No more "backwards compatibility" updates until March

by Ed Stasick { Jan 22nd 2006 at 2:23PM }

ActiveXbox is reporting that Microsoft's own David Reid has confiremed that what we have now in terms of a backwards compatible games is as good as it gets... at least until March "at the earliest."

Whether this turns out to be fact or not, we have to admit that we're a bit disappointed in Micorsoft's backwards compatibility efforts since release. While the marketing folks at MS brilliantly played the press while they played-down backwards compatibility until just prior to launch, surprising most of us with an initial compatibiliity list much longer than we had been led to expect, the post-launch strategy has left much to be desired.

Here's hoping that one day, we do get a fully compatible back library. It just looks like the wait may be longer than we has hoped.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jason @ Jan 22nd 2006 2:52PM

Here's hoping MechAssault 2 gets to play on the 360 before too long...

With all of the hooplah around Street Fighter 2 for Live Arcade, I can't help but doubt that the Street Fighter Collection will be added to the compatibility list...ever.

julian @ Jan 22nd 2006 3:30PM

To be honest, I'm happy with the current list and would much prefer the dev team spent their time on making it possible to import my game saves from my old xbox onto my 360.

Leo @ Jan 22nd 2006 3:44PM

give me Lego Starwars!!

Rjcc @ Jan 22nd 2006 3:50PM

This was announced over a month ago on Major Nelsons podcast. Major Nelson specifically said they did not expect another update until march and that the tom clancy games update was a total surprise.

Am I the only one who was listening? All those who are offended.....should have been offended a month ago.

Justin @ Jan 22nd 2006 4:20PM

I want Mercenaries.... boooo.

Jon @ Jan 22nd 2006 5:15PM

I think everyone that owns a 360 is quickly realising that Backwards compatibility really doesn't matter much. Not when you have a decent library of 360 games to choose from. By fall, no one is going to give a crap about Backwards compatibility. We will be too busy playing 360 games and Live arcade.

People aren't buying 360 to play old games, that's just a bonus.

Logan @ Jan 22nd 2006 5:49PM

If BC is that big of a deal for you, just keep your friggin xbox. What is so hard about that? I bought a 360, and I have never looked back. Personally, I only wish I could delete all of the BC crap off my 360 harddrive so I could have more space.

sracer @ Jan 22nd 2006 6:02PM

#5, that might be true, but there are a few of us who own a 360 but never owned an XBox. BC was a big selling point for me (along with multimedia integration). The lack of video support in the 360 (connecting to an XP system running Windows Media Connect) and slight/moderate BC makes the 360 a bit less appealing than before I bought it.

It's still a great system, and I'm having a blast with PGR3, but it has fallen a little short of pre-release hype.

Chris @ Jan 22nd 2006 6:21PM

Lego Starwars and Battlefront 2 NEED to become compatible. It really is too bad that they arent, and aparently, might not be until march.

pennywise969 @ Jan 22nd 2006 6:43PM

I honestly dont care. The only Xbox 1 game I have wanted to play since I got my 360 in November is Halo 2. Then again, I was also smart enough to hold onto my old Xbox.

Captain Obvious @ Jan 22nd 2006 8:26PM

Only a limited number of consoles have been available to date, and without any consoles for sale, what's the point?

Those enjoying backwards compatibility are perhaps the smallest audience Microsoft has ever supported.

Christopher @ Jan 22nd 2006 11:56PM

MVSC II !!!

Dwayne @ Jan 23rd 2006 8:22AM

I heard that playing xbox games on the 360 will play them at 720p resolution. Has anyone noticed any improvement of graphics while playing xbox games on the 360?

Frogbrother @ Jan 23rd 2006 8:52AM

This is disappointing. Some of us were counting on quicker updates for the list b/c we've been long time Xbox owners and can't necessarily afford to purchase more than a couple of games for the 360. I already own a bunch of Xbox games that I was assured would play on my new system.

Four months is too long!

Tom Crymes @ Jan 23rd 2006 9:00AM

Halo 2 will play at 720p, but the textures were only optomized for standard resolution. So while the resolution is technically higher, you will notice that the textures appear "muddy" or "hazy."

I'd like to see PGR 2 and Outrun 2, backward compatible.

Oh, and when they say "March at the earliest." It most likely means, "Hopefully, by Summer." I'm guessing they found out with some bugs that surfaced with some of the other games, that they need to do more testing before releasing more compatible games.

I'm also guessing that the more a developer used coding tricks to get more performance out of the system, the more hoops they will have to jump through to get it backward compatible. I could be wrong though.