 12th 2006 7:11PM
Sorry for the gramatical error in the last message...as if it really matters...
Brandon @ Dec 12th 2006 7:12PM
They still need to add the Otogis, the Oddworlds,Panzer Dragoon and Chronicles of Riddick for me to be happy.
qbix @ Dec 12th 2006 7:13PM
Destroy all Humans, MK, Buffy and Psychonauts are good titles. Too bad I already played Psychonauts on my PC a few weeks back thanks to Valve. It's a little too late MS, but thanks anyways. I might give it another run when I'm bored with GoW, Viva Piñata, Small Arms, and Splinter Cell.
Ludwig Kietzmann @ Dec 12th 2006 7:13PM
No Neil, *I'm* sorry. :) Indigo Prophecy was great, but flawed in several major ways. It was at its worst when it stopped being an interactive film and tried to be a game again. "Ah yes, the murderer is clearly BLUE BLUE YELLOW GREEN GREEN."
Psychonauts has psychotic meat bunnies. Case closed. :)
daxter1985 @ Dec 12th 2006 7:17PM
OMG you gotta be kidding me still no mechassult?!?
Neccy @ Dec 12th 2006 7:34PM
AHA! I knew it was about time for a backward comaptabilty update, though they always seem to leave me wanting to see a longer list, well baby steps I guess.
It still puzzles me though why there are not a lot more NEW XBOX games on there (I belive scarface is a new title) surely microsoft & game developers can get it sorted so all new releases are compatable, it's in thier best interests to sell more copies of the game.
Tom Whitaker @ Dec 12th 2006 7:29PM
In the name of all that is holy, where are Timesplitters 2 and 3?
Jim @ Dec 12th 2006 7:35PM
Where is Timesplitters 2 and 3?!?! I have been waitin forever to play those on a 360. ALso how about Star Wars Republic Commando?
Tom Whitaker @ Dec 13th 2006 11:04AM
Oh, and that hilarious WWF game with the title screen music that screams #"Move to the music..."# and has that multiplayer mode where you dangle from a thing above the arena but can't win or finish the thing no matter what you do.
Steve2 @ Dec 13th 2006 4:28PM
Still no MechAssault. No Rallisport Challenge 2 (the best looking racing game of its generation of consoles). Rallisport Challenge 1 is there, but sadly, Rallisport Challenge 1 sucked.
They did add one more game I own, the Buffy game (first one). That makes about 3 games I work that work, if you count Forza as working. Personally, since the frame rate drops to about 6fps going down the esses at Road Atlanta, I don't count Forza as working.
360 backward compatibility is still a joke. It's sad MS doesn't make Xbox 180 any more. So many great games that are lost, no way for new customers to get set up to play them. It's no wonder PS2 is the #1 console in sales right now. Great lineup of games, and cheap too.
But hey, 360 is compatible with Scarface. Wow, that's great. And don't forget Sneak King.
Polar @ Dec 12th 2006 7:37PM
A while after I bought my 360 I sold all of my other consoles except my DS lite and Dreamcasts.
Got really tired of waiting for Chronicles of Riddick compability thou, so I bougt myself a Xbox Demo Kiosk for my Riddick and Panzer Dragoon pleasure.
Would still be nice with Riddick compability for my 360.
scorp @ Dec 12th 2006 7:49PM
In case you weren't aware (and clearly you aren't much of the time) nic wey 2 insalt readers
Brandon @ Dec 12th 2006 7:52PM
Great, I just get Psychonauts, it's getting added to the back compat list, and I have to send my 360 into the repair center. Oh well. Looks like I'll have to get Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit now. I agree with the other people saying Riddick should be on there.
pattyblades @ Dec 12th 2006 7:56PM
where is tesm?!
Duck @ Dec 12th 2006 11:28PM
Okay, so they make Open Season, Incredibles, and Shark Tale backward compatible, yet SW Republic Commando and RalliSport Challenge 2 aren't.
Ludwig Kietzmann @ Dec 12th 2006 7:58PM
Scorp, that's exactly how I like my readers. In salt, perhaps with an accompanying mint sauce...
ALH @ Dec 12th 2006 8:05PM
Panzer and JSRF plz.
Alex Keen @ Dec 12th 2006 8:04PM
Still plenty of great titles MIA. Great to see Indigo Prophecy is back from the dead, but where is Phantom Dust and Kung Fu Chaos?
aegies @ Dec 14th 2006 10:24PM
holy hell is that the new splinter cell? whaaa? that's definitely one of the last games i expected to see on the list. maybe it's engine is just that similar to chaos theory's. and thank you microsoft. thank you. even if it is a year later than i would have liked.
Buckshot @ Dec 12th 2006 8:10PM
SHENMUE II!!!! THE CONSOLE GODS ARE PLEASED!!!!
Caffeinate @ Dec 12th 2006 8:13PM
Amen on the Phantom Dust. Most overlooked game on the Xbox.
Mind you, Breakdown, Beyond Good & Evil, Conker, Chronicles of Riddick, MTG: Battlegrounds and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath have yet to appear so I'm not appeased yet.
In fact, I won't be appeased until the whole list is there, but I'm hard to please anyhow.
Ryan @ Dec 12th 2006 9:19PM
Seriously, Panzer Dragoon Orta, please.
Sean @ Dec 12th 2006 8:15PM
Still no Beyond Good & Evil. I won't cry about it - I went out and bought another copy for the GameCube a few weeks ago. But damn, that game deserves more love.
I hope Psychonauts makes the final cut. It would give me an excuse to finally play it. That and Indigo Prophecy.
SuperJumpMan @ Dec 12th 2006 9:07PM
This is still bull sh#t. Give me more! Like the thing! Though I am sh1tless bout shenmue 2, beat it and loved it.
Meliv @ Dec 13th 2006 8:07AM
Psychonauts? Pfft Shenmue is where it's at! :D
eight @ Dec 12th 2006 8:29PM
Psychonauts... Indigo Prophecy and no X-men Legends!! Please i'm begging you. thats all i want.
baby sea tuna @ Dec 12th 2006 10:49PM
Holy crap, Buffy! I just got this back from my friend last night, along with my (now) semi busted Xbox. Man, I hope they get it working soon so I can play through it again.
GOD @ Dec 12th 2006 8:27PM
Indigo Prophecy, DOA, Destroy All Humans! This is the best back-compat update thus far. If they would just add Mercenaries and I might actually ditch my xbox.
Atilac @ Dec 12th 2006 8:44PM
PANZER DRAGOON ORTA!!!!!!!! plz M$, make it happen.
Lucas @ Dec 12th 2006 9:07PM
Mercenaries(my favorite game) is the only thing keeping me from buying a 360.
Thomas @ Dec 12th 2006 10:31PM
aegies, if you notice Family Guys on there too..
Thats what.. a whole Month old.. Im quite shocked.. But the one Ive been waiting for is there.. Sweet..
My Bro has an old Xbox and has been itching to play Destroy All Humans on my 360.. Every so often he asks if it made the list yet.. Ive only played a lil of it at his house, so the games still new to me.. I cant wait.. Then he can have is Halo2 back.. :)
matt @ Dec 13th 2006 10:01AM
im happy Microsoft released a new update but come on where are the amazing titles like Soul Caliber 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein Tides of War, and Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30
before halo 2 came around, return to castle wolfenstein was the most played games on live,i would luv microsoft if they made it bc because its an amazing game
Nick James @ Dec 12th 2006 10:07PM
They still need the last two Prince of Persia games, as well... I have such a huge urge to play Two Thrones right now.
Judd @ Dec 12th 2006 9:24PM
Right before the Wii came out my brother told me about a promotion they had at Gamecrazy to get 50% extra trade in on a system, if you're buying a system. So $55 on an Xbox would get you $72.50 towards a Wii. I knew I needed to get into Shenmue 2 because I figured it was such an older Xbox title if it wasn't a launch BC game, it never would be. So I went on the longest gaming binge of my life, pulling the only all nighter I have ever had and played about 30 hours from Friday-Sunday. Damn it, if I would've known.
Still if Microsoft is bringing this title back, maybe they have an interest in the series. Please convince Yu Suzuki to make Shenmue 3. PLEASE!
Now that games like Mortal Kombat:Armageddon are out, is there anything at all of interest coming out for the Xbox? I guess God of War 2 will be the last hurrah for the previous generation. Oh yea, and Ludwig, I agree with you, Indigo Prophecy wins the award for "Biggest Buildup with a Crappy Payoff" ever in a video game.
Roy @ Dec 12th 2006 10:02PM
Shenmue II sucked on the xbox, why bring it to the xbox 360. The games controls ruined the entire fuckin experience. If you have the option, the euro dreamcast import of it is highly recommended. One of the best(in my humble opinion) games out.
DEEZNUTZ @ Dec 13th 2006 9:56AM
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, where you at??
Syphon @ Dec 12th 2006 9:38PM
Sigh...
All I want is for PGR2 & JSRF to be BC. Just those 2 games & I will no longer care for any other title that makes the list.
Dark Morford @ Dec 12th 2006 10:20PM
Glad to see DOA:U on the list. Now we just need MechAssault, Elder Scrolls III, and DOAX, and my Xbox collection will all be back-compat!
DevilsArm @ Dec 13th 2006 6:38AM
i want conker live and reloaded backwards already............ damnit its the only reason why i wont sell my xbox T_T
Kamizar @ Dec 12th 2006 11:59PM
Phantom Dust or GTFO...
Blu3bomb3r @ Dec 13th 2006 11:50AM
where the hell is marvel vs capcom 2 I want to play it again it's the only game I kept besides halo2 after i sold my orginal xbox
Dr. John A. Vengeance @ Dec 13th 2006 12:58AM
Having five new games to play is awesome and all (Psychonauts, Indigo Prophecy, Shenmue II, Wakeboarding Unleashed, and Ultimate Spider-Man, just in case you were wondering), but I'm still missing a ton of games. Where's Stranger's Wrath, all the other SEGA games (Toejam and Earl, Panzer Dragoon, GUNVALKYRIE, Jet Set Radio Future, etc.), MGS2: Substance, Mercenaries, Phantom Dust, Castlevania, and Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks?! :(
Dave @ Dec 12th 2006 11:52PM
I'm still waiting for Riddick.
joe smith @ Dec 13th 2006 12:07AM
I liked psychonauts, but it was hardly the second coming of gaming. If it was so damned great, and worth all this hype, how come it couldn't manage to sell a couple of copies?
Cuja @ Dec 13th 2006 12:58AM
Panzer Dragon Orta is top of my list, along with Soul Calibur II, Warriors, and DOAXBVB.