Reminder: The Xbox 360 Is Surprisingly Decent For Backwards Compatibility

Perhaps somebody can help me understand but why could they not have designed the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles to read and play all original Xbox and Xbox 360 discs?

I think I'm done with 360 games to be honest backwards compatible is great but I have no reason to play any 360 game again!

Im finishing my first playthrough of xmen origins wolverine. Then onto the Simpsons movie(?) game.

Like on Pushsquare, some people don’t believe in keeping their old consoles around for some strange reason

That's a lot more than Sony and Nintendo. 🙏🏻

I still have a working 360 on my desk next to the other consoles but I’m badly in need of some new ( decent quality ) controllers that work on a 360.

@Techno92LFC I have had that same question for a long time.

There are some games I wish I could still play: Escape from Butcher Bay, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Deus Ex: Invisible War. Gotta check to see if they are playable on the 360. I would buy a 360 just for these three.

@FraserG @Techno92LFC The system they're using now is still emulation, but the differences are:

• More horsepower to work with, especially on Series X.
• Extensive QA, making sure that each title actually works properly.

Modern back compat does, in fact, still have emulation issues, but they're fewer and farther between than with the 360's solution. Some games ran poorly (BK: Nuts and Bolts) until receiving a patch, and some (Hydro Thunder: Hurricane's DLC tracks) still have severe graphical glitches, even now.

Not sure about licensing. Some games offer back compat only with a disc inserted, and aren't on the storefront. Does that mean MS could legally offer back compat for every game, as long as you own the disc? Maybe, but it wouldn't make sense financially to put in all that work. (If they truly couldn't, I assume it's because they're offering you a separate copy from the one on the disc.)

As for having to download the game from the internet instead of copying it off the disc, it could be that MS thwarted themselves with their own weird disc formatting . Xbone and XSX fully support normal DVDs, of course, but Xbox and Xbox 360 discs are formatted to be largely unreadable on normal DVD drives.

@nomither6 Hah, I hear you! I understand that many people are more casual about their media: throw out the old stuff, bring in the new. Rely on subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify, instead of keeping old CD/DVD/Blu-ray collections lying around. When games or movies are your sixth-favourite hobby, they don't get much physical space dedicated to them.

But man, that's pretty much unthinkable for me. I like to go back and revisit old favourites, and can't imagine the inconvenience of relying on the Xbone's limited back compat support, or hoping a certain movie (or game!) is on a certain subscription service, or putting up with Spotify ads.

PS: It seems that the average movie watcher is much more likely to value older movies (even if they don't keep them physically), whereas this doesn't hold true as often or as thoroughly for games, so there's that.

I have several 360's (even different regional 360's). Every now-and-then I boot them up and use them.

The only caution I would use is that if you have removed your password from your account you have to use a one time passcode to log into your 360 as it does not support the passwordless world.

Whenever I chance upon a game store out in the wild, I occasionally consult the 360 back-compat Wikipedia chart to double check the included titles. That chart is also a solid reminder that almost every title included has some kind of visual or functional glitch, so the 360 isn't that decent for backwards compatibility 😆 Never owning an original Xbox though, it was the only option I had unfortunately.

Still have my 360 slim, boxed away with around 50 games. I have a few OG Xbox titles that work on it, but unfortunately two excellent ones that don't:

Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus
Def Jam: Fight for NY

My OG Xbox gave up the ghost many a moon ago and I have no desire to find another, they're just too damn bulky and unsightly for the living room. "Xbrick" was a very apt moniker.

@FraserG does it mean that I can't play original x360 discs using my xsx? I'm waiting for Portal and SH homecoming to arrive soon :/

@smoreon agreed.

also gonna play devils advocate here in defense of spotify - i’d say that’s more of a digital vs physical argument. i got a big library of music on spotify (premium so no ads) & the conveniency and versatility of it is a godsend. even my 360 and ps3 has a mostly digital library. basically what i’m saying is, id still consider holding onto something digitally as keeping it around

if that makes sense… 😆

@nomither6 I think I get what you're saying. I classify the digital/physical and subscription/ownership debates as two very different issues. I rarely listen to physical CDs, for instance, but I still keep a music collection that I own, as opposed to subscribing to a service. And I also buy digital games all the time, but GamePass doesn't appeal to me.

But doesn't Spotify fall squarely into the subscription category? I wasn't aware of an option to purchase music outright (like you can with iTunes). Once you stop paying, that music is gone.

Not that I hate subscription services, or can't see that they have their advantages!
(Regarding Spotify in particular, it's especially tempting in that I've been wanting to catch up on the back catalogues of a bunch of '80s artists, and buying CDs in bulk just to see what I like probably isn't the best approach.)
But I personally wouldn't make subs my main/sole method of enjoying media, that's for sure.

@FraserG thanks. I have also learnt that the game gets downloaded and the disc is only for verification. I wonder if it would work with Silent hill Homecoming cause it's not on the store but it's backwards compatible...

@Romans12 The first 2 yes, fantastic games especially return to castle wolfenstein

@smoreon good points; yes, spotify is sub only, but you can download the songs to your device as a premium member. i have no idea what happens if the subscription were to end though - most likely you’d be unable to play the downloaded songs and have your playlists downgraded to being susceptible to ads.

@themightyant They've already got us acting as unpaid beta testers for Windows, so why not Xbox back compat as well? I actually wouldn't mind that one nearly as much! (Open the full library of OG/360 games for users, slap a disclaimer or option toggle to keep people from stumbling in accidentally, etc.)

Yeah the 360 truly became my console of choice when it comes to something older. Graphics hold up well on modern TV's, especially if you have the later models with HDMI, and the backwards compatibility is fantastic if you have a collection of old 360 and original Xbox games. I used to love the PS3 but it feels like it really aged poorly by comparison.

@Techno92LFC Expired licenses of IP such as songs, brand names, etc... is one of the main reasons. From a functionality standpoint, newer consoles are emulating the old console tech so there's always problems