Sorry for the misleading title. When I heard that Goldeneye was confirmed for Xbox 360 I was harder than a diamond in an ice storm. Its not Goldeneye 64 that we are going to get. Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, the very bad spinoff from EA from 2004 is now on the BC list. I thought they stopped doing that? Either way, our consolation prize sucks balls. I want to play Stacks with remote mines. You could detonate them mid-throw. Fear my flying discs of death. Fear them.
It seems as if the 80gb PS3 is going the same place the 60gb went; the Island of Misfit Consoles. Anyone who wishes to buy a PS3 in the future will have to get the 40gb version and forfeit the ability for backwards compatibility. There have been grumblings of a 100 or 120gb model, but nothing is confirmed. The only explanation is the BC is no longer a necessity and is being phased out the way that MS did for the Xbox. Its not that hard to drop a bigger HDD in the PS3, but the average gamer won’t know this.
Microsoft looks to be stopped BC updates on the Xbox 360, according to Albert Penello, the group marketing manager for Xbox 360. At CES, Penello had this to say:
I don’t know if we have plans to do any more releases. It feels like we kind of hit the point of diminishing returns there.
Seems like no one really cares anymore about their last-gen titles. You can always plug in your old console (if you still have one, that is). Microsoft does have the Xbox Originals program, which looks like it will continue with updates every few weeks. That should satisfy the original Xbox lovers out there.
[via Kotaku]
Here are the recent games added to the BC list for the Xbox 360. Click more for November’s List. Good titles this month actually.
Jack Tretton announced today that the gimped 40GB PS3 will be making it’s way to America on November 2nd for a cool $400. The differences between the stripped down console and it’s big bothers are a 40GB hard drive, two USB ports instead of four, no card readers, and no backwards compatibility.
Along with the new console, Sony announced a price drop for the 80GB PS3 to $500 in the US.
“We’re choosing to focus on the PlayStation 2 consumer with the PlayStation 2, which remains incredibly relevant, and focus on the PlayStation 3 consumer with the new 40-gigabyte model and the great software coming out,” Tretton said.
“Backward compatibility is a nice secondary consideration, but it’s far from the number-one priority.”
I’m still not a happy camper about Sony ditching BC with the 40GB console. For me, it’s a big downer. At least now with good PS2 games still coming out. What do you think? Will the 40GB PS3 succeed in the US?
I have to say, I think will move will bite Sony in the ass. In a statement to CVG, Sony stated they plan to stop supporting Backwards Compatibility in future PlayStation products.
I’m a big user of BC on my PS3. I put PS2 games in there all the time. With the Xbox 360 and Wii, it’s not so much. But with a large number of good PS2 games still coming out, it’s hard to completely get away from the system.
With the introduction of the 40GB PS3 in Europe, which does not support even software BC of PS2 titles, users will be forced to pull the PS2 out of the closet (or even possibly buy a new one) if they wish to play any titles from the last-gen console. Sony will be phasing out the current 60GB model in Europe and only leaving the 40GB PS3 (which includes everything from the 60GB model except no backwards compatiblity, no memory card readers, and only 2 USB ports).
I think the market may demand that Sony change their mind. Since the BC is software based anyway, it’s not like it would be hard to add this feature back into the system. If Sony tries to implement this in the US, I hope they have a plan to deal with the enormous back-lash they’ll face. If they’re trying to save their image and the system, this isn’t the way.
A Backwards Compatibility checker for PAL PS3 consoles has existed for a while. Now that the US has a software-emulated PS3 in the 80GB model, it’s only natural that Sony would post a checker for the Western Hemisphere.
You can search for titles for both the 60GB (with hardware emulation) and the 80GB (software emulation) PS3 versions. You can easily find some differences between the console versions. For example, in God of War, there are no problems with the 60GB PS3. But on the 80GB console, here’s what Sony has to say:
During various FMV sequences throughout the title, the audio plays overlapped by static audio distortion.
If you’re looking for a PS3 and haven’t grabbed a 60GB version, go out and get one before you can’t. Of course, if backwards compatibility means nothing to you, grab whichever you want.
Here is the new list of BC games, thanks to our friend MajorNelson for the update. For a complete BC list, see xbox.com.
Full updated list after the jump.
The list of Xbox games that you can play on the Xbox360 keeps growing and growing. Here is a list of the new games that have been updated as of today. The new games have a new tag next to them. Notice there are several Xbox games that have a next gen equivalent, but are still playable.
All new and updated games after the jump
Sony today posted the backwards compatibility list for the PAL PS3, which has no PS2 hardware, unlike the current NTSC models.
Roughly 72% of all PS1 and PS2 games will work with the PAL PS3, but not all perfectly. Each posted game is rated as having “no known issues”, “some minor issues”, or “noticeable issues”. Most of the biggest games will play just fine with no known issues, like God of War 1&2, Shadow of the Colossus, and most of the GTA series.
However, some fairly big games have issues. GTA San Andreas has “noticeable issues”, as goes Gran Turismo 3 and 4. Katamari Damacy won’t play at all.
Hopefully Sony will stay on top of this with some firmware updates. It’s better than Xbox 360 backwards compatibility already, which Microsoft will admittedly abandon in the near future.
