Wired Review: Why Xbox Originals Need A Major Overhaul

Wired Game|Life - Susan Arendt, December 07, 2007:

"Preserving the classics is all well and good, but at what price?"

Arendt reviews Xbox Originals on Xbox 360 and reveals many problems: glitchy emulation, buggy gameplay, a lack of Achievements and extra features, the $15 asking price for each old title, and the lack of current game selection.

[WilliamRLBaker]

Agreed, they could easily have added achievements at the 360 level, online would have been harder but achievements could have been done and would have added a nice quality to the games and replayability for those that all ready have em.

[The Milkman]

This could have been realy good idea if they would have enabled private chat and achievements for the Xbox originals. Otherwise I can just go buy the disc and maybe even find a used one cheaper and with more features than the downloaded content one. Unless you have a 120gb HDD and you want to use that space for something, I wouldnt even consider it.

[Silver360]

As least not without opening up the game and rewriting the the game code. Achievements are part of game code and adding them to the code at this late date could have caused the game to crash in new and f'd up ways. And let's be honest the days for most of these games belong in the past.

[WilliamRLBaker]

they could have easily done it, by writing code into the software emulator that checked for certain conditions, code that monitored memory addresses running within the game, Achievements dont have to be part of the game.

[riksweeney]

@WilliamRLBaker

I agree with what you've written apart from the word "easily". MAME has a cheat engine which essentially monitors the virtual memory addresses and allows them to be changed.

Then again, it's unlikely that you could, say, have an achievement for collecting or destroying a certain number of items if the number is never stored anywhere.

Ultimately it just sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

[Sam Fisher]

its not like they r actually in a cd rom or sumthing. u download them and thats it so they have the power and possibilities to do so just put the data in and thats it b/c every1s downloading it. not buying them on cdroms (or wat ever it is)

[Zhuk]

My only complaint is that they improve their emulator, I have no qualms about the price but the game should run good for 1200 points

[Sam Fisher]

i mean come on at least 800 or 1000 points b/c 360 titles r already 1200 and 1000 so it wouldnt be right 4 the 360 titlles to be at the same qualities as an original thats disgraceful

[SynGamer]

As many gamers have stated already, these prices are marked up at least 50% compared to buying them in a store or online. So at least a 50% markup and yet we received only the game with no option to trade/sell later on.

That is my problem with Xbox Live's arcade features, the lack of being able to resell our games. Or at least let us trade them if i have one game and a person has another. I imagine MS could have implemented something along the lines of allowing users to sell an arcade game or trade it for another. Just select the game, click trade/sell, select who you want to offer the game to and put in the price/game you want in return. The buyer can approve or deny the transaction. Should they approve, that game is queued up and downloaded, points deducted if it was a sale, and the seller is prompted next time to delete the game if they choose or leave it as a trial.

[WilliamRLBaker]

no other online service has done this so how is it that microsoft could have done it?

[tplarkin7]

My experience with Xbox games has been good. The nice thing is that they all run at 720p.

[BIGBAER]

Psychonauts runs great on my Elite; it is an awesome game. A friend already has downloaded Crimson Skies and says it runs great as well.

I have no complaints at all. In fact, I like the idea of downloads. I downloaded a 2nd copy of Psychonauts onto my other 360 using my same profile. Just as with arcade games, once you buy it, you own it.

[Daxx]

I would of re-bought Halo if they atleast added achievements. -_-

[Lex Luthor]

Achievements and upscaling please.

[InMyOpinion]

I'm playing Mass Effect.

[AngryTypingGuy]

I was considering downloading Fable to get ready for Fable 2, but I'll probably just by a used copy instead.

[R M Spender]

i wonder if they could be added later as DL content? i know its everyones complaint if they have one. achievements would get people who own the game already to DL it or spend ten bucks when you can pick em up used for two.

[socsca]

Downloaded Psychonauts to see what its all about, so far its running like its supposed to. Fak the 1200 points tho, way too expensive. Just buy it used somewhere, augment that library of yours.

[whoelse]

Personally i would have expected them to get the emulation right before releasing it.

[DFresh]

total rip
I can get Flow, Super Star Dust, etc.
for $10 each and there in 1080p so
MS is hustling all of you
just accept it
why would I play a gay game like Geometry Wars
when I have those games I just mentioned

[socsca]

exactly what about geometry wars is gay? That was an incredibly stupid comment man, hope when you grow up (I'm guessing you are... 12?) you somehow grow a brain.

[JosefTor]

I heard achievements are really easy for a developer to add. It is almost fully automated... the only thing the developer needs to do is figure out what to add the achievement too. In these old game they could just tie it to finishing the levels in the game. That definitely would make me play fable, crimson skies, and Halo again. As for $15... that is an alright price. $10 would have been prime though.

[zonetrooper5]

I'll probaly buy Fable used in a shop instead of the 1200 points it costs. I think MS should have Xbox Hits, not the arcade one but for Xbox Orginals so they could be sold at either 400-800 MS points.

[caffman]

thats all I want really