Backward compatibility

Doug
Thanks for the reply.I have tried some ps1 games on my ps2 besides a
little better picture quality that you can select on your ps2 I still
prefer old school games played on their origional systems.I have heard
that Microsoft will come out with a disc to insert into the 360 that
would allow you to play certain Xbox games.Have you heard of such a
disc?..Bruce

any one can develope common sense either through experience or living
long enough.it is the people who have uncommon sense who change the
world.
 >> Stay informed about: Backward compatibility 

DBG <davjo RemoveThis @webtv.net> wrote:
> Doug
> Thanks for the reply.I have tried some ps1 games on my ps2 besides a
> little better picture quality that you can select on your ps2 I still
> prefer old school games played on their origional systems.I have heard
> that Microsoft will come out with a disc to insert into the 360 that
> would allow you to play certain Xbox games.Have you heard of such a
> disc?..Bruce

If you get a 360 with the HDD, you can play some Xbox games (Microsoft's
Xbox site has a list of currentally supported games.) The 360 uses a
program to emulate the Xbox so your old games can be played. Supposedly,
the emulator will also up-scale the graphics, so they'll look a little
better on the 360 than on the original Xbox. The emulator will supposedly
continue to get updated by Microsoft, so it'll support more and more
games. I don't have a 360 so I haven't tried this feature out to say how
well it actually works. It also remains a question as to how long
Microsoft will continue to develop the emulator. And since software
emulation is never quite as good as native hardware, I'll be keeping my
Xbox around for quite a while before moving on.

The PS2 is a little different. It actually has the guts of a PS1 on a
single chip inside. So you're using mostly native hardware to play PS1
games on the PS2. This is why the PS2 is over 99% compatible with the PS1
library (I think there's about 7 PS1 games total that don't work?) As you
note, the PS2 also includes a few enhancement features for PS1 games -
faster disc access, and some additional graphics smoothing. However,
these features don't work with a lot of games, and for most things, I just
left them off. Load times in some games is helped by the faster disc
access (eg. Square's Final Fantasy collection/anthology) but you have to
turn it on every time you power on the PS2.

The PS3 will supposedly come with the guts of a PS2 inside of it, and
should provide the same level of backwards compatibility for PS2 games that
the PS2 offered for PS1 games. I don't know whether the PS3 will still
play PS1 games, but at this point, we're talking about games that are
close to 10 years old now. (hard to believe, eh?)
 >> Stay informed about: Backward compatibility 

In article <25402-43D83A69-123.DeleteThis@storefull-3134.bay.webtv.net>,
DBG <davjo.DeleteThis@webtv.net> wrote:
>I have heard that Microsoft will come out with a disc to insert
>into the 360 that would allow you to play certain Xbox games.Have
>you heard of such a disc?

I apologize in advance if I sound like I'm talking down to you, but
I don't frequent Usenet as much as I used to. So I wanted to try to
answer your question with a single drive-by post instead of having
to check back for replies. Sorry. ^_^

As Doug said, backwards compatibility on the 360 works through an
emulator. In other words, since (unlike the PS2 which, as Doug said,
included PS1 hardware in some form) the 360 doesn't include an XBox
1 chip or other hardware related to playing XBox 1 games, it uses a
sort of translating program that translates the XBox 1 games so that
the 360 can understand what is going on and play the XBox 1 games.

In order for this to work, the 360 MUST have the hard drive. (Either
the 360 must be bought with the hard drive included, or the hard
drive must be added later on.) This is because the emulator (or
translating program) needs to be stored somewhere in order for the
360 to use it to play XBox 1 games, and Microsoft decided that the
best place for it to go would be on the hard drive.

Now, as for getting this emulator, as I understand it, the plans
were to offer it as a free download from the Internet (XBox Live,
actually). As an alternative (for people who don't have Internet
access to hook up their 360 to), there was talk of releasing the
emulator in disc form. As for whether they went forward with this
or not, I have no idea. But it is this disc you heard about.

As for Doug's comment about using the backwards compatibility, I
personally have found that I've been playing PS1 games on my PS2
as a matter of reducing clutter - one less game console hooked up
to the TV. And I guess I'm a less typical gamer since I do go
back to play some of the older gems in my collection from time to
time.

Hope this helps,
Eugene Moon
 >> Stay informed about: Backward compatibility 

Thanks guys for the replies.I currently use dial up so it looks like the
disc is the way to go.I'm still not that impressed with my 360.Maybe
later on.Love my Xbox though.Love my Ps2 also.And my Game Cube.They all
have unique games and qualities to them.Have a bunch of other priorities
comming up so I maay have to slow down a bit on my game
collections.Thats going to be hard to do.But first things first.Have a
good day.BRUCE

any one can develope common sense either through experience or living
long enough.it is the people who have uncommon sense who change the
world.
 >> Stay informed about: Backward compatibility 

DBG <davjo.RemoveThis@webtv.net> wrote:
> Thanks guys for the replies.I currently use dial up so it looks like the
> disc is the way to go.I'm still not that impressed with my 360.Maybe
> later on.Love my Xbox though.Love my Ps2 also.And my Game Cube.They all
> have unique games and qualities to them.Have a bunch of other priorities
> comming up so I maay have to slow down a bit on my game
> collections.Thats going to be hard to do.But first things first.Have a
> good day.BRUCE

It takes time for any console to build up its library. It seems that most
of the time, a console launches with maybe 1 great game, maybe a few
good/ok games and then there's a few months of waiting for the next wave
of games to arrive.

All I can say is that it is Microsoft's advantage to get as many of its
big-hitters out as fast as possible. The more 360s Microsoft can sell to
people now might mean those people won't buy a PS3, or maybe won't buy one
for awhile. The longer the 360 is the only console owned by a customer
means more chances for that customer to buy 360 games. If a customer buys
a PS3, however, then his purchases will be split between the two, and
obviously if a customer buys a PS3, there won't be any money going to
Microsoft.
 >> Stay informed about: Backward compatibility 

Doug Jacobs wrote:
> DBG <davjo RemoveThis @webtv.net> wrote:
> > Thanks guys for the replies.

Just wanted to add:

Backwards compatibility isn't anything I'd pay for, but I like the idea
of being able to sell my old hardware without having to sell my
favorite older games. Is it just me, or are consoles harder to
preserve and replace than games?

> > I currently use dial up so it looks like the
> > disc is the way to go.I'm still not that impressed with my 360.Maybe
> > later on.

No rush. The system and software will only get more affordable and
desriable.

<snip>

Terrence Briggs, who's gonna have to get an XBox soon, before the
rental industry dries up.
Peace to you...
 >> Stay informed about: Backward compatibility