What about compatibility?

Aug 26, 2005 14:54 GMT  ·  By

Everything comes with a price tag attached to it... This seems to be Microsoft's basic policy.

It's not news, but the fact that Xbox 360 will need more money invested in order to play Xbox compatible games it's something that may concern many owners of gaming titles. A marketing brochure that was released (or leaked) compares the two versions of Xbox and the conclusions are not too "groovy" because the backwards compatibility doesn't really exists and if it exists it won't be without a cost.

It was assumed that the compatibility with the previous version won't be a problem, but Microsoft's imagination sets new grounds. Some games, such as Halo and Halo 2, required a hard drive even on the initial console. Therefore you will still need a hard drive for the new one.

But... Microsoft leaked interesting information: paying the relevant rights to publishers and developers might present a problem and support for past Xbox games also depended on previous requirements for those games. There were even some suggestions that there would be a fee imposed on the hard drive price to cover those expenses.

Furthermore, the innocent gamer might even have to download some files from Microsoft in order to play the original Xbox games. Gamers will be forced to carry some file libraries from the old Xbox to the new one just to play some old games they liked. Is it worth it? Would you pay more if you have already paid to play that game? These are some very important questions and Microsoft will be forced to answer them sooner or later.