Backwards Compatibility Matters

Many outlets and people seem to be negative towards the aspect of playing Xbox 360 games on Xbox One. It's rather ridiculous and this article explores the reasons why this feature is important moving forward.

[SpaceRanger]

I wonder why no one boasts about BC on the Wii U? It's been on the Wii U since launch.

It's a great gaming feature to have. Considering that MS put all their chips in TV features at the beginning, while everyone else focused on revolutionary gaming features. So it's a great path and change that they're taking. But it's not THE game changer that's going to turn the tide for the Xbox one.

[gangsta_red]

"I wonder why no one boasts about BC on the Wii U?"

Maybe because the WiiU is BC with the original Wii library, a library that is not filled with a whole lot of games people wanted to play. A library that was filled with shovelware and games for casuals with a few gems here and there.

Also, another reason why you don't hear a lot of people boasting about the WiiU is because the WiiU is not really selling well. And those issues as to why it's not selling is not related to anything that has to do with BC.

"while everyone else focused on revolutionary gaming features."

Like what in particular?

[SpaceRanger]

"Also, another reason why you don't hear a lot of people boasting about the WiiU is because the WiiU is not really selling well."

Lmao!!
It's 3 million behind the Xbox One and you're saying it's not selling well? I wonder how you see the Xbox One being 10+ million behind the PS4?

"Like what in particular?"

I'm going to name the top one so that we can avoid all of the banter that will follow with other people commenting below and comparing features from launch till now. And that feature is Remote Play. Nothing comes close to how it works functionality wise since launch. Being able to play games on your PS4 from your house or from hundreds of miles away (I've personally done this on many of my trips) is something no one has yet to achieve on any other console. Streaming games outside of your home is in fact revolutionary to this gen when compared to last gen.

[SuperStatePro]

Space Ranger - 3 million behind X1, with twice the time on sale..

[starchild]

The other reason I think some of us don't make as big of a deal about BC on the Wii U is because it's already easy to emulate Wii games on PC with much higher fidelity graphics than on Wii U.

The Xbox 360, on the other hand, still hasn't really been emulated on PC, and there are a lot of great games in the 360 library.

[darthv72]

"Remote Play" really SpaceRanger..You consider that the top feature?

[gangsta_red]

"It's 3 million behind the Xbox One and you're saying it's not selling well?"

So is the WiiU not selling well something of a new revelation to you?

Remote Play is a cool feature, one I haven't personally used because I really don't see the reason for it. I don't see it as a "revolutionary" game changing feature either, but it is something that is nice have as a free feature on PS4 and I could use it down the road when the opportunity arrives...the same as BC for Xbox One.

"Streaming games outside of your home"

I'm almost positive that this has been around prior to PSNow. But I do think that PSNow has the potential to be a service that could be revolutionary if done right. If priced right like for instance Netflix streaming model and they also offer their back catalog AND new games that could be very revolutionary.

[SpaceRanger]

"So is the WiiU not selling well something of a new revelation to you?"

So the Wii U isn't selling well because it's at 10 million, yet the Xbox One is selling just fine at 13 million? Like I said, using that same logic then the Xbox One isn't selling that well.

"I'm almost positive that this has been around prior to PSNow. But I do think that PSNow has the potential to be a service that could be revolutionary if done right. If priced right like for instance Netflix streaming model and they also offer their back catalog AND new games that could be very revolutionary."

I was talking about Remote Play, not PSNow. It's something that's been around since the start of this gen. The ability to stream PS4 games outside of your home. It's not confined to being on the same wi-fi system in order for it to function.

[n4rc]

its 3m behind (and even more for ps4) and been out a year longer.. after coming off 150m sales of the wii

where xbox one is selling better then the 360 and beating last gens winner..

pretty big stretch to say its the same logic.

[KiwiViper85]

I'm getting a bit sick of seeing you in every Xbox One article to be honest. Your trying way to hard to convince us that our Xbox One's suck, but we know the truth.

Hate-speech wont change our opinions.

Can you just do us a favour and stick to Sony articles?

[gangsta_red]

Are we trying to compare sales of the Xbox One and WiiU or are we discussing the reason why no one boasts about BC for WiiU?

There has been numerous articles about the WiiU not being as successful as it could have been. It's no secret that it has not sold well, why are we trying to compare that to the Xbox One?

And Remote Play is a cool feature, but again I don't feel it's revolutionary, it's definitely not a game changer.

So again, the reason why no one boasts about BC for WiiU is because the Wii catalog of games are not as robust or even enticing like the huge back catalog of games for 360.

There are still games from last gen on the 360 that i have not played and if I had the chance would try them.

[Rookie_Monster]

Give it a rest, Ranger, with your crusade to downplay BC. LoL

BC this generation is different than what it was last gen or anytime before it.

The reason why BC is more important this gen than last gen is because many games from the x360/ps3 era are digital in nature, with achievement, DLCs, gamerscores, tied to your account, and the games were 720p HD ready that still looks great on today's TV. The PS2/xbox/Wii era games have none of that;thus, that is why it wasn't as big big a deal back then. 

MS knocked it out of the park with their BC because not only are everything carried over from the x360, XB1 features such as DVR, Snap, and steaming can also be used for last gen titles.

Can't wait for my free Free Fallout 3 and all 4 Gears games with my purchase of Fallout 4 and Gears Ultimate, respectively. Oh, and did you hear all X360 Gold games will be playable on XB1 from now on? COOL isn't it? ;)

[Trekster_Gamer]

Wiiu backwards compatibility is a joke. Most Wii games were crappy shovelware the 360 far and away has games that are awesome.

Wiiu is trailing and came out 2 years earlier.

[Shineon]

Because wii graphics suck and ps3 and 360 graphics still can kind of keep up with next Gen consoles, it's just more impressive dude, wii was casual nice but casual

[otherZinc]

Yes, Backwards Compatability matters. I'm about to beat Gears One again...And I'm still buying the Gears Of War One Ultimate Edition!

Ultimate will have 5 new stages!
Day 1 for me!

[RiseofScorpio]

Are you really gonna go there? First off the Wii had next to no third party support and if it did the games were vastly inferior compared to other consoles. Secondly the most sought after games would be Mario, Zelda etc some of which all ready have sequels on the Wii U or the games are on the Shop.

[medman]

Backwards compatibility is a nice option to have, but it's not a game changer by any means. The fat ps3 had backwards compatibility...Sony felt comfortable dropping the feature because their market research indicated (as did Microsoft's) that a small percentage of gamers actually go back and play old titles, despite the noise you hear about the feature.

I still have my 360 and ps3, along with a ps4 and pc. My ps3 is my blu ray player, and my 360 only sees runtime for the espn app. Once new systems come along, the vast majority of players want new experiences, new ip's, new ways to play. It's funny you hear so many people say they're sick to death of sequels, yet these are the same people claiming backwards compatibility is critical. Typical.

[Sonyslave3]

One the Wii u have really no Third party games to brag about.

The xbox 360 have a huge catlog of third party games hell wii don't even have elders scroll or any of the heavy hitters on it .

[triverse]

When you have two generations of first party Nintendo titles to enjoy, do you really need all that many 3rd party titles?

[Sonyslave3]

Well contrary to popular believe a lot of adults owned Wii u and they want GTA & Saint Rows and all the other heavy hitters really bad hell look at all the petition online.

Wii U fans are mad Project Cars is not coming to there system even though they have MarioKart.

[ShaunCameron]

Judging by the actual number of people that signed the petition to bring GTA to the Wii U, most of the Wii U's userbase don't really care about GTA. Many that did care already owned a PS3 or XBox 360.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

It's funny that the Wii U has BC and gets no hype like Xbox one now. I remmember back when Ninty guys bragged about it and both PS and Xbox fanboys were like, "I don't care. I bought this to play current gen games" and so on. Now Microsuave managed to do BC and boom! Mow we care!

Stop bragging about it already. It's something cool to have but it's not something from another world. As a PS4 player I'm not annoyed by that and I could care less.

[Sonyslave3]

lol I don't recall Wii u fanboys even bragging about having BC or anything .

Hell only time I even remember Wii U fanboys bragging about anything is BAyonetta 2 being exclusive 2 Wii u.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"lol I don't recall Wii u fanboys even bragging about having BC or anything"

Because you talked to all the Wii U owners and have an account on all the gaming sites right?

[gangsta_red]

@Emix

And XiKurapikaKurta who made just as big of a claim did the leg work you're expecting from Sonyslave???

Hilarious the absurd things you will believe and defend.

[gangsta_red]

"I remmember back when Ninty guys bragged about it and both PS and Xbox fanboys were like, "I don't care. I bought this to play current gen games" and so on"

I don't remember any Nintendo guys bragging about BC. Pretty sure you're making that up.

I do remember Sony taking BC out of PS3 and Sony guys saying "we don't care we I bought a PS3 to play PS3 games!". I also remember BC on the X1 forums being one of the top requested features to be added on Xbox One.

But I do see a lot of Playstation owners like yourself on this site stating how they don't care about BC.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"I don't remember any Nintendo guys bragging about BC. Pretty sure you're making that up"

The slowness is real with this one. When did you read all forums all over the world and talk to all gamers?

http://techland.time.com/20...

Took less the 2 seconds on Google bud. I don't even know why you would argue against something like that, seriously.

I'm sure you didn't remember though...I mean you seem to not remember much.

How is Wii U doing btw with its amazing BC? lolz, those reasons for Wii U being better look a lot like your funny list on why XONE is better (yet losing).

Funny how folks are pointing out that XONE and Wii U are closer in sales then PS4 is to XONE...the lolz.

[gangsta_red]

@Edmix

Wow... I remember your comments used to be somewhat coherent but lately...

Anyways..so one article equals Nintendo guys bragging about it and that in turns shows PS and Xbox fanboys saying "they don't need it, blah, blah, blah" as XiKurapikaKurta states above right?

"Funny how folks are pointing out that XONE and Wii U are closer in sales then PS4 is to XONE...the lolz."

Yea, extremely funny right? How it took WiiU a year longer to get somewhat close to X1 sales but still be behind or that you and a certain group of others would even find that funny or that I would even care.

Also funny how that has nothing to do with the topic of BC but always gets regurgitated by a certain group when they have nothing else to work with.

lolz, lmao, lofaml, LO..F..mO?? Sorry I should have just stuck with "bud".

[magiciandude]

I went shopping at the mall for clothes yesterday and I was talking with one of the store workers that shows customers a lot of cool shirts with cool designs, I pointed out on one shirt that has a design similar to what I want to use for my website in the making. He asked me what kind of website, and I answered it's a gaming site. The conversation went from a sales promotion to a gaming conversation and he told me he bought an Xbox One a few days ago and BC is a huge part of the Xbox One conversation.

We are now friends because of this. I have been making new friends at GameStop and other stores just because of Xbox One's BC. Strange how that works, this never happened to me before, and I wasn't even trying at all. These Sony only fanboys can try to convince me that BC is irrelevant all they want. The fact is there are so many gamers that want it, and considering how both MS and Sony have been anti-BC since the beginning of this generation, this is a huge sigh of relief and a ray of hope for the future on MS' part. Now, the main reason why BC is important for MS is the Xbox One will now have more games to play than the PS4, and that doesn't need bunch of cheap, uninspired indies padding up the storefront to accomplish that.

The Sony crowd is simply jealous that the Xbox One has a major gaming feature that their PS4 will never get, even though Sony themselves said BC is a core value when they launched the PS3, and even though Sony gamers bragged about the PS3 BC being superior to that the Xbox 360's, they're now here invading every single article about the feature downplaying it with all their might, just because it's not Sony. The same people would bounce off the walls if it was for Sony. Can't fool anyone about that one!

[Sonyslave3]

But BC was the number 1 request feature on xbox official website going back the last year or so.

[Metallox]

But the author is just saying this:

"It's best to just stop focusing on every bit of negativity and just enjoy the games you've loved over the life of Xbox 360 on Xbox One."

That's a nice summary. Though I agree the title of the piece is very misleading, BC is a nice feature, but it doesn't really matter and the word itself just turns on once more this machine of the console wars.

[starchild]

I absolutely love the fact my PC has backwards compatibility. I wish my PS4 did because my PS3 is artifacting in some games and is probably on its way out.

If I owned a WiiU or cared about Wii games I would think its BC was important too, but sadly I haven't found very many reasons to care about recent Nintendo consoles. I know some people do and that's great, as long as people are happy. It's just a matter of personal taste.

Anyway, BC is a great feature in general and I always want the gaming platforms I own to have it.

[FallenAngel1984]

Of course it matters. I made the jump from N64 to PS2, and the backwards compatibility allowed me to experience the PS1's great classic library that I missed out on. GBA, DS, and PS3's backwards compatibility made the jump to upgrade so much easier.

[TheGreatGamer]

It definitely matters for me as someone who owns 100+ Xbox 360 games of which some are my favourite games I've ever played. You can't damage control against this one, there's literally nothing negative about Microsoft providing free backwards compatibility

[_-EDMIX-_]

"someone who owns 100+ Xbox 360 games"

.....doesn't XONE have limited BC?

Where is your 360?

I mean...its a nice feature and I agree you can't damage control it, but you also can't make it sound like the second coming if this feature is lessor and merely is a nice feature that lets you put away your 360 for the time being...for some games.

I mean....worse if you don't own a 360 too as it questions, how good was the feature for you to not keep your 360?

Not saying thats your situation, just in general.

[KiwiViper85]

My 360 got packed away the day my Xbox One took its place. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would probably never hook it up again and never play my games again.

What a nice surprise it was that Microsoft is going to let me play most of my games again, without the hassle of setting up my 360. With all the added functionality of the DVR, Screenshots, Snap etc, and being able to use my X1 controller.

Just saying, EDMIX, you sound really jealous.

[Metallox]

@KiwiViper85

"With all the added functionality of the DVR, Screenshots, Snap etc, and being able to use my X1 controller."

Seriously? That's very cool.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@Kiwi-....of a feature I have native vs limited? lolz...hardly. I think its nice they gave it for free, but I would hardly say its something worth going nuts about.

100% native BC right now along with next gen and I'm doing pretty fine lol

[KiwiViper85]

Wow look how many bubbles you used, for a topic your not interested in...

[lemoncake]

Last gen lasted almost a decade so that's almost a decade worth of games that BC can allow access to.

[desertpunk86]

not to sony owners they are more than happy to play their last gen games on a restricted service which requires super high speed internet and a sub that cost twice more than onlive and pay for them "remastered" games again.

sony fanboys because everything sony does is justified.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I mean...what if I own a PS3 and PS4 or a 360 and XONE? lol, wouldn't this news sorta be "meh" to me?

lolz.

[Rookie_Monster]

My 120 plus x360 games said it does matter. Now Instead of having 2 consoles taking up space and switching back n forth, I can have everything consolidated into a single console and enjoy features like DVr, snap, screenshots, steaming, and every new features the XB1 hardware and software provide.

It is a win win in my book and it matters to xbox gamers. If you are not a XB1 owner, then it doesn't matter or concern you, of course.

[_-EDMIX-_]

", I can have everything consolidated into a single console"

yes....with less support. I see.

[Rookie_Monster]

Less is better than none. ;)

[_-EDMIX-_]

lol I mean, your right, it is. But

"Now Instead of having 2 consoles taking up space and switching back n forth"

Clearly...you already have the best version of BC, this is just a nice feature.

[Perjoss]

Seriously, am I the only person that held onto their 360? because people are acting like the governments took away all the old consoles.

[Immorals]

I gave my xbox 360 to a friend when I got my one, but there are a fair few games I really miss playing that don't have a successor out yet.

This saves me the effort of going all the way to his, packing it up and carrying it all the way home and set it up again before I can play!

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed.

@Immorals- Clearly its something you didn't desire that much then.

[Perjoss]

exactly, this is why i get kind of confused by people getting so excited about BC. If they never had a 360 in the first place it makes sense I guess.

[WelkinCole]

We already seen that it has not given MS even a win a month after it was announced.

Basically the market had determined it is not a game changer feature.

Yes it is excellent for xbox fans regardless. Those ones that still have their collection.

[Bzone24]

It's not available to the masses yet. That'll be in November.

[Kiwi66]

Well given how its in beta still and currently only avalible to preview members what do you expect

[sovkhan]

Ms themselves have said 'it's did not matter' aka used by less than 5% of the people...

And yet every article seems to point at it as the move of the decade /lol

[StrayaKNT]

Maybe because it's in preview and hasnt been released yet lmaooooo?

[sovkhan]

What a preview got to do with it???

Ms said 5% people used it, and you come up with the preview bs, what kind of logic you have???

[StrayaKNT]

It HASNT released yet. The public doesn't have backward compatibility yet only preview members have it. Bc becomes available in November.

#LOGICCCCCCCC

[sovkhan]

Does it negate the fact that only 5% of the gamers care???

[StrayaKNT]

Ofcorse it matters it's the best feature on next gen consoles yet. Xbox one library will have hundreds of games by the end of the year and whiner we purchase multiplats we get the original games with them. What more could you want? New games? Xbox owns 2016 already with its diverse line up

[Paleblood]

What exactly does x1 owns in 2016? As far as I know, PS4 has been dominating this generation since the beginning owning every single market out there in both software and hardware sales.

Just wondering. Maybe I missed something.

[StrayaKNT]

No you're right dude congrats. Except I don't buy my consoles for sales I buy them for games and my xbox one has been dominating with exclusives and looks like 2016 is going to be even better

[ShaunCameron]

And that's in spite of its lack of BC.

[Paleblood]

BC is a good to have feature on the launch of a new console. Historically, BC has never been a game changer, it is an option that few uses.

The question here is why some people are taking this out of proportion and pretending that suddenly BC on x1, totally ignoring other consoles with BC, is a miraculous feature that will boost the x1 to heaven?

Sensationalism? Is there any console in history that has achieved a total success just because it had BC? Never. Even Sony took BC out of the PS3 because it was not used.

[Zcarnut]

Is it a game changer? I wouldn't say that.But let's discuss history for a moment. Last gen really kicked off console online play. It can add to longevity on a title.
So...Maybe it WILL matter more than in the past?

Or maybe its just something nice to have and its free.

[SquidBuck]

Most developers discontinue the servers for the online component of their game after a few years. I'm expecting multiplayer to only work on a few big titles.

[CrowbaitBob]

Console gaming has changed a ton since the PS3 and 360 launched. Console gamers now have large digital libraries of games attached to online profiles. You don't need to have a pile of discs from the previous generation laying around to access your old games.

Anyone with a Steam library recognizes how important it is to have access to your digital library regardless of the hardware you're using.

[TheOnlyMastrx]

I was hoping both Xbox One and PS4 would have BC at launch considering the amount of titles each brand had on last gen, but nope. At least Microsoft is getting it done now, I just like that I won't have to change consoles and HDMI inputs to play my old games. Hopefully things run smooth with BC and more titles are added regularly until they fill the library as much as possible.

[Yetter]

Always so much damage control on these articles. Look, Phil took over, he looked at the numbers of players still playing 360 games and said 'wouldn't it be great if I could get this 50+ million players to upgrade to xb1' and he gave the order to his engineering team to start working on 360 emulation.

Sales numbers have already show that its paying off and this holiday is likely going to be absolutely crazy for MS. And on top of that I've seen a ton of people who own both PS4 and XB1 say they are buying their multiplats on XB1 from now on because of all the free 360 games they are going to get

Yes, it matters. Its a big deal

[objdadon]

Would've mattered two years ago but not now. The next gen releases are about to start flowing by the boatload. We've moved on.

[Fro_xoxo]

of coarse it f^cking matters.

Last gen lasted about a decade, almost 10 years. .

You mean to tell me you've got no memorable games you'd like to revisit or games you missed out on?

To be honest, the only clowns downplaying the ability to play the best games of last gen on the latest consoles are the ones who don't have native access to it.

No one has been convinced.

[JasonKCK]

It matters to me because it's the number one reason I'm getting an X1 next month. I had no plans on getting one at all and just sticking with PC. What MS has shown at E3 and Gamescom has changed my mind. My only hope is that they add the Dead Space series but I think EA is going to remaster those. However I do have 300+ 360 games I would love to bring back upstairs to my main TV.

[Grown Folks Talk]

I'll play all my Splinter Cell games, NCAAF14, Ghost Recon, Alan Wake, Brothers In Arms, & many other digital/arcade titles I spent my $ on.