So... Why is Xbox original compatibility so bad?

**CatalystiCam** · 03-24-2011, 08:05 PM

Just curious. I realized I never really found an answer to this and I can't really find one searching around...

Anyone know exactly why only 200 some xbox original games are playable on xbox 360? Kind of annoying when only like 4 of my xbox original game like fuzion frenzy, halo, halo 2 and tony hawks 3 works on my xbox while other games I really want to play like Timesplitters 3, SSX Tricky, Flatout 2, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath etc. won't work.

I still have my original Xbox but it has disc read problems often and the games that do work often have this problem of pressing the 'L' button on it's own all the time making some games impossible to play. (SSX Tricky will always do a stupid trick on it's own, Flatout 2 will constantly brake).

So yeah, any specific reason why? I think I remember hearing it's basically just an emulator with low compatibility but I don't recall even if I did ever find out.

**Dudebro** · 03-24-2011, 08:35 PM

I don't play any old xbox games and I never really bothered to read up on it, sorry. You could try posting this on xbox.com for better results. I bet lots of them would love to weigh in on this kind of thing.

**Seahawk** · 03-24-2011, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam3ron36

I think I remember hearing it's basically just an emulator with low compatibility but I don't recall even if I did ever find out.

It's probably this. The machines have totally different hardware architectures and backwards compatibility was probably never a priority for Microsoft.

**Dudebro** · 03-24-2011, 09:32 PM

I just read a little about it and it seems like they switched from Intel to IBM with the 360 CPU and each game has to be emulated individually. They originally said they'd get to most of the library but as of 2008 they said they're done with it, online support for those games ended recently too.

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games_compatible_with_Xbox_360]List of Xbox games compatible with Xbox 360 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

**CatalystiCam** · 03-24-2011, 09:51 PM

so it says you got to get specific downloads. Does this mean I could just download some file for say Oddworld: Strangers wrath to my hard drive and it would work? Whenever I put any xbox game in my 360, it still says "Play *insert game title*" which I find weird.

**Dudebro** · 03-24-2011, 10:12 PM

That game isn't on the list, why would you ask if it's gonna work?

**CatalystiCam** · 03-24-2011, 10:29 PM

Quote:

That game isn't on the list, why would you ask if it's gonna work?

Never mind, thought I saw something that said you could get any game to work.

**Dudebro** · 03-24-2011, 10:42 PM

Nope sorry. The list is pretty inconsistent and limited but at least it's something.

**CatalystiCam** · 03-24-2011, 11:53 PM

Yeah, I suppose. Do you know if the original xboxes generally break down easily or if we just got unlucky? Might have to get another one eventually.

**Kugyince** · 03-25-2011, 02:56 AM

**Slime Slayer** · 03-25-2011, 03:18 AM

Apparently the failure rate of 360's is up to 54%, not hard to sell 50 million units when everyone needs to buy 5 of them.

---------- Post added at 09:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 AM ----------

Ouch:
PlayStation 3 - 10.6 percent
Wii - 6.8 percent
Xbox 360 - 54.2 percent

**jim5cents** · 03-25-2011, 07:44 AM

Good job SC, way to find a way to troll in the 360 again
The compatability was a hardware issue and they had to rewrite software in order to make the xbox games compatable with the 360. I think when the 360 launched an update that made probably 35 or 40 games playable. They focused on the most popular titles, but also included games where the software changes were very similar. Hence why you got games like Halo and GTA and then games that 4 people played.

There wasn't enough demand for backwards compatability as time went on, so they basically abandoned the project. In April of 2010, MS ended all support for original xbox games on XBL.

---------- Post added at 01:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 PM ----------

I still remain confused about where the numbers for the failure rates come from. I've never red ringed. The only problem I've ever had was the disk drive broke and that was because I dropped it.

I have only know one person that has had a red ring and I know a ton of college kids that have 360's.

I think the RR numbers are part of JG's NWO bankers plot.

**CatalystiCam** · 03-25-2011, 11:50 AM

Quote:

I still remain confused about where the numbers for the failure rates come from. I've never red ringed. The only problem I've ever had was the disk drive broke and that was because I dropped it.

I think I may be safe at this point. Bought my xbox 2 or 3 years ago now I think, and when I opened the box, it was a brand new 360, but it was from 2007. Anyways, it still runs fine.

I've actually heard of at least 7 or 8 people having their ps3's break so far. Yet I don't know anyone personally that had their 360 break on them.

It's ridiculous to have a failure rate that high I will admit but I'm not seeing it personally.

**Kong** · 03-25-2011, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevencassidy13

Xbox 360 - 54.2 percent

xbox 360 failure rate - Google Search

The first 5 links put the failure rate at
54%
30%
5%
42%
23%

Not that any of that is good, just pointing out there is not a solid real statistic.

**Slime Slayer** · 03-25-2011, 12:42 PM

@jim, thanks bro, I do what I can.
I just read it on gamespot, it was a poll of 5000 gamers. So it's safe to say that the people taking part in the poll played their systems a lot, that could account for the high numbers.

**Kugyince** · 03-25-2011, 12:51 PM

That could also account for a lot of fanboys of other consoles trying to raise the percentage of 360 failures.

**Dudebro** · 03-25-2011, 01:02 PM

The other factor being left out of the failure rate numbers is the version of the consoles. From my understanding the first series was the one with the horrible failure rate and every model since has improved by a lot. It still happens, but not like it was at first.

Btw at least the 360 has some backwards compatibility. PS3 got rid of it all together, dropped the price of the console and pretended it was a deal. All they did was remove content, reduce the price as little as possible and drop the price on the PS2 to make up for it. I think that's far worse because PS2 had a huge library and a huge following, and Sony screwed those fans to bring the price down to a reasonable level.

Wii doesn't count because it's not that different from GC, of course those game will play fine.

**Seahawk** · 03-25-2011, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudebro

Btw at least the 360 has some backwards compatibility. PS3 got rid of it all together, dropped the price of the console and pretended it was a deal. All they did was remove content, reduce the price as little as possible and drop the price on the PS2 to make up for it. I think that's far worse because PS2 had a huge library and a huge following, and Sony screwed those fans to bring the price down to a reasonable level..

Lol what? PS3 still plays PS1 games. And it's not so much as "remove content, reduce the price" so much as "redesign the entire system board, making it smaller, cooler, quieter, and use less energy".

And unlike the Gamecube and Xbox, Playstation 2 consoles are still available for purchase for less than $100. So getting the original console that is compatible with all games and is 100% glitch free shouldn't be a problem.

**Dudebro** · 03-25-2011, 01:13 PM

Honestly that's news to me. I heard they discontinued backwards compatibility and I remember people rushing out to by a certain model that still played them.

I still think it's "remove content, reduce price" but I'll openly admit I still don't trust Sony after how obnoxious the starting price was and how arrogantly they dismissed a good portion of their fans with it.

Imo the PS2 is still for sale because lots of people still won't buy a PS3. Sony knows PS2s will sell well still so they continue to support it. If they had a way to force people to buy PS3s they would. But yeah, I'm bias against them.

**Seahawk** · 03-25-2011, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudebro

Honestly that's news to me. I heard they discontinued backwards compatibility and I remember people rushing out to by a certain model that still played them.

Here's a summary I wrote a long time ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seahawk

ALL PS3s support PS1 games.
ALL FAT PS3s support PS2 games.

EARLY FAT PS3s had PS2 emulation in hardware.
LATER FAT PS3s had PS2 emulation in software, via an official firmware update from Sony. You do not need unofficial firmware or custom emulators to play PS2 games.

Yeah, when the Slim model came out, the old one was put out of production, there was a rush to buy models that played PS2 games.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudebro

I still think it's "remove content, reduce price" but I'll openly admit I still don't trust Sony after how obnoxious the starting price was and how arrogantly they dismissed a good portion of their fans with it.

I believe a lot of that can be attributed to Ken Kutaragi who created an unbelievable hype storm about the PS3 before and after it's launch. Sony has forcibly 'retired' him by moving him somewhere else.

**CatalystiCam** · 03-25-2011, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Imo the PS2 is still for sale because lots of people still won't buy a PS3.

Yup. That's the truth right here.

Quote:

Sony knows PS2s will sell well still so they continue to support it.

Why I got one recently, console was cheap and games are cheap at gamestop anyways. Go to a wal-mart or anything and they don't sell anything older than 2 years old... Games anyways, Wal-mart sells ps2 accessories... but no games.. I don't get it.

Honestly though I'm done favouring any sort of company because they have all ticked me off at least once, so I could care less. Whatever console has games that I like, I'll buy. Also if it has my best interests at hand. Gamecube, xbox and ps2, PS1 & N64 games are all really cheap right now, so I buy them a lot.

I really like the 360 for the arcade library. They make some really neat games like the new pac man game for like 5 or 10 bucks. Honestly I have twice as many Live arcade games, as I do 360 games. Definitely a lot more work goes into Xbox live arcade then nintendo will ever put into the shop channel imo.

**Seahawk** · 03-25-2011, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam3ron36

I really like the 360 for the arcade library. They make some really neat games like the new pac man game for like 5 or 10 bucks. Honestly I have twice as many Live arcade games, as I do 360 games. Definitely a lot more work goes into Xbox live arcade then nintendo will ever put into the shop channel imo.

In this statement: truth.
Probably because Nintendo shop products are limited to 40MB, which would be enough space for games if we were still in the N64 era.

**Dudebro** · 03-25-2011, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Yeah, when the Slim model came out, the old one was put out of production, there was a rush to buy models that played PS2 games.

That's the confusion, it's PS2 that isn't supported. I don't know anyone who wants to play PS1 stuff really, PS2 was where it really shined. Don't get me wrong I loved it at the time but now PS1 games don't really stand the test of time like PS2 games do.

Quote:

I believe a lot of that can be attributed to Ken Kutaragi who created an unbelievable hype storm about the PS3 before and after it's launch. Sony has forcibly 'retired' him by moving him somewhere else.

Whatever the cause I dunno but that original price point plus the cost of games and accessories was like a slap in the face for me. I was a big Sony fan up until that point. I could've afforded it but I wasn't gonna spend that much money on a console, still won't.

**jim5cents** · 03-25-2011, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Wal-mart sells ps2 accessories... but no games.. I don't get it.

They only have so much shelf space and it is more profitable for them to stock it with current gen games that sell for 50-60 a pop than PS2 games with way less demand and at a cheaper price.

**Dudebro** · 03-25-2011, 02:18 PM

Plus it's Walmart, they don't care.