More Info On Backwards Compatibility

[Iron Orta]

IGN have posted a useful article on how the xbox 360 will go about achieving backwards compatibility. Link below:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/639/639656p1.html

In summary the article states that the 360 will use emulation technology to play each individual xbox title. When you buy the 360 several of the emulations profiles will be stored on the hard drive and then at a later date more can be downloaded through live to allow you to play a large minority of games. They also gave an idea of the games that will be within the first and second wave of profiles.

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.

Sounds like they have really made an effort to allow backwards compatibility to keep with the competition.

[Jacksmith28]

Good post!

[Agent X]

srry but this is old news new news to some people but old to most

[Iron Orta]

Originally Posted by Agent X

srry but this is old news new news to some people but old to most

Just trying to help clear up people understanding of how M$ managed to make the 360 backwards compatible without the use of hardware. Plus its something that alot of people want to no. So i just Summerized it for everyone.

[Diamond]

I'm just glad they're doing it.

[Night Owl]

Wait, please clear me up on this, there will be some original xbox games on the hard drive?

[Diamond]

Originally Posted by Night Owl

Wait, please clear me up on this, there will be some original xbox games on the hard drive?

No, he means the emulation software. Meaning if you put the halo 2 disc in, the Halo 2 emulation software detects it and Halo 2 runs as normal.

[Dragonx420]

i just want to pop in the game and play the 360 is going to be awsome and everything but it is going to be hard to understand everything it is going to do..........

[Diamond]

It's not as complicated as you think. I would love to explain everything but I don't have the technical volcabulary.

I CAN give you my theory of how it works, in a simple form:

Basically the games were designed to work under a very specific environment. The emulation software just recognizes what game it is and emulates the conditions to run according to what that game needs.

However, each game is different, obviously. Different programing, coding, etc. What they need to do is write a small "profile" of each game so the emulator will know exactly what the game is designed for...


I know this is kind of a bad explenation, but it's the best I can do. I don't KNOW anything about how it really works, that's my theory of how it goes.

Perhaps someone else in these forums has a better theory, or a link to some leaked information. Or something. Anyways, I just hope this helps? I may have confused you even more!

[Eothein]

I hope you can downlaod emualtion technology form Live for Xbox games that come out after the 360 if not some of my planned purchases are boned.

[Diamond]

I think all current new releases and future ones are also getting emulated. Most likely if it's not on the hard drive you could download all the upcoming software free in the marketplace.