Reaction: Red Dead Redemption PS4 Port Highlights How Amazing Xbox Backwards Compatibility Is

Yep! Backwards compatibility on Xbox really is the best in the business. Games run better than on their native consoles a lot of the time as well.
I'm sure a few people will find their way here to criticise something about Xbox's backwards compatibility program (ahem, PS) but in my view it's the best in the industry.

It's one of the coolest features. I didn't remember it was a thing until I got my own Series S.

Backwards compatibility is the main reason i still have an xbox. My 360 and og xbox is over 150 fames deep

Iirc the code for RDR1 was exceptionally poor. Probly why it's not a Remaster. I'm only interested in the Switch physical edition and only if it has the entire game on it. That said, adoring the Xbox for its back compat is always easy. Shame they didn't continue xpanding it.

BC on Xbox is excellent. One of the reasons why I picked up an Xbox last year. Finally got to playing a lot of games from the PS3/360 era since I didn't have any console back then.

I need to go back and play Undead Nightmare on this as I've not done it yet.

Back compat on Xbox is amazing and really help with game preservation too.
I play old games all the time.

The only ones who don't like back compat are Rockstar, they can't take advantage and do a swift cash grab port to the Xbox! Don't worry, they will fleece some Sony and Nintendo fans and get their bags of cash. If they could revoke their games back compat they would!

Also, anyone remember what a state the old GTAs were in on the recent (ish) compilation? They might even release a mess of a port this time too, Sony and Nintendo fans beware!

@pip_muzz I totally agree. I couldn't go back to non-backwards compatibility platforms now except for the odd exclusive and maybe. Xbox has the best console features, hardware and controller, no doubt.

I might check it out on switch personally. As long as it performs well. If not, I can grab it on the box.

I bought my X because I owned so many 360 games over Arcade and kept so many of my favorite boxed titles. BC is such a big deal to me.

Nintendo, I hope you are reading this article.

It's a huge shame Microsoft gave up on it in 2021, finding out what games would be added to BC next was most of the time more exciting than the new game announcements at Xbox events.

I'll consider it a W when Rockstar puts the game back on sale rotation.

@Grumblevolcano didn’t they finish the bc program because most games were done?

@Grumblevolcano I'm hoping once they fully pull the plug on XBO support, they'll reopen the BC Program under a different name that specifies its only for Series consoles.

@Friendly Depends on if you genuinely believe Microsoft went over EVERY non-licensed game throughout both the OG Xbox & 360's entire catalogs, and that every one of those games either had some terrible bug that made it impossible to port or couldn't run on a regular Xbox One.

But I find it a liiiittle hard to believe games like the 2 Yugioh Sims met one or two of those qualifiers, using the same engine made by the same game dev as the game on Xbox One, but 4 Magic the Gathering Sims did not. Or that the second game in the Deathspank trilogy worked just fine but not the first or third, or the first Sonic & Sega Racing didn't but the more complex sequel did.

I would estimate that at least 10-15% of my gaming time is spent playing or replaying older games, many of which I access through Xbox BC. Gotta give Phil props for that one. He really made the Xbox the best BC console in the industry.

highly unlikely i would have got a series x without the backwards compatability ,it's basically what it is for in my house atm so yes it was good , just a shame not more of 360 games or more with res boost.

I don’t think it’s going to be in a 75% off sale for a long while again.

@PartyMarty I need to play it as well.

I really wish significantly more 360 games got the Xbox one x enhancements. Metal gear solid trilogy. The 360 call of duty’s. Ridge racer and the namco games.

BC on Xbox is a big plus among other features. The movie store is nice with all the latest titles, we can play CDs, and we get the exclusives day one with Game Pass.

@Krysus
I highly doubt Rockstar will splurge for the entire game and DLC to be on a single Switch card. This announcement was dumped on YouTube and not as a full wow moment during a Nintendo Direct. So expect the bare minimum

@Moonglow I think every game That is backwards will get HD remaster. I notice this when I played ff13 on a one x then 360 there's a difference. But I didn't notice this on OG CoD.

You look at how Microsoft has often supported its customers. Continued significant, free upgrades and features on games like Halo MCC and Sea of Thieves, the multiplayer fixes even for BC titles, the fact that BC has games dating back to the original XB and XB360, Game Pass feature first party studio games on day one, etc. IF you are a XB customer MS is giving you full value for every dollar you spend. And with the addition of Bethesda and ABK it just keeps getting better. Not to mention the studios they have acquired are preparing to ship their first XB games soon... Hellblade II!

@ZuneTattooGuy hence the big IF. I'm not holding my breath after the GTA Trilogy.
@sixrings the Xb1X and FPS boosts make everything better.

@Krysus there’s so many backward compatible games without the one x enhancements though. That’s a problem. I’d rather never have a sale and be able to buy more enhanced 360 games then companies not allowing enhancements because they’re scared they may want to rerelease their own remasters.

@ZuneTattooGuy probably a plastic box with a download code in it.

As a PlayStation owner, I don’t get this. At least make it 4K for PS4 Pro and PS5. I’m jealous! And they’re charging $50 out of pure greed. Plain and simple I likely will get it on sale at some point, but disappointing.

You PlayStation fans can thank Xbox that PS5 has BC at all. I guarantee they had no intention of bothering with it until Xbox made it important and almost a requirement again. And while youre at it you can thank Xbox for trophies and ps+ (gamepass ripoff) amongst other things Sony copied. Almost every new feature on ps since the PS3 came on the heels of Xbox doing it first or having a superior version forcing Sony to improve such as with psn+ in 2009-10. PlayStation would be antiquated af if not for Xbox giving them someone to follow. And yes Xbox fans have benefited from PlayStation forcing MS to do better but feature wise almost all the innovation has been done by MS

I am kinda split on the backwards compatibility thing.

On one hand it's cool from a game preservation standpoint and being able to enjoy your old games if you have been on Xbox a while ( which I haven't really.)

On the other hand I find it a bit sad that folks seem to be more excited to keep playing games from the past than they are for many new releases.

This article (and others like it) seem to always have more comments than ones on new releases to game pass or some new releases in general (unless they are tied to the ABK acquisition.)

If you enjoy BC then good for you. It is good for Xbox generally just I think for the past few years Xbox has relied on it a little too much to keep things ticking over

This is just some tired ramblings before I go to sleep so don't read too much into it.

@Grumblevolcano If you are specifically referring to FPS Boost, I read somewhere that Microsoft did test it with many other games, but a serious bug was always encountered after reaching approx 80% completion. So it would have required a complete re-think.

Microsoft didn't stop the backwards compatibility and FPS Boost programs out of a whim and they still work perfectly fine. Their engineers made it possible in the first place and did all the work on their own, but they needed permission from the publishers to do so and some said no. As for games that were omitted from companies that fully support Xbox such as Sega, they have explained many times that some games presented technical challenges. Same for FPS Boost. It's not like Sega or Microsoft said, "Xbox players can play all Sega's games but this old racing game."

I wonder how can anyone complain about backwards compatibility and FPS Boost when you have to buy the same games again on Switch and PS5 if you want to play them on the current platforms, except for PS4 games on PS5 and we have Microsoft to thank for that, as well. Sony said that they didn't care about older games and backwards compatibility not long ago. Wii U and Switch belong to the same generation and even with the accounts linked, you have to buy the ports again, full-priced. I have the two versions of Mario Kart 8, the original version still is 59fps and didn't get the fixed battle mode nor the Booster Course Pass. Meanwhile, I can play improved versions of Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One games on Series X for free. The only one of the three that respects your purchases and the preservation of your game library is Xbox.

@BBB the 360 era was the last truly great moment for video games - before it went down the microtransaction tubes. It is no wonder people get excited about it.

@Cashews

Precisely the reason why I mainly play 360 games on my Series S

Almost exclusively a backwards compatible machine and single player games for the most part.

Microtransactions have invested the gaming industry

@FreqMode Yeah they have benefited. BOTH have done things the other has copied. Let's not do that as if Sony is the only one. Yeah I saw you've posted that Xbox always benefited from Sony, but you listed all these things PS "copied" whilst not mentioning what Xbox has "copied".

@FreqMode Whilst I agree with most of your post, PS Now was a thing well before gamepass, as was their streaming, which started with PS Now. In those instances, xbox copied PS - they just did it better 😁

@Friendly Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 is still missing

BC has always been Microsoft's defining attribute. Even today I can run DOS software from the 80's under Windows 11. But I am not at all smug about the fact I've been playing and enjoying RDR on my XSX while my kids (who all loved RDR2) are going to have to pay for it on their PS5. No sir, not smug at all...

I remember downloading Fallout 4 when I first bought a Series S and was gobsmacked with how crisp and smooth it played. Loved it all over again.

@Cashews I would argue that the Amiga / Atari ST generation was the golden Era. Though arguments could easily be made for the ZX / C64 Era. Its the originality and variation in titles I would reckon is what draws people. Plus nostalgia.
Not to mention they're just so much daym fun.

@Mauzuri
The biggest problem Sony has done is they have boiled down all their exclusives into 3rd person action adventure games. They use to have a much deeper well of creativity and licenses. But they have taken games like God of War and fundamentally changed what it was for the worse. Sony needs to not acquire like minded studios like Square Enix they need to find some really creative Indie studios who can breath life into their catalog again.

Got myself a copy of Red Dead & Undead Nightmare GOTY 360 edition for £12.50 second-hand shipped from Gumtree.

Happy to not be giving my money to Rockstar.

@jedinite I personally think those years were simply a build up to make gaming accessible to the masses. Those were my salad days I grew up on them. PS2, PS3, 360 is when gaming became more acceptable. The innovation coming out was constant.

Now we get a new type of game every half decade or so and development is focused on squeezing as much money out of the consumer as possible before they even speak to the game.

After Markus Persson struck it rich and Star Citizen created such a professional scam so many talented developers left their jobs to try to milk people for the same money. Most or all of them failed and tarnished their reputations in the meantime.

There are good games today every now and then - nut most of the industry is pretty trashy. Japan is keeping it from falling into the abyss imo.

@Cashews i think we agree on the same points, just a few years apart . And 100% to the rest of your post. Game dev or lack of this past few... decades? ... has been very noticeable.
Yeah every gen we get higher fps and flashier gfx, all grafted onto ports of games of ports of games we've seen a thousand times over.
Then again, having read what I just wrote perhaps as a generation we are fortunate to have been there at the...'golden era(s)' ... , but also forever suffer the misfortune of viewing anything in the gaming sphere, through jaded eyes.
Frightening to consider the possibility that gaming will never be better or even equal those long gone days.
Perhaps our digital descendants shall be forever reaching backwards to our pixelated past.
PS: also yeah microtransactions suck major league penguin d*ck.

@jedinite it could be better - if it failed miraculously like the crash of 1983.

only a few things could bring that about though. Maybe a global conflict.