Xbox Originals and Backwards Compatibility come to an end
Rebuying Live & Reloaded and Ghoulies on the service very unlikely
All is not well in Microsoft land. Sure, they undoubtedly stole the recent E3 show and have made a good impression with their future offerings, but what about the past?
In recent time, MR asked Global Marketing Director, Albert Pennello, regarding the future of Backwards Compatibility for the 360. While Rare fans got what they wanted, his answers were very interesting. He insisted that if there has been a title that we haven’t seen backwards compatible yet, it’s because that there have been technical difficulties putting them on the service. “People are moving on,” he said, “would you rather have those guys working on that or doing something new?” in reference to the new Xbox Live Avatar-filled Dashboard.
What does this have to do with Xbox Originals, you may ask? Through different insider sources, MundoRare can confirm that Xbox Originals, the service that re-releases some Xbox 1 titles on Xbox Live, won’t be around for the same reason that Backwards Compatibility will most likely never see another update again. “I think they are pretty much done with that,” another source told us.
The fact of the matter is that Microsoft is using all its resources on providing updates for the future instead of the past. While it’s sad that Ghoulies can’t get a second chance at grabbing you by the heartstrings in sales, video game companies (not just Microsoft) tend to abandon the past when there’s potential for making money. Our source also noted that companies do pay attention to the digital distribution, meaning that if Ghoulies somehow got re-released and sold a good amount through the service, maybe, just maybe, we could see an elusive “Ghoulsville in the Gloom“. You know, in our own lifetimes. Hey, if Beyond Good & Evil can get a sequel…
The bright side is that if you can find Ghoulies (and Live & Reloaded to an extent) for cheap these days, you can play them on the 360 and experience a game that’s aged well with time.
Somehow related news
- Dinosaur Planet originally was Diddy Kong Racing 2 ()
- Conker’s at last backwards compatible ()
- Conker’s Xbox outing not reloading for now ()
- Conker’s Xbox outing is still enjoyed, glitches and all ()
- PDZ and Conker in 2006 top 20 for Xbox systems ()
9 Comments
Perfect Dark can’t come to XBOX Originals anyway. It was never on XBOX.
I’m kinda bummed about this news though as I was really hoping to see Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath made compatible.
Comment by Farron — 25.Aug.08 @ 11:46 am
I wonder if the real reason is because instead of releasing them as Xbox Originals, they’ll add achievements and release them to the arcade.
Comment by Stephen — 25.Aug.08 @ 3:47 pm
No backward compatibility means no respect for their customers.
i bought the original xbox and the 360, and i must have both connected to play with them.
If my xbox 1 gets kaput, how will i play the xbox 1 games ?
MS should had think of that when was planning the 360.
How can they get leaders in the game business if they do so poor console plans ????
The one game that everyone want MS to release on 360 was no other than Mechassualt. This game was so much fun to play whether its a single player or Multiplay thru live. From my understanding this is one of those games that was VERY difficult to port/emulate so it can be play on your 360. Anyways… The best thing to do is get your self a decent condition XBOX put a Modchip and install a 750gig HD and ripp your games onto the drive and enjoy on the GREATEST console ever made “XBOX” RIP
RxM
Comment by RealXboxMaster — 26.Aug.08 @ 6:37 pm
Yeay indeed awesome to place a 750gig disc in a console that only supports 120 gig because of its FAT system. LOL.
Comment by Xforce — 27.Aug.08 @ 1:11 am
What the hell are you talking about? I have a 300gb in mine.
Comment by Reese Kaine — 27.Aug.08 @ 7:39 am
Yeah, you can still make large HDD that run off of FAT32. You just can’t use windows to format those drives.
I’ve got 240 gigs in my orginal Xbox. One of the best systems I’ve had, and the one that got me into the mod scene.
The real reason they don’t want to put MechAssault onto the backward compatiablity list is because that was one of the games that had a backdoor to get into the xbox and flash it.
Comment by JustDanMI — 27.Aug.08 @ 5:44 pm
This would probably mean that games like Perfect Dark won’t ever be ported to Xbox Originals. THAT is why this news is very dissapointing.
Comment by Tim Schaefer — 25.Aug.08 @ 8:13 am