[Intrepid Homoludens]

As powerful as it'll be to run beautiful, big upcoming games
like Test Drive: Unlimited and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (above),
will Xbox 360 be able to run its predecssor's titles like Fable
and Project Gotham Racing 2 (below)?


What Xbox games will be compatible on Xbox 360?
IGN.com, 8/4/05

As Microsoft's engineers learn more, they'll release profiles via Xbox Live to be stored on the 20GB hard drive (which comes bundled with X360), enabling new games to work with the console. As time passes, more and more Xbox games will become backward friendly. This helps to explain the annoyingly vague "top-selling games" statement to a certain extent. But it still leaves burning questions.

We know Halo and Halo 2 will be the first playable Xbox games playable on Xbox 360; they are, first and foremost, the top -selling Xbox games, and they're first-party titles. There. That was easy. Other popular first-party games are sure to be included. Which ones? From Microsoft the list is likely to include: Forza Motorsport, Fable, Project Gotham Racing 2, MechAssault and MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf, RalliSport Challenge 1 and 2, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, Amped 1 and 2, and several others.

Most likely, the second wave of compatible games will include the third-party games, such as EA's Madden and NBA Live series, Sega's 2K series (before 2K Games bought Visual Concepts), and a slew of Ubisoft (Tom Clancy games), Tecmo (Ninja Gaiden), Sega (various), LucasArts (KOTOR I and II), Activision (Tony Hawk, Doom 3, etc.), VU Games (Chronicles of Riddick) and Rockstar Games (GTA) tiles.

So, it's a waiting game. And it's going to be a frustrating one. The first list of backward compatible games, we suspect, will be short. But as time passes, the list will grow to include many more favorites.

I have only a total of ten games (which are more or less considered top selling) so I feel more inclined to eventually sell my Xbox and trade up for the 360. What I'm wondering is if it'll be possible to transfer my savegames (for example, Thief: DS and Project Gotham Racing 2) over.

[copycat]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

As powerful as it'll be to run beautiful, big upcoming games
like Test Drive: Unlimited and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (above),
will Xbox 360 be able to run its predecssor's titles like Fable
and Project Gotham Racing 2 (below)?


What Xbox games will be compatible on Xbox 360?
IGN.com, 8/4/05



I have only a total of ten games (which are more or less considered top selling) so I feel more inclined to eventually sell my Xbox and trade up for the 360. What I'm wondering is if it'll be possible to transfer my savegames (for example, Thief: DS and Project Gotham Racing 2) over.

I'm afraid my Xbox games won't run on 360 (at least not at launch):

Syberia II
Broken Sword: Sleeping Dragon
Still Life

with one exception:

KOTOR II

I plan to buy Fahrenheit, Psychonauts and Dreamfall in the next six months and I wonder if any of these will ever be 360 compatible!?!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Well, we'll only have to wait and see. According to MS the retro-compatability will work in waves, with the lesser commercially successful titles porting over further down the the timeline. Which means that Psychonauts' and Dreamfall's likelihood will depend on how much money they make MS.

I just rememebered I do have Psychonauts for Xbox. Ah well. Maybe I'll just hold on to this console for a while longer.

i'm sure it's also possible that there can be 3rd party support for the X-box games backwards compatibilty

[smashing]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

I have only a total of ten games (which are more or less considered top selling) so I feel more inclined to eventually sell my Xbox and trade up for the 360. What I'm wondering is if it'll be possible to transfer my savegames (for example, Thief: DS and Project Gotham Racing 2) over.

Hey! Even if the savegames can't be transferred, I guess it wouldn't take too long for a game expert such as yourself to unlock the beautiful cars from PGR2 right?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by smashing

Hey! Even if the savegames can't be transferred, I guess it wouldn't take too long for a game expert such as yourself to unlock the beautiful cars from PGR2 right?

The art of clearing turns is such a bitch (though I'm getting quite good at it). And I hate those stupid cones in the gold levels. Any advice would be appreciated. But I'm not such a slut for cars, I only want the ones that would help me win a race.

[Tanukitsune]

Slightly on topic, is it true that the XBox 360 and PS3 need an HDTV?

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by Tanukitsune

Slightly on topic, is it true that the XBox 360 and PS3 need an HDTV?

No, but they are putting the emphasis on it. Game developers are to be pressured to support HDTV. Strangely (at least in PAL territories) the default Xbox 360 won't ship with HDTV connectors, they're a separate paid for add on.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

For PAL territories? So that means the N/A consoles will have those connectors?

[insane_cobra]

So it could cost more in Europe, but actually come with less features? Brilliant thinking!

[Glenn Epic]

Hmmm... backwards compatibility is cool and all, but I think I'll hold on to my xbox so I can play my older games.

[RLacey]

Can someone in the know about such things explain to me why Microsoft can't have complete backwards compatability ala PS2/PS1?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

If you were astute you'd have read the article I linked to in the first post of this thread. It more or less explains it for you.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

If you were astute you'd have read the article I linked to in the first post of this thread. It more or less explains it for you.

My apologies. I had read your quotation from it without realising that that article went into much more detail.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Meh, that's okay. But it does enlighten us on how the whole issue works.

The first news I heard a little while back was that the retro-compatability problem was mainly related to nVidia's license with MS for the technology. I guess that may have been sorted out. Now it looks to be a matter of allocating time and money (investing) to try to get only the most commercially succesful Xbox titles to run on the 360. So far I haven't heard any news on whether any of those titles will be optimized for the 360.

[Aj_]

Originally Posted by RLacey

can't have complete backwards compatability ala PS2/PS1

It doesn't, and that's with nearly an entire PS1 being built into most models of the PS2.

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by Aj_

It doesn't, and that's with nearly an entire PS1 being built into most models of the PS2.

These are the PS1 games that are not bw compatible.
Arcade Party Pak,
Atari Arcade Greatest Hits,
Fighter Maker,
Final Fantasy Anthology,
International Track and Field,
Judge Dredd,
Monkey Hero,
Mortal Kombat Trilogy,
Tomba.

There is a difference between 98% bw compatible, and bw compatible with the top selling games. But if you wanna be technical about it, yes PS2 is not 100% bw compatible.