Xbox One BC isn't as good as I was hoping

[Thom Grayson]

When I first heard about the Xbox One backwards compatibility, I was intrigued. I certainly am not going to get rid of my Xbox 360, but it still seemed like a good move on Microsoft's part. But looking into it more, it appears that Microsoft kind of misrepresented how it will work, or at least, a lot of people are assuming it works differently than it actually does.

What it does: If an Xbox One compatible version of the game is available, it will be downloaded to your console when you put the disc in. It DOES NOT read games off the disc! It basically uses your disc as a download voucher... and then only if that particular game has been converted. There's a bit near the bottom of this article that says as much:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/emulation-is-key-to-microsofts-xbox-backward-compatibility-story/

Now, I'm not saying this isn't a good feature, just that it's not the full hardware-based backwards compatibly that some people seem to believe that it is. And the way that it works will eat up hard drive space, something none of the new consoles have much to spare of, even with the new 1TB versions coming out.

[Megatron]

Full hardware BC is impossible.  The hardware between the 360 and One is too different.  It's like a CD player trying to play a cassette tape, or the Sega Saturn trying to play a Sega CD game.  As a result, emulation is basically their only option.  While I agree I don't like the idea of just downloading the game and using the disc as a software key, it IS better than anything Sony is doing with their PS Now stuff (or whatever their netflix style rental service is).  Although admittedly Nintendo still has the best BC in the business.  The biggest drawback to this is the time it will take to get the majority of the 360 library up and running, and some titles will probably never be playable due to licensing issues. 
That said, hopefully this will help the 7th gen consoles retire and move on so devs can stop making crappy ports for them and focus on better 8th gen games.

[OhhNoYouNintenDidnt]

Exactly.

A friend of mine was going nutty over the announcement, listed his 360 for sale and was whooping it up over FINALLY being able to get rid of it.

Within 3 minutes of looking into I saw all the massive and fundamental caveats to it that you mention, told him to calm the F down as it is in fact quite a horrible situation.........but he didnt care, was too rapped up in what he THOUGHT was the back. compatibility everyone wanted! (he gets like that, and then when he realises he was being over zealous.....he takes a "ohh well, never mind, its better than nothing" attitude.   )

If this back. compat. was anything CLOSE to being the real deal, I would be buying one today..........but as we, and hopefully anyone else excited about the prospect of this, have learned.......it very much isnt.

The issues of storage is obviously the main one, as 360 games (let alone whatever a "Xbox One version of 360 games" means) are surely around 30/40/60 GIG each? I mean when Ive downloaded 360 games free through the XBL giveaway stuff, they have been in that kind of range.

So EVEN WITH the 1TB model...........thats what? 20 360 games you can have on their? excluding ANYTHING else.

Even if the list of compatible games wasnt as limited as it is.......there are like 1100 of them for F's sake!!! and how many are being made compatible??? about 100, hmmm, 10%......wow.......as you say, the disc is no more than a voucher for redemption, and who is to say how many "vouchers" you have and can use.

Yeah........screw this faux bull crap and screw all the mindless sheep who will either just accept it or not realise that it is completely nerfed and on their extremely limited and compromised terms..........and STILL just go along with it and ensure that this kind of practice becomes the norm moving forward.

[Megatron]

^  As opposed to...what?  Nothing?  Having no BC what-so-ever?  Your rant started off pretty soundly, but by the end I lost your way of thinking.  Are you mad about this?  Why?  Microsoft never said this was going to be smooth.  Hell, they even stated this would take a long time to integrate a lot of titles.

Name a single downside to this...

Go on.

Name ONE way this is a DETRIMENT to gaming and the Xbox One console.  If people don't want it, they don't have to use it.  This doesn't CHANGE anything in the Xbox One experience, it doesn't take away graphics of resolution in order to make this happen, it doesn't force Xbox One games to be played online only - basically this won't ffect a single person that doesn't plan on using this feature.

So again, while not perfect, this is more than Sony has offered, and at least shows Microsoft is listening (somewhat) to what consumers want.  

If anything, this marks the ending of the 7th generation of consoles.  Companies are already stopping production of 360/PS3 games.  And they should.  360 has been out almost 10 years, it's time to move on.  This will allow people to feel better about upgrading knowing that (hopefully) a large amount of their 360 titles can still be played on a new machine.
 
And in terms of future backwards compatibility on future consoles, I think it's pretty clear the only company that plans to offer BC regularly is Nintendo.  Sony and Microsoft don't WANT it, because it means they have to gimp their hardware.  So I don't think BC is going to be something that is going to be around much in the future.

And by the way...anyone who sells off their old stock to buy the new stuff, and is then disappointed by that sale, is a fucking idiot.

[Thom Grayson]

Name a single downside to this...

The only thing I can think of is the number of people who may be disappointed because it isn't what they thought it was. Which is admittedly more their fault than Microsoft's, but disappointed customers don't help anyone.

Most people I've talked to about this have made a big deal about it, describing it as 100% backwards compatibility. Any attempt to point out that even according to the official announcement it would only work with 'select titles' leads to accusations of Sony fanboy-ism. That was actually what led to me wanting to post about this - frustration that people are believing that this is something that is, in fact, impossible, while being completely unaware of the amount of space the games will take up.

I just don't want anyone to buy an Xbox One thinking it will take the place of their 360, because it won't.

[Megatron]

Name a single downside to this...

The only thing I can think of is the number of people who may be disappointed because it isn't what they thought it was. Which is admittedly more their fault than Microsoft's, but disappointed customers don't help anyone.

Most people I've talked to about this have made a big deal about it, describing it as 100% backwards compatibility. Any attempt to point out that even according to the official announcement it would only work with 'select titles' leads to accusations of Sony fanboy-ism. That was actually what led to me wanting to post about this - frustration that people are believing that this is something that is, in fact, impossible, while being completely unaware of the amount of space the games will take up.

I just don't want anyone to buy an Xbox One thinking it will take the place of their 360, because it won't.

I can see your point, but as you said, this is the consumer's fault.  Nowhere has Microsoft stated this is universal.  In fact, every video i've seen from Major Nelson or anyone else has stated that this will be slow, and not include everything.  If anything, the only people this could hurt is Microsoft.  If they put out a false image, then the consumer will respond harshly in turn.  That said, this sounds a lot like the blind fanboys who think Direct X 12 will be the savior for the Xbox One and make it more powerful than PS4...when the head of Xbox has stated (many times) it won't make a difference.  Blind fanboys are often in their own little world.  It's the rest of the gaming community we should concern ourselves with.

[Superchop]

The issues of storage is obviously the main one, as 360 games (let alone whatever a "Xbox One version of 360 games" means) are surely around 30/40/60 GIG each? I mean when Ive downloaded 360 games free through the XBL giveaway stuff, they have been in that kind of range.

So EVEN WITH the 1TB model...........thats what? 20 360 games you can have on their? excluding ANYTHING else.

Wow what 360 games are you downloading??  Aside from multi disc games 360 games are no larger then about 8 gigs (about the size of a dual layer dvd)

I doubt that games would triple or quadruple in size to be playable on the xbone

But I will agree that many people are losing their sh*t over this for no reason.  But time will tell, it just started and even then only for preview members so it has time to get better before being officially released.

[Uribium]

I tested it out today, works quite well, tried out battleblock and super meatboy and I was happily suprised that some save files transffered along, Haven't been able to try a full retail game though, but I'll let you know my experiences when I get to it.

[sheep2001]

I think it's a great thing.  I am also excited that if an xbone can successfully emulate 360 games, and the hardware is comparable to a ps4, then, if/when ps4 gets hacked, we may see 360 emulation on it.

I don't yet have an xbone, I will get one at some point, but this definitely makes it more attractive. (I'm a trophy hunter on ps, so if I'm playing a big game, I tend to play on PS3/4 rather than xb, the rest of my limited game time tends to be of the retro variety)

[bubbleheid]

i also think it is a good thing, as has been said - hopefully it will not go the way of the XBox emulation on the 360. Just suddenly stopping.


Anyone been able to get a retail disc to work.

I have a few digital and they are all working perfect. Also have Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo on disc.
both complain they are not on the list of games when i try to install them. Asks me to visit XBox.com for the list supported.

[Thom Grayson]

i also think it is a good thing, as has been said - hopefully it will not go the way of the XBox emulation on the 360. Just suddenly stopping.

That's what I'm expecting to have happen. A large burst of public support because they announced something widely requested, then the feature being quietly dropped when it turns out that not a lot of people actually use it.

I know that's what happened with my 360 and PS3. I was excited for the backwards compatibility, but honestly never used it - though that's because I still have all my old systems plugged in!

The Wii though, got a ton of use playing GC games.

[wiggy]

Signs of a sinking ship...

And it will most assuredly just stop at some point. There's no way they're going to keep converting games until the library is complete. IF[/] this boosts sales (like they're obviously hoping it will), then they'll slow the service down to a crawl and then axe it. Once the user base is there, then there's no need to keep up with something like this.

[Megatron]

Signs of a sinking ship...

I disagree completely.  Even if this is something that fizzles out, they are doing something they're only real competition, Sony, CAN'T do.  Sony cannot follow suit with this because of all the money they have invested into Playstation NOW.  (If anyone doesn't know, PS NOW allows people to rent downloadable PS3 games onto their PS4 - at a price)  By doing this, Microsoft has essentially cornered the market for people demanding BC.  Is this the way of the future?  No.  But this is, by no means, a desperate act. 

[sheep2001]

Sony CAN fight this, and come out on top, by making playstation now rentals for a disc in the drive free, and charge for others.  Whether they will do this, or keep trying to milk the cash cow is another matter.

I'm way more of a Sony boy, but I think it's one up to Microsoft on this one.

[Megatron]

Personally, I prefer Xbox, but that's just because I didn't love the PS3.  This gen I may switch over to Sony.  Sony could fight it, but I believe they already came out and said they have no plans to bring BC to the PS4.  This is most likely due to the PS NOW, but also it may be harder because the PS3 hardware is so different than everything else, given the separation of the processors (which was why PS3 was so hard to program for at the beginning).

Either way, what BOTH companies should be doing is allowing DIGITAL titles purchased to be played FOR FREE on the next gen system.