I do so love this recent trend of arrogant companies telling us what we do and do not care about.

360 backward compatibility's days numbered

You know, I tried to think of something witty and/or intelligent to respond to that with, but I'm coming up with nothing.  I'm just stunned.  Thanks, Peter Moore you asshat.  That kind of attitude makes me more likely to just pick up both an American and a Japanese Wii when they come out instead of sinking money into a 360 (oh who am I kidding... Hudson's games will probably still tip me over the edge, but I certainly won't be happy about it unless somebody gets at LEAST Conker and Panzer Dragoon Orta working on the thing).

I saw this coming long before the 360 came out.  It's not in their profits' interests to make good on their promises.

Now I'm looking forward to Sony saying the same about backward compatibility in PS3 (since that will be software based as well)...

Hudson's games on 360?  Are you referring to new or retro content?  And for me, I don't care about any other Xbox game being added to the backwards compatibility list other than Jet Set Radio Future... I wish Sega would port that game and its prequel together onto another system.

Not that it makes a difference, but I sent Microsoft an email, telling them exactly what I thought of Moore (hey, do you think he's related to Michael Moore?  Both him and Peter apparently enjoy telling people what they should be concerned with)!  Well, if Microsoft can't keep their end of the bargain, why the hell should I purchase a 360?  Especially since most of their current line-up is of no interest.  With regards to BC, it's definitely going to be interesting to see what crap spews forth from Sony's lips.  With all these revelations, I say Nintendo has the chance to take the lead once again.

cheers,

-avatar!

New content - specifically Tengai Makyou Ziria being localized for America and Dungeon Explorer 360 (the latter of which unfortunately didn't show up at E3).

This just makes my choice easier. I'll wait a few months, pick up an old XBox at a garage sale or something for chump change, and try the one or two games that were blips on the periphery of my interest. No need to get the 360 if it won't host what I'm looking for, right?

Except Sony understands that their customers want and demand backward compatibility.  Plus I have more faith in Sony's game software implementation than Microsoft's.

Woah... where do you get these notions from?  My experience is that Sony doesn't give a rat's ass about what their customers want, so long as they continue to pay.  If Sony really cared, wouldn't they at least make systems that didn't crash all the time?  and if the system did crash, Sony should offer to replace or repair the system at no cost (which is what Microsoft did for the 360, but (correct me if I'm wrong) Sony only did this for the PS2 after losing a lawsuit).  As for BC, I believe that the PS2 had it much easier than the PS3 will.  If it is all software, Sony will have to invest lots of time and money into making things BC.  Yeah, I'm quite the skeptic when it comes to Sony and costumer relations...

cheers,

-avatar!

I don't know what you're talking about.  I never had my PS2 crash.  I think I was playing FF7 and it crashed once, but I'm sure that was because the disc was scratched.   I guess time will tell about PS2 emulation.  PS1 games emulate extremely well through software.  It just might so happen to end up to be the same for PS2.

PS2 has backward compatibility through hardware, not software. So does the long line of GBs. So supposedly does Wii. XBox 360 was (afaik) the first first-party software based backward compatibility, incomplete from the beginning and now never going to be complete. On the one hand  if Sony doesn't offer full backward compatibility when PS3 is launched I imagine them willing to stop investing further to complete it at some point. On the other hand software can be patched, and Sony' way of handling the PSP tells me their new systems will have plenty of patching going on as well. Lastly, while announced early, the backward compatibility was clearly an aftertought for Sony this time around.

The basic problem here is that MSFT promised to have all of the most popular Xbox games compatible with the X360.  If the company had set more realistic expectations, people wouldn't be as upset as they are now.  Similarly, if Sony doesn't deliver excellent PSX and PS2 backwards compatibility, people have a right to be pissed since they promised near 100% compatibility.

On the other hand, note that Nintendo has been doing a sort of phase down backwards compatibility with the portable systems.  GBA could play all GBA/GBC/GB games.  Then GB Mirco comes out and it only plays GBA games.  The original DS came out and it played DS and GBA (no GBC/GB support).  And now DS lite comes out and it still plays DS and GBA, but the GBA slot is shrunk down in size, making the system less portable if you have a GBA game in there.

I knew people wouldn't understand my point.  PS1 games emulate near-perfectly through software on PERSONAL COMPUTERS.  And if one software implementation can emulate so many PS1 games, I wouldn't think each PS2 game will require seperate emulating software.  I understand that link you gave where they announced only fully-compatible games that properly used the hardware will be B.C., but I think that's fair.  That's the same reason why many Windows 98/DOS games that directly controlled hardware instead of using the API for certain things can only be played in Windows 98/DOS.  But I have to wonder if somebody will make a PS2 emulator that can be booted from disc?  I bet if Sony hired some of the Emulation programmers that work on PS1/etc emulators, they could get the job done with flying colors.

As for the Game Boy and Nintendo portable consoles, taking out that extra hardware severely compromises what it can do.  A price for added portability.  However I do feel that should cause the system to be cheaper in price, but I know that's now how Nintendo and Sony feel about it.

Here's a juicy rumor about PS3's backwards compatibility.  It would seem that Sony is having trouble getting it done through software, so the first set of consoles may just do it through hardware:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/711/711242p1.html

Interesting.  But now I have to wonder if this means a PS3 will be able to play PSX games.  If not, it's stupid of them to not even try including PSX emulation through software.  I'm sure they could try to license the emulation code from one of the many successful PSX emulators.  I'm sure it could be modified to run on PS3 hardware instead of PC hardware.

Do keep in mind Sony wants to digitally sell PS1 games, at least for the PSP.  I don't see why they wouldn't consider it for the PS3.

Well then, are they going to sell digital ports of PSX games, or are they actually going to implement compatibility?  If the PS2 had to have PSX hardware to fully emulate, how much hardware do they actually plan to put in the PS3?

This just in (about a week ago):
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=12934

Microsoft retreats from the outraged gamers with its tail between its legs.  I'm sure Sony will learn from MS's mistake and shoot for 100% compatibility if they can help it.

It's nice to know that my nasty email to Microsoft has not gone unnoticed

cheers,

-avatar!