Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility Q&A
1. Will the Xbox 360 be backward compatible with the Xbox?
Yes, the Xbox 360 will be backward compatible with the Xbox. To take advantage of these features though, the Xbox 360 hard drive is required.
2. If I buy the Xbox 360 Core System (no hard drive), can I play Xbox games?
Yes, but you’ll need to purchase the Xbox 360 hard drive, which is sold separately as an accessory.
3. Many game publications claimed the Xbox 360 won’t be backward compatible with the Xbox. Is that true?
No, that is false and pure rampant speculation based on the fact that Microsoft changed its technology partners for the CPU (from Intel to IBM) and GPU (from nVIDIA to ATI). This speculation ended when Microsoft officially announced that the Xbox 360 will be backward compatible with the Xbox.
4. When did Microsoft confirm that the Xbox 360 will be backward compatible with the Xbox 360?
Microsoft confirmed that the Xbox 360 will be backward compatible with “top-selling Xbox games” on May 16th, 2005 at the E3 2005 Xbox Press briefing. On November 12th, Microsoft announced the initial list of Xbox games that will be playable on Xbox 360 at launch.
5. What does the “compatible with top-selling Xbox games” means?
It means that the most popular Xbox titles, based on sales figures, will be playable on the Xbox 360. However, Microsoft has not released official information as to which titles will be backward compatible.
6. So that means that not all Xbox games will be playable on the Xbox 360?
At the moment, Microsoft has announced the initial list of Xbox games that will be playable on Xbox 360 at launch. After launch, Microsoft will increase the backward compatibility capabilities of the Xbox 360.
7. Will there be any benefit from running Xbox games on the Xbox 360?
Yes, ALL Xbox games will be able to run at 720p (1280x720) with full screen anti-aliasing (FSAA) on the Xbox 360.
8. Which Xbox games will be playable on the Xbox 360 at launch?
The following is the complete list of game that will be playable on Xbox 360 at launch:
* AirForce Delta Storm
* Alias™
* Aliens versus Predator™ Extinction
* All-Star Baseball™ 2003
* Amped®: Freestyle Snowboarding
* Army Men®: Sarge's War™
* Atari® Anthology™
* ATV: Quad Power Racing 2™
* Baldur's Gate™: Dark Alliance™ II
* Barbarian
* Barbie™ Horse Adventures™ Wild Horse Rescue™
* Batman Begins™
* Battle Engine Aquila
* Battlestar Galactica™
* BMX XXX™
* Brute Force™
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer™: Chaos Bleeds
* Cabela’s® Dangerous Hunts™
* Cabela’s® Outdoor Adventures™ 06
* Cabela's® Deer Hunt™ 2005 Season
* Cabela's® Deer Hunt™ 2004 Season
* Call of Cthulhu®: Dark Corners of the Earth™
* Call of Duty™: Finest Hour™
* Casino
* Catwoman™
* Chicago Enforcer
* Circus Maximus
* Close Combat: First to Fight
* Codename: Kids Next Door™
* Colin McRae Rally 4
* Combat Elite: WWII Paratroopers™
* Commandos 2: Men of Courage™
* Conflict: Desert Storm
* Constantine™
* Crash Twinsanity™
* Crash Nitro Kart™
* Crimson Skies®: High Road to Revenge™
* Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon™
* Curse: The Eye of Isis
* Dark Angel
* Darkwatch™
* Dead or Alive® 3
* Deathrow
* Digimon® Rumble Arena®
* Dinotopia
* Drake™
* Egg Mania™: Eggstreme Madness
* ESPN MLS ExtraTime 2002
* Euro 2004
* F1 2001
* Fable®
* Fable®: The Lost Chapters™
* Fairly Odd Parents: Breakin' da Rules
* FIFA Soccer 2003
* FIFA Soccer 2004
* FIFA STREET
* Fight Night 2004
* Fight Night Round 2
* Ford Mustang
* Ford vs. Chevy
* Forza Motorsport™
* Freedom Fighters™
* Frogger Beyond™
* Futurama™
* Fuzion Frenzy®
* Genma Onimusha
* Goblin Commander™: Unleash the Horde
* Grand Theft Auto 3
* Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
* Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas™
* Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt.
* Grooverider: Slot Car Thunder
* Half-Life® 2
* Halo®
* Halo® 2
* Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire™
* Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone™
* He-Man: Defender of Grayskull
* Hitman: Contracts™
* House of the Dead 3
* IHRA Drag Racing Sportsman Edition
* IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005™
* Jade Empire™
* James Bond 007™: NightFire™
* Judge Dredd®: Dredd vs. Death™
* Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
* Kabuki™ Warriors
* Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer
* kill.switch
* Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events™
* LOONS—The Fight for Fame
* Manhunt
* Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX™ 2
* Max Payne
* Max Payne® 2
* Medal of Honor European Assault™
* Medal of Honor™ Frontline
* Medal of Honor™ Rising Sun
* Mega Man® Anniversary Collection
* Metal Arms™: Glitch in the System
* MicroMachines
* Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing
* Monster Garage™
* Mortal Kombat®: Deception™
* MTV Music Generator™ 3
* Murakumo: Renegade Mech Pursuit
* MX World Tour™: Featuring Jamie Little
* Namco Museum™
* NBA LIVE 2003
* NBA LIVE 2004
* Need For Speed™ Underground 2
* NFL Blitz 2002
* NFL Blitz 2003
* NFL Blitz 2004
* NHL® 2004
* NHL Hitz™ 2003
* Ninja Gaiden®
* Ninja Gaiden® Black
* Outlaw Golf 2
* Outlaw Volleyball
* Pariah™
* Phantom Crash™
* Pinball Hall of Fame™
* Pitfall®: The Lost Expedition™
* Predator Concrete Jungle™
* Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time™
* Pro Evolution Soccer 5
* Pro Race Driver™
* Pump It Up™: Exceed
* Pure Pinball
* Puyo Pop Fever
* Quantum Redshift®
* Rayman Arena
* Raze's Hell™
* Red Dead Revolver
* Red Faction® II
* RedCard™ 2003
* Robotech: Battlecry
* Rocky™ Legends
* Rogue Ops
* Samurai Jack
* Samurai Warriors™
* Scooby Doo!™ Night of 100 Frights
* Scrapland
* SEGA GT™ 2002
* Shadow The Hedgehog™
* Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures
* ShellShock: Nam '67™
* Sid Meier's Pirates!®
* Sneakers™
* Sniper Elite
* Soccer Slam
* Sonic Heroes™
* Sonic Mega Collection™ Plus
* Speed Kings™
* Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy™
* Splat Magazine Renegade Paintball
* SpongeBob SquarePants™: Battle for Bikini Bottom
* SpyHunter® 2
* Spyro™ A Hero's Tail
* SSX 3
* Stake™
* Star Trek: Shattered Universe
* Star Wars®: Episode III Revenge of the Sith™
* Star Wars®: The Clone Wars™
* Star Wars® Jedi Knight®: Jedi Academy™
* Star Wars: Starfighter™ Special Edition
* Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™
* Star Wars® Knights of the Old Republic® II: The Sith Lords™
* Street Racing Syndicate™
* Stubbs the Zombie™ in Rebel without a Pulse™
* Super Bubble Pop
* Super Monkey Ball™ Deluxe
* SX Superstar™
* Tecmo Classic Arcade
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™
* Test Drive®: Eve of Destruction
* Tetris Worlds™
* The Great Escape
* The Hulk™
* The Incredible Hulk™: Ultimate Destruction
* The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
* The Lord of the Rings™: The Return of the King™
* The Simpsons™ Hit and Run™
* The Simpsons™ Road Rage
* The Terminator™ Dawn of Fate
* The Thing™
* Thief: Deadly Shadows™
* Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
* Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® 3
* Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater™ 4
* Tony Hawk's Underground 2
* Tork™: Prehistoric Punk™
* Toxic Grind
* Ty The Tasmanian Tiger™
* Ty the Tasmanian Tiger™ 2: Bush Rescue™
* Ty the Tasmanian Tiger™ 3: Night of the Quinkan
* Urban Freestyle Soccer
* Vexx™
* Volvo: Drive for Life
* World Series® Baseball 2K3
* Worms 4 Mayhem
* Worms™ Forts: Under Siege
* WWE™ Raw™ 2
* XIII
* Yourself!Fitness™
9. So, how does backward compatibility work on the Xbox 360?
Backward compatibility in the Xbox 360 works like in all other backward compatible consoles; through emulation.
10. What is emulation?
As the name suggests, emulation is the process of provide the functions of one system with a different system so that the latter appears to behave like the first system. In the case of the Xbox 360 backward compatibility, the emulation will consist of making Xbox games think they are running on the Xbox hardware when, in fact, they are running on a different console (the Xbox 360).
11. I heard there are hardware and software emulations. What type of emulation is the one used on the Xbox 360?
The Xbox 360 will use a combination of both hardware and software emulations.
It is a hardware emulation because the hardware architecture has changed dramatically (CPU changed from a x86 to a PowerPC architecture and the GPU changed from DirectX 8 to “well beyond DirectX 9”).
It is also a software emulation because Microsoft needs to develop a piece of software that allows the Xbox games to run on a different platform other than the one they were written for. The fact that there is a different architecture and hardware, forces this software emulator to simulate the Xbox hardware, accept the Xbox code, execute the Xbox games, and provide the same performance of the Xbox videogame system. Not only does this software emulate the Xbox CPU and GPU, but also provides the functionality of some other hardware components found on the Xbox that no longer exist in the Xbox 360.
12. How can Microsoft increase the amount of Xbox titles that can be played on the Xbox 360 after launch?
Thanks to the power of Xbox Live, yes. The software giant will offer updates (emulation profiles) to its software emulator so the Xbox 360 can offer backward compatibility to more Xbox titles; Xbox games that might not be playable on the Xbox 360 at first but will be playable in the months after the console’s launch.
13. How would I get new updates if I don’t have a paid subscription to Xbox Live?
You no longer need to pay to get Xbox Live. The new Xbox Live Silver level will allow you to access to basic Xbox Live features such as the Marketplace and hopefully to backward compatibility updates and emulation profiles. To read more about Xbox Live Silver and Xbox Live Gold, check out the Xbox Live section of this FAQ.
14. What are “emulation profiles”?
Although none of this is official, it has been reported that Microsoft will implement a per title emulation in the form of emulation profiles. Richard Huddy of ATI Technologies (one of the technology partners Microsoft chose for the Xbox 360) was the first to reveal the existence of these emulation profiles. Huddy said:
“They have implemented compatibility purely through emulation. It looks like emulation profiles for each game are going to be stored on the hard drive, and I imagine that a certain number will ship with the system. They already have the infrastructure to distribute more profiles via Live, and more and more can be made available online periodically.”
To read more about Richard Huddy comments on Xbox 360 backwards compatibility, click here.
15. How am I going to know which Xbox games are compatible with the Xbox 360?
We simply don’t know at this point but we guess that the backward compatibility technology will detect when any Xbox game is loaded onto the Xbox 360 and inform you if that game can be playable on the Xbox 360 or not.
16. I heard that Microsoft can’t make Xbox 360 backward compatible with the Xbox because they don’t own the Intellectual Property of the nVIDIA technology found on the Xbox console. Is that true?
That is partially true and partially false. It is a true that Microsoft doesn’t own the intellectual property to the nVIDIA technology found in the chips (GPU and MCPX) provided by nVIDIA; however it is false that the Xbox 360 won’t be backward compatible with the Xbox.
17. Some Xbox games might use specific functions found in the nVIDIA chips. When emulating those specific hardware capabilities, isn’t Microsoft violating copyrights by emulating an nVIDIA technology?
Probably, but it has been rumored that Microsoft has acquired the intellectual property for nVIDIA technology used in the Xbox chips.
18. Why is the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Revolution backward compatible with previous systems without all this complexity?
Because both Sony and Nintendo own the intellectual property for the technologies used in their past consoles.
19. Will the successor to the Xbox 360 require all this complex technology to be backward compatible with the Xbox 360?
Probably not because this time Microsoft acquired the intellectual property for the technology created for the Xbox 360. In the previous generation, Microsoft basically bought the parts from Intel and nVIDIA like a PC builder or a graphic card maker, without acquiring the intellectual rights for that technology.
For the Xbox 360, Microsoft acquired the licensing rights for the specific IBM, ATI and SiS technologies used in the Xbox 360, which means that it owns the intellectual property for it and therefore it can emulate it without restrictions. This has allowed Microsoft, among other things, to manufacture the parts with whoever they choose, becoming what is known in the industry as a fabless company.
This new model was an idea of Todd Holmdahl, Corporate Vice President of the Xbox Product Group at Microsoft.
20. Can I System Link the Xbox and the Xbox 360 to play an Xbox game?
As of yet it remains unknown if the emulation technology will allow such a level of backward compatibility.
21. Can the Xbox 360 play normal Xbox games both online and offline?
Microsoft has not yet revealed the backward compatibility features so it is unknown if it will be possible for an Xbox game to also use Xbox Live when it is played on Xbox 360.
22. Will Xbox 360 be able to play backup or copies of present Xbox games?
No. Just like the current Xbox, Xbox 360 won’t allow consumers to play backup copies of games.
23. Why can't Microsoft make an Xbox 1 emulator for the Xbox 360 that can have all of the Xbox games working on the Xbox 360?
Because an all-in-one emulator would only be able to offer a simple emulation that would not offer Xbox Live compatibility and other advanced features such as cross platform System Link.
SOURCE - OFFICIAL MICROSOFT ANNOUNCEMENT
