Xbox 360 backwards compat update brings 84 new titles

In seemingly stark contrast to Sony, whose backwards compatibility stance is moving, um, backwards, Microsoft keeps chugging right along in adding compatible titles to the 360, today announcing an impending update that will "unlock" a further 84 games. According to Joystiq, there are now a total of 465 original Xbox discs that will work on the 360, all supposedly given new life in 720p and 1080i with anti-aliasing. Hit the Read link for the full list of newly-compatible titles, and not to ruin the surprise or anything, but we think that fans of Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee and Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball Max'd will be particularly pleased.

[Via, and image courtesy of, Joystiq]

[brad @ Nov 28th 2007 10:32AM]

hurray for not abondening!

[Ethan @ Nov 28th 2007 10:55AM]

Are you by any chance the policeman from Allo Allo?

[brad @ Nov 28th 2007 11:22AM]

actually, im Rene the cafe owner

[Henri @ Nov 28th 2007 10:33AM]

good news although I kinda would have expected backwards compatibility already at the launch of the 360.

But I'm not qualified to bitch and moan much cause I don't even own a 360...

[booticon @ Nov 28th 2007 10:50AM]

They've had Backwards Compatibility since launch, but it's done via emulation, so they've slowly been adding titles.

[Christopher Grant @ Nov 28th 2007 10:55AM]

That there chart shows the backcompat releases to date. The first bar was the starting line, with 213 games. They've added since then and arrived at 465 which is, if I'm not mistaken, nearly 50% of the original North American Xbox library. Not too shabby.

[Eric @ Nov 28th 2007 11:14AM]

360 backwards compatibility has varying degrees of quality. After trying out Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, I gave up on 360 BC games - it was so slow that you could not lose, and when more than three enemies were on the screen at once it got so slow that you could no longer play it.

I went back and traded the Xbox game for a PS2 game, and played it there - it was way better. I like the 360 for next gen games, but I will never try another last gen game on my console.

[Ethan @ Nov 28th 2007 10:54AM]

All rubbish preowned fodder. Maybe that why they picked them, I guess there's plenty of cheap copies of these games floating around, and less of, say, Beyond Good and Evil, which people actually keep due to it's inherent amazingness (it even deserves a new word).

Off to email Microsoft then about the aforementioned missing game.

[Matt @ Nov 28th 2007 4:24PM]

Microsoft prioritizes their BC list by popularity. The most popular games have either been already added or have technical problems that prevent the 360 from being able to emulate them through software. Hence the reason none of the games on that list are very popular.

[Shadowise @ Nov 28th 2007 10:54AM]

Sigh.. Still no Prince of Persia updates... Do we really need updates for nfl/nba 2k3...?

[Jeff @ Nov 28th 2007 1:56PM]

I actually just bought nfl 2k3 because of the update. In my opinion Sega made the best football games.

[Tim @ Nov 28th 2007 5:41PM]

The current list shows Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Although I'd like the sequels available too.

[rv @ Nov 29th 2007 12:08PM]

Nfl 2k5, my friend, is the greatest football game ever made.

[Reid Conti @ Nov 28th 2007 11:00AM]

Good on ya, Microsoft! It just goes to show that there are still brains at the company.

I haven't used a Microsoft operating system on my own desktop in 12 years now (Linux then OS X in more recent years), although I have used Windows on and off as my work system -- my current job forces me to use XP to try to admin unix machines! I dislike both Microsoft's software and business practices.

However, I am more than happy with my XBox 360 -- it performs flawlessly, and despite a quirky UI, is pretty intuitive. It makes a great media server for my DVD storage on my Mac, and the Elite does 1080p via HDMI. I never owned an original XBox so I don't have games affected by this, but it is nice to see a company supporting the people who paid for their products, continually updating it even though it would be easy to abandon people who have already bought the product.

[Ottobot @ Nov 28th 2007 11:04AM]

I'm very glad that they are still updating the BC list. However, after reading several forums, there are a few games people keep asking for that MS just doesn't add, including Rallisport Challenge 2, Midtown Madness 3, and Beyond Good and Evil. MS, please include these games to make the majority of 360 owners happy. Thanks!

[SteveMB @ Nov 28th 2007 6:24PM]

And NCAA Baseball

[blade417 @ Nov 28th 2007 11:03AM]

I'm at work, the read link is blocked from my jobs firewall... I fail.

[Manuel @ Nov 28th 2007 1:50PM]

http://duggmirror.com/xbox_360/Major_Nelson_November_07_Xbox_Back_Compat_Update/

[kastonie @ Nov 28th 2007 11:14AM]

WTF!!!!111 still no timesplitters 2....man I cant wait any longer...I guess I will just sit here in anger because I cant really do anything about it since i dont have an original xbox.....

[Mike @ Nov 28th 2007 11:23AM]

"... all supposedly given new life in 720p and 1080i with anti-aliasing."

Sony, pay attention. THIS is how it's done.

[Jeff @ Nov 28th 2007 11:50AM]

Umm, the PS3's that *are* backward compatible have been doing upscaling and anti-aliasing by default for quite a while now. (You can turn it off if you want.)

Not to say I support Sony's overall stance on BC, which definitely is going backwards lately, but you seem to be focusing on the upscaling/smoothing, which the PS3 has done since practically the beginning (*and* the PS3 had hardware BC at the time they started doing it).

I'm one of the lucky ones with a 60GB PS3 so I have close to 100% backward compatibility with upscaling and anti-aliasing. *That* is how backward compatibility should be done.

[Kamalot @ Nov 28th 2007 12:41PM]

I have an early model PS3 and a 360. The 360's backwards compatibility works on fewer titles, but those titles are then rendered at 720p with anti-aliasing. This improves the look of older games dramatically.

The PS3's upscaling only upscales the image, and does not render PS2 games at higher resolutions. This makes the images softer and more pleasing to look at on new HDTVs, but it is NOT the same thing as the upscaling the 360 provides.

If the PS3 could render PS2 games at 720p with anti-aliasing, they would have sold a LOT more in the early days as people would have purchased it just as an HD-enabled PS2.

[Mike @ Nov 28th 2007 5:25PM]

Perhaps I should clarify my remarks.

Jeff, the PS3 certainly has a much wider percentage of PS2/PS1 games that it can play via backwards compatibility; it's got Microsoft soundly beat on that one. But Microsoft is not only expanding their list of backwards compatibility titles (unlike Sony with their un-backwards-compatible 40GB), they're adding new features to it like allowing previous-generation games to be run in full HD resolutions instead of merely upscaling the video signal to HD, like the PS3 does. And on top of that, no PS3 model offers PS1/PS2 anti-aliasing.

Some could even argue that PS3 upscaling isn't even terribly necessary since your HDTV is already scaling the image with it's built-in scaler, which all HDTVs have (you can't get 480 or 720 pixels to stretch across a 1080 screen without it), although that might be going a little far, considering not all TVs have quality scalers in them.

To be fair, the reason that Sony's 40GB PS3 does not support even software emulation of PS2 games (and, I suspect, the reason no PS3 offers anti-aliasing on PS1/PS2 games) may be due to the fact that while Sony has been lagging behind in next-gen console sales, previous-gen console sales are still incredibly strong; the PS2 is still selling in vast amounts, and the brand new Singstar PS2 bundle seeks to capitalize on this. However, strong popularity in last-gen vs. next-gen makes it hard for Sony to transition from "last year's model" to "this year's model", and with PS3 sales so relatively light (although that trend is finally changing with the PS3's new price point), I don't think Sony is willing to do an awful lot to encourage people to keep playing PS2 games.

What Sony is missing, though is that by leaving PS2 compatibility out of the PS3, they're actually encouraging people to keep their PS2 system instead of transitioning to the new PS3 system; if I can't play the PS2 games I obviously love on the new PS3, there's not a lot of an incentive for me to upgrade. If you allow the PS3 to run my favorite PS2 games in native HD instead of just scaling the video signal, and if you let me run them with some anti-aliasing on them, it'll let me play my beloved games in a whole new way, and while it might spur some PS2/PS1 game disc sales ("Check out Final Fantasy VII/Kingdom Hearts/God of War in HD resolution!"), it will encourage gamers to take their existing collection to the next generation, which would improve PS3 sales (which is what Kamalot is saying, and I agree with him). Taking backwards compatibility out of a console (especially when software emulation costs almost nothing in manufacturing costs) forces gamers to choose between the cheaper games they know they love and the more expensive PS3 console they think they might love.

THAT is how backwards compatibility is done.

[Big Sam @ Nov 28th 2007 11:25AM]

Still no Riddick :(

[regdog1 @ Nov 28th 2007 2:41PM]

Microsoft isn't adding Chronicles of Riddick, as Starbreeze is redoing it for release on Xbox360 and PS3 I believe.

[Chris Slaughter @ Nov 28th 2007 11:38AM]

Still no Mechassault :-(

[Kido1986 @ Nov 28th 2007 11:42AM]

I wonder if they fixed the Forza 1 emulation.

/yes I have Forza 2
//Forza 1 has some nice stuff still
///Yes Im using the Fark-style slashies
////Deal with it!

[Magallanes @ Nov 28th 2007 11:53AM]

"465 original Xbox discs that will work on the 360"

I wonder how many games of this 466 really works without a trouble, without lags or random hang.

[belial20xx @ Nov 28th 2007 12:38PM]

I wonder whomay of these crap titles people will play. It seems microsoft does not listen to consumer input at all. Look at this list. Most of these games are not even worth the plastic or coaster space. Microsoft is silly in their buisness model about bc. Who really wants to play playboy mansion??? Whomever comes up with these lists needs to have their head examined.

[Jared @ Nov 28th 2007 11:57AM]

Still waiting for the Madden series to come...

[Iain @ Nov 28th 2007 12:10PM]

Fuzion Frenzy:(

[Mike Botros @ Nov 28th 2007 1:36PM]

what's the problem with fuzion frenzy? I have it and have been playing for a long time with it on my 360. Works fine for the most part.

[Iain @ Nov 28th 2007 2:59PM]

"for the most part"

twisted system is almost unplayable on mine.

[EndlessMike @ Nov 28th 2007 12:31PM]

They still need to make a way for me to transfer my saved games so I don't have to restart.

[something @ Nov 28th 2007 12:51PM]

I don't know about you guys but my 1st gen 60GB PS3 is FULLY backwards compatible. Beat that 360!

[something @ Nov 28th 2007 12:53PM]

Hmm... another thing my PS3 can do with no problem...

Tell me again, how is the 360 hardware superior?

[John @ Nov 28th 2007 1:24PM]

by costing far less than what you paid for your fully BC PS3.

[something @ Nov 28th 2007 3:46PM]

Far less? Not really. XBox 360 at launch was $400 and was backwards compatible with next to nothing meaning you needed to, and probably still need to, keep the old XBox around to play all your games. However, since my PS3 was FULLY BC I sold my old PS2 and accessories on eBay for a couple hundred dollars and ended up only paying about $400 for my new gaming replacement. Technically superior and just as cheap.

[Jonathan Bergeron @ Nov 28th 2007 12:54PM]

Why buy a new system just to play old games?

[something @ Nov 28th 2007 12:55PM]

^ @EndlessMike

Sorry, the reply didn't stick....

[Jake @ Nov 28th 2007 1:46PM]

You made a bit of an idiot of yourself there.

All PS1/PS2 games played on PS3 are upscaled to 1080p and have FSAA applied.

[something @ Nov 28th 2007 3:52PM]

So now site screw-ups make us idiots?

[Mike @ Nov 28th 2007 5:33PM]

They are upscaled, but do NOT have FSAA. It would be amazing if they did, but unfortunately, they do not.

[Mike @ Nov 28th 2007 5:38PM]

Also, upscaling is not the same as being natively rendered in HD resolutions. Take an LCD monitor for your computer. If your monitor's maximum resolution is 1600x1200, then everything is scaled (or stretched) to fit that resolution. If I play a game at 800x600, the monitor itself stretches that video signal up to 1600x1200 so my entire monitor displays the image. This results in some blurriness, which might look like artificial smoothing. If I play the same game in 1600x1200 resolution, the game looks much sharper and clearer because there's no artificial stretching going on; every single pixel coming out of my graphics card is showing up right where it's supposed to on my monitor instead of being stretched or blurred.

[Mark @ Nov 28th 2007 1:49PM]

Still very shabby compared to the PS3 BC figures, with over 2,000 PS1/PS2 titles on hardware 60GB, and 1,800 PS1/PS2 titles on software 60GB models.

[Mredraider @ Nov 28th 2007 2:20PM]

As if to quote the retards that decided which games to work on:
"Hey, great games like 'SSX: On Tour' can wait, lets make crap like 'The Playboy Mansion' work!"

Thanks for nothing MS.

[cromas @ Nov 28th 2007 2:39PM]

I can't believe Deus Ex: Invisible War hasn't been done yet. It was such a graphically intensive game, it'd be wonderful on the 360. Am I the only one who played this game?

[Gero @ Nov 28th 2007 2:44PM]

Were is Midtown Madness 3?

[Garst @ Nov 28th 2007 3:01PM]

"In seemingly stark contrast to Sony, whose backwards compatibility stance is moving, um, backwards"

Should that read, "Can't get any lower, unless they stop supporting older PS3 games"?

[ErikLindemann @ Nov 28th 2007 3:27PM]

Any word on whether or not they'll make the backwards compatibility on Morrowind not suck anymore.

The game is buggier on the Xbox 360 than KotOR on the PC.