Support NeoGAF

[IbizaPocholo]

Microsoft’s Backward Compatability Policy is the Best, Sony and Nintendo Should Do the Same: Axiom Verge 2 Dev

gamingbolt.com

Speaking recently to GamingBolt, Happ said that he considers backward compatibility essential, so that older releases don’t “get lost to history.” Happ added that he considers Microsoft’s policy to be the best, and hopes that their competitors will “find ways to do the same.”

“Culturally speaking I think it’s essential if we don’t want games to get lost to history,” Happ said while speaking with GamingBolt. “For consumers it definitely adds value to the platforms that have it. For devs is saves us the problem of having to port again and again and again. I know there are some companies who like to get a boost each time a game is re-released on the next generation, but overall, I think the cost of this policy is that many games will be forgotten. The Microsoft policy of being backwards compatible all the way to the first generation is the best, I think, and I hope Sony and Nintendo find ways to do the same.”

 

[replicant-]

As far as we know so far Sony’s bc implementation seems lack lustre compared to what MS did this generation let alone next.

 

[Deeper Underground]

Well as we have seen before, BC is nice in the beginning, but overall not as essential to consumers as people make it. As long as customers have access to their digital libraries, they will be fine.

 

[nowhat]

Emulating PS3 was out of the question with PS4 hardware, and it's debatable whether it'd be feasible on PS5 even. So should PS5 include a Cell chip too?

 

[Mr Hyde]

No lies detected.

EDIT: Super excited for Axiom Verge 2 btw. Gonna be great, I can feel it in my bones.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

I absolutely luv MS approach to BC/Smart delivery.
Sony needs to take notes.

 

[Elektro Demon]

I agree. BC is very important.

 

[quickwhips]

Sony fans dont care about BC.

 

[VAVA Mk2]

Well as we have seen before, BC is nice in the beginning, but overall not as essential to consumers as people make it. As long as customers have access to their digital libraries, they will be fine.

Some people didn't amass digital libraries though on PS3 and PS2 and PS1 didn't have those. If someone already owns games for those consoles, wouldn't it be nice to support their old discs rather than purchase their game again in the form of a remaster? I get what you are saying. As you get new games on new hardware you do tend to forget the old stuff, but every now and then I do like to play older gen classics.

 

[Fake]

Sony fans dont care about BC.

Speak for yourself. I do care and BC from Microsoft should be praised for good reason.

 

[Bojanglez]

Emulating PS3 was out of the question with PS4 hardware, and it's debatable whether it'd be feasible on PS5 even. So should PS5 include a Cell chip too?

Just use the audio chip

 

[Lone Wolf]

I understand that PS3 BC might be a pain in the ass, but I don’t see why we can’t have PS1 and PS2 BC. i understand that when we get a new gen, most don’t care to play the prior gen, but as the years go by many of us want to go back and play games we haven’t touched for years. They become retro and more desired.

 

[Clear]

As far as we know so far Sony’s bc implementation seems lack lustre compared to what MS did this generation let alone next.

How so? Took years after launch to support anything at all from 360 gen, and after that it was a staggered roll-out, a few new titles a month. OG Xbox support was even spottier.

Oh yeah, and both programs got suspended quite awhile back so they could start work on next gen.


MS have done a decent job, but its been far from complete coverage and I'm sorry when you have to do your roll-out piecemeal, that aint backwards compatibility! BC should mean all your old stuff works day#1. not when they get around to adding it in a month or two. and certainly not requiring internet access to download new executables per title.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

What MS did to BC is amazing, and it’s an even bigger kick in the balls when you think about just how utterly incredible the PS1/PS2/PS3 back catalog of games is... Its just not right there isn’t a single place you can play them all.

Missed opportunity, and a console seller IMO.

 

[TLZ]

I need more info and confirmation on SX's BC. Will it add 4k HDR to every BC game or not? First they said yes then they said select. I'm confused.

 

[Steve.1981]

The Xbox BC program has been great this gen. If you bought the game already, pop the disc in & download your digital copy. If you bought it digital, it just shows up in your download list. Every game automatically gets upgraded to run & look better. Some even get OneX upgrades.

Can't fault it really. Very happy they are continuing their work next gen.

 

[Night.Ninja]

What MS did to BC is amazing, and it’s an even bigger kick in the balls when you think about just how utterly incredible the PS1/PS2/PS3 back catalog of games is... Its just not right there isn’t a single place you can play them all.

Missed opportunity, and a console seller IMO.

Though you had died

 

[BlackTron]

Sony should have just released a PS4 Mega Hyper Pro DX SP that was expensive, but included a launch PS3 inside to play the entire library.

If it wasn't such a manufacturing nightmare, I would say do it for PS5 launch now. This is an option lots of people will pony up the $ for.

 

[Andodalf]

How so? Took years after launch to support anything at all from 360 gen, and after that it was a staggered roll-out, a few new titles a month. OG Xbox support was even spottier.

Oh yeah, and both programs got suspended quite awhile back so they could start work on next gen.


MS have done a decent job, but its been far from complete coverage and I'm sorry when you have to do your roll-out piecemeal, that aint backwards compatibility! BC should mean all your old stuff works day#1. not when they get around to adding it in a month or two. and certainly not requiring internet access to download new executables per title.

I’d far rather have this, and (almost) every single game be available digitally, than have every game available via BC, and have them cost hundreds of dollars not to mention a purely disk based version wouldn’t be able to have many of the improvements MS makes in their BC titles, and the baked in forwards compatibility.

 

[quest]

I need more info and confirmation on SX's BC. Will it add 4k HDR to every BC game or not? First they said yes then they said select. I'm confused.

My reading between the lines 4k game by game. The hdr will be an option for every game when it's done. They need to be more clear about this.

 

[quickwhips]

Speak for yourself. I do care and BC from Microsoft should be praised for good reason.

If you looked at threads from last 6 months most didn’t care. I think its crucial to help keep your player base for next generation.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

Though you had died

I did, but limbo has good wifi.

 

[JLB]

If you looked at threads from last 6 months most didn’t care. I think its crucial to help keep your player base for next generation.

So you would be ok with ps5 not being bc at all, not even ps4, right?
On topic, I still think that bc is far from perfect on all systems. Xbox is the best by far, but ir og xbox catalog is just a couple of titles.

 

[quickwhips]

So you would be ok with ps5 not being bc at all, not even ps4, right?
On topic, I still think that bc is far from perfect on all systems. Xbox is the best by far, but ir og xbox catalog is just a couple of titles.

I wouldn’t be ok with that. I really like what xbox is doing. I just think it was downplayed early on. BC the way xbox is doing it is like getting new games to play as they look great and improved in many ways.

 

[Saber]

Its one of a few things they did actually right. I was expecting PS5 to follow the same pattern, but it was rather dissapointing BC.

 

[dolabla]

I agree with him. Microsoft deserves the high praise for what they're doing on the backwards compatibility front. I hope Sony gets their act together and gives us all gen backwards compatibility too.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

While I love the improvements MS offers to the libraries of old consoles, I would like them to offer broader support for 360 and og Xbox games... Still this is by far the best backward compatibility offer in the console market right now... And also a mode where you can play the games in their original form.

Sony should make some efforts to support PS1, 2, 3 as well as the PS4 generation.

Well as we have seen before, BC is nice in the beginning, but overall not as essential to consumers as people make it. As long as customers have access to their digital libraries, they will be fine.

Digital libraries can--and will--vanish, just ask people who bought into the many failed digital formats (games protected by the old games for windows scheme, people who bought wma music on stores... So many not done by MS too). As soon as a company lose interest in their digital store the content is gone, you may not even be able to play them, even the downloaded ones.

Our only hope is hackers and de-centralised distribution tools like BitTorrent (obviously buy your games now, if you can still afford them, but keep that in mind when some old game seems to have vanished and there is no official way to still play it).

 

[Hostile_18]

I always compare it to movies.

Like what movie fan in the right mind wouldnt appreciate the classics and only want new releases?

Looks at all your collection, would you really want to whip out your VHS player if you wanted to watch them again, or would you rather see them better than ever on your new Blu ray/UHD player?

Game preservation and playing games with more clarity/detail/framerate is more important than every other next gen feature to me.

 

[Ingeniero]

BC is extremely important to me and to many gamers.
Kudos to Microsoft, their BC format is the best and they have the strongest hardware, they deserve the win next gen.

 

[VAL0R]

The "back compat doesn't matter" crowd seems to ignore the fact that some of these older games can be "new" to millions of new players. My kids and I have played a bunch of "old" back compat games via Game Pass and they are often just as good, if not better than many current titles. Game Pass makes back compat much greater than "replaying my library."

 

[FranXico]

Emulating PS3 was out of the question with PS4 hardware, and it's debatable whether it'd be feasible on PS5 even. So should PS5 include a Cell chip too?

Software emulation is possible, actually. Some pretty smart folks have been making major strides at getting it to work on PC (and jailbroken PS4s) for free.
I'd say the PS5 probably is more than capable.

Sony just cheaped out of investing time and money on it.

 

[GreatnessRD]

How so? Took years after launch to support anything at all from 360 gen, and after that it was a staggered roll-out, a few new titles a month. OG Xbox support was even spottier.

Oh yeah, and both programs got suspended quite awhile back so they could start work on next gen.


MS have done a decent job, but its been far from complete coverage and I'm sorry when you have to do your roll-out piecemeal, that aint backwards compatibility! BC should mean all your old stuff works day#1. not when they get around to adding it in a month or two. and certainly not requiring internet access to download new executables per title.

At least they did something. Seems Sony is having a time to bring full backward compatibility to its last generation (PS4) which is super wild to me. Regardless of that fact, I hope both Sony and Microsoft find a way to deliver as close to full B/C as possible one of these days. And thus far, Microsoft seems to have the faster track.

 

[ksdixon]

Sony fans dont care about BC.

We bloody well do. Just Jim Ryan being a backwards tool saying we don't. Wish he'd get overthrown, many poor choices since he tookover.

 

[nowhat]

Software emulation is possible, actually. Some pretty smart folks have been making major strides at getting it to work on PC (and jailbroken PS4s) for free.
I'd say the PS5 probably is more than capable.

Sony just cheaped out of investing time and money on it.

If you're talking about RPCS3, they've made some impressive progress, yes. Yet, the hardware requirements are quite steep and the emulation is far from perfect (this depends on the game though, obviously). Could Sony themselves achive better results, probably, but we'd still be talking about adding support on a per-title basis. Which is something MS does with 360 games, but I really don't trust Sony's software competence in that regard (something of a paradox really, as their first-party studios employ some frightfully talented programmers).

Note I'm not saying PS3 support would be a bad thing, just that it's extremely unlikely, given the exotic hardware.

 

[Great Hair]

microsoft´s BC is not even proper emulation. Selective, carefully picked few titles out of 1,000 is to me not real BC. We need 100% BC and not just "some titles, 37%" - BC. A NAIS FEETURE, that´s it.

NOT A GAMECHANGER! When ppl. play 10 year old games on newer hardware, than new games that´s a bad sign. I didnt buy a PS4 to play PS3 or PS2 games on it. Nor the publishers wont you to play old stinkers, when their new games are out ...

IF IT WERE SO GREAT, SO PERFECT, SO MAJESTIC? why did Microsoft stop supporting it end of 2019????!!!!11111 because of Scarletto? A lame excuse. And this tweet shows how bad the situation really was, still is and not how great selective-hand-picked-BC for 10 year old games are.

Xbox One users largely ignore backward-compatible Xbox 360 games [Updated]

Our original report has been updated.

arstechnica.com

 

[Max_Po]

I download and load up BC games once in a while to load up and then delete. I don't care for BC once there are new games on the system.

The only game that I ever bothered to play for several hours was Call of Duty BO2 on XboxOne; which 4 out 5 times I was in a hacked lobby where idiots are still trying to grow their ePeen.

If the BC was absent I would not care of complain about it. I keep my older/original consoles mint/super clean. If you don't have quality games on your console you can brag about "Backward Compatibility" ....

BC is a nice little exploitable "punch line" for MS now. In reality, they have no blockbuster standout exclusive games like Blood bourne/God of War or Uncharted .... I have colleagues who literally purchased a PS4 just to they can play Blood bourne or new God of War /Uncharted and lastly I know 3 people who bought a PS4 (not pro) because Spiderman was out. These guys didn't care for PS4 "pro" they just went to bb They have not purchased another game or cared to look for other games they are not familiar with.

BC is as important to MS as bringing down the manufacturing cost of PS3 was to SONY in 2007-2008 era.

I don't give a flying rats ass about BC, I rather pay for full remakes like Gears of War Remake(Original) - Resident Evil 2/3 remake or Shadow of the Colossus remake.

 

[Night.Ninja]

I did, but limbo has good wifi.

 

[splattered]

Emulation is only bad or wasteful when you don't have it.

You better believe if Sony offered a ps5 that was say $50 more expensive that offered ps1-3 BC it would HUGELY outsell a model that didnt have BC at all.

You guys can fight against it all you want, it is a good thing to have and worth investing in.

If Sony doesn't follow MS's lead next gen it's just going to be a negative hanging over your heads and yet another thing Sony is telling you is possible but you arent allowed to like or have.

***for the record I feel the same way about Microsoft and VR. Though I think MS is just waiting for VR to mature a bit more before they dive into it.

 

[CatLady]

Well as we have seen before, BC is nice in the beginning, but overall not as essential to consumers as people make it. As long as customers have access to their digital libraries, they will be fine.

Nice damage control, but WRONG.
Playing 360 era Bethesda RPGs is magnificent especially when enhanced for the X. You don't see Xbox owners crying for a Mass Effect remake That's because we already have the entire trilogy available through BC.

I've played tons of games from previous generations thanks to Xbox BC. And all those games are exclusive to Xbox unless you still have a bunch of old working PlayStations laying around or want to pay for crappy quality streaming PSNow to play previous generations of your games.

 

[Clear]

You better believe if Sony offered a ps5 that was say $50 more expensive that offered ps1-3 BC it would HUGELY outsell a model that didnt have BC at all.

You cannot prove that, and in fact all historic precedent stresses that price is far more impactful than anything else.

 

[TGO]

I agree
Still hoping Sony announce PSX/PS2 and maybe PS3 if we're lucky at the proper Reveal.

 

[Pallas]

Well as we have seen before, BC is nice in the beginning, but overall not as essential to consumers as people make it. As long as customers have access to their digital libraries, they will be fine.

Well, tell Sony to give customers access to their PS3 digital libraries and the PSN store on the PS5. Otherwise as another poster pointed out eventually that digital libraries will vanish when you lose access to it permanently.

 

[Sakura Doritos]

Some people didn't amass digital libraries though on PS3 and PS2 and PS1 didn't have those. If someone already owns games for those consoles, wouldn't it be nice to support their old discs rather than purchase their game again in the form of a remaster? I get what you are saying. As you get new games on new hardware you do tend to forget the old stuff, but every now and then I do like to play older gen classics.

All physical:

I have over 150 PS3 games all worthy to be owned. I have about 50 rock solid PS2 games and a good 30-40 PS1.

I definitely want Sony to make Disc based BC a reality. Half my PS4 collection is physical too so...

 

[Mr Hyde]

Sure, ditch PS3 if emulation is so hard to include but Sony could at least offer BC for PS1 and PS2. Otherwise it just feels cheap in regards to their competitor.

 

[Psykodad]

BC is a nice extra feature that isn't nearly as important as some make it out to be.

 

[Hendrick's]

I'll be honest, I don't play old games. I am one of the likely majority that doesn't care about backwards compatibility.

That said, I was amazed what the Xbox One accomplished. For anyone doubting, go play RDR on the One X. They somehow made the game look and run the best it ever has. Add in the giant list of games across all generations that you can play now, and it's truly commendable.

So while I probably won't do more than a quick dive into nostalgia, I appreciate the idea of game preservation, and Xbox has got off to a great start.

 

[mejin]

The irony is MS poor history in gaming, first party games also considered, of the big 3 by far, but they are commited with BC.

Sony and Nintendo have so many ips, so many unique games in their past hardware and they don't give a damn. People cam always buy again.

 

[MilkyJoe]

microsoft´s BC is not even proper emulation. Selective, carefully picked few titles out of 1,000 is to me not real BC. We need 100% BC and not just "some titles, 37%" - BC. A NAIS FEETURE, that´s it.

NOT A GAMECHANGER! When ppl. play 10 year old games on newer hardware, than new games that´s a bad sign. I didnt buy a PS4 to play PS3 or PS2 games on it. Nor the publishers wont you to play old stinkers, when their new games are out ...

IF IT WERE SO GREAT, SO PERFECT, SO MAJESTIC? why did Microsoft stop supporting it end of 2019????!!!!11111 because of Scarletto? A lame excuse. And this tweet shows how bad the situation really was, still is and not how great selective-hand-picked-BC for 10 year old games are.

Xbox One users largely ignore backward-compatible Xbox 360 games [Updated]

Our original report has been updated.

arstechnica.com

This one will throw you.

Old games are more fun than most new games. That's why people like to play them. Yes it is a bad sign, much like the modern movie industry, the games industry mostly sucks too.

And how is the BC team halting BC on X1 to work on BC on Scarlet a lame excuse.

BC is a nice extra feature that isn't nearly as important as some make it out to be.

Why have they remastered dozens of movies from the 70s and 80s onto 4K discs?

 

[Great Hair]

Because those are two different teams. And sure old games are better than most shit we get these days ... but from a "we get new hardware, to play newest shit" stand point : RETRO is an hindrance, publishers aint making shit by selling 10 year old games and in a newer ending growing game catalog, you want more games?

Soon we will suffer the same faith as steam users. 10,000 games and played only 3% of them. A nice feature, no gamechanger. (suffice to say, that this applies to Sony and Microsoft and Nintenda aswell)

 

[Psykodad]

Why have they remastered dozens of movies from the 70s and 80s onto 4K discs?

Because they sell.