A Few Answers About Backwards Compatibility

There continue to be a lot of questions about Backwards Compatibility on the Xbox 360.  There is a team that continues to work on the software, and they plan to make another release soon.  Seems like it should be easier to do than it is, but the way the Xbox game interacts with the system can be radically different from one game to another, so making the emulator software work correctly, and properly testing, takes a significant amount of time.  Cesar Menendez met with David Reid last week, and got some clarification.  He posts Back (Compat) to the Future, in an effort to answer a few questions.  He says:

I had a quick chance to talk to David Reid, who sits down the hall from me here at Xbox. Dave’s one of the people here that oversaw backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 – and I had a few questions for him. John and I are seeing some of the same questions come up in the forums, so I figured I would just list some of them in this post. Here we go:

1. Q: “I’m a big fan of (game X), when can I play it on the Xbox 360?”
A: The team is working extremely hard on the list, and to be honest, some games are harder to do than other games. If your favorite title isn’t working, chances are, it’s honestly just taking longer. Stay tuned, though, because there’s a team of very smart folks trying to get as many titles as possible to work.

2. Q: “Are you intentionally trying to keep (game X) off the list because you want us to buy the 360 version?”
A: Nope. The team is probably working on (game X) right now, even as you read this post.

3. Q: “How come you guys prioritized (this one Xbox game you don’t like) over my game (insert Xbox game here)? I’m sure more people like my game. . .”
A: Dave said something really interesting about this, and how the team went about it. We focused on certifying top sellers like Halo 2, GTA, KOTOR, and when the emulator for those worked, they brought a number along with them “for free.” That is to say, certain games on the list (I’m not listing any) aren’t as massive an undertaking, as say, Halo 2. But when we got a Halo 2 to play, other games came along with it. These games had similar technology or engines, and were easier to certify.

One last big question we’re seeing is “My game is on the list. How do I get it to work?” and we have a detailed set of instructions on that. So hopefully this’ll clear up some questions.

(Thanks John Porcaro!)

There continue to be a lot of questions about Backwards Compatibility on the Xbox 360.  There is a team that continues to work on the software, and they plan to make another release soon.  Seems like it should be easier to do than it is, but the way the Xbox game interacts with the system can be radically different from one game to another, so making the emulator software work correctly, and properly testing, takes a significant amount of time.  Cesar Menendez met with David Reid last week, and got some clarification.  He posts Back (Compat) to the Future, in an effort to answer a few questions.  He says:

I had a quick chance to talk to David Reid, who sits down the hall from me here at Xbox. Dave’s one of the people here that oversaw backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 – and I had a few questions for him. John and I are seeing some of the same questions come up in the forums, so I figured I would just list some of them in this post. Here we go:

1. Q: “I’m a big fan of (game X), when can I play it on the Xbox 360?”
A: The team is working extremely hard on the list, and to be honest, some games are harder to do than other games. If your favorite title isn’t working, chances are, it’s honestly just taking longer. Stay tuned, though, because there’s a team of very smart folks trying to get as many titles as possible to work.

2. Q: “Are you intentionally trying to keep (game X) off the list because you want us to buy the 360 version?”
A: Nope. The team is probably working on (game X) right now, even as you read this post.

3. Q: “How come you guys prioritized (this one Xbox game you don’t like) over my game (insert Xbox game here)? I’m sure more people like my game. . .”
A: Dave said something really interesting about this, and how the team went about it. We focused on certifying top sellers like Halo 2, GTA, KOTOR, and when the emulator for those worked, they brought a number along with them “for free.” That is to say, certain games on the list (I’m not listing any) aren’t as massive an undertaking, as say, Halo 2. But when we got a Halo 2 to play, other games came along with it. These games had similar technology or engines, and were easier to certify.

One last big question we’re seeing is “My game is on the list. How do I get it to work?” and we have a detailed set of instructions on that. So hopefully this’ll clear up some questions.

(Thanks John Porcaro!)