Sounds like Practice Mode is using input recording, a common feature on many emulators. Basically, it records all of your button presses as you play, in order to create a replay file that can play back the game exactly as you did. Or, in this case, a dev or tester recorded a replay and included it with the game. This is a very space-efficient method, since it doesn't involve actual video recording. And because the game is being played back in real-time, you can override it and jump in at any time!
@Fiendish-Beaver You're about a quarter-century* older than I am, but it sounds like your eyes are better than mine! I can see the difference with 4K games, but I doubt that I could tell with movies.
I still feel like DVDs are okay with decent upscaling (e.g., on an Xbox One or Series X), with some 4:3 movies being remarkably crisp. VHS is definitely a step too far, though, unless you still have a CRT kicking around!
@Mr-Cage But if you're playing at 30fps, then that's Xbox 360 (or PS1) performance in 2026 on a Series X!
Do you often like to sit still and look at the scenery without moving the camera? Maybe take some screenshots? Because all of that extra detail just disappears into a soup of motion blur and/or double vision as soon as you move the camera.
I have to wonder: maybe we literally see the world differently?
@Fiendish-Beaver I know it was meant as a lighthearted comment, but I would have to... mostly? disagree about people all deciding that 60fps is unplayable in the future. I say mostly, as many people even now have already gotten used to 120fps and higher, and they temporarily struggle to go back to 60!
But I think the "absolute" (as opposed to the "relative" process of higher fps simply being better than lower) aspect of this needs to be taken into account: 30fps is low enough that the human eye can usually discern the individual frames (especially on a screen with high motion clarity), whereas 60fps and especially 120fps usually aren't.
The same thing happened with resolution: 240p is objectively very limited in its clarity and detail, but there's a point where things are "good enough". I think most would say it's around 1080p, but 4K at most (unless you play with your nose pressed up against a 50" TV)!
Or graphics, where the blocky models and low-res textures of PS1/N64 games are objectively a poor representation of real life, but a game from 10 years ago can still look pretty close to reality if you squint a little. 20 years, if it's a racing game!
I'd gather that 1080p and 30fps is the threshold of "good enough" for your eyes? I'd probably say 720p60 for myself, as long as it's a 720p TV- 720p close-up on a 1080p computer monitor doesn't look great, though still preferable over 30fps for me!
PS: Interesting that Mortal Shell 2 specifically bothers you at 30fps... I wonder what's different. Maybe it lacks motion blur?
@BAMozzy Exactly. If there's a giant "18" on the cover, then the parents must know what they're doing. And if the kids just swiped the credit card out of Dad's wallet, then they could use that to bypass the age verification anyway.
I take issue with the idea that parents should be fined for letting their kids play games above their age rating, though. I'm generally on the conservative side about age-appropriate gaming, and I'd still be okay with letting a 12-year-old play Halo: Combat Evolved, for instance (which is 17+, at least in North America). Parents already have the tools they need; now it's up to them to make the call as to how they want to raise their kids. We don't need a bunch of busybodies calling the cops or the Children's Aid Society because their kid claims that the neighbours' kids are playing something a couple years above their actual age!
Unless you mean egregious cases where kids are exposed to extremely graphic content, but there must be laws about that already!
@badboidre An eclectic assortment, really. Just played a bit of Fuzion Frenzy for the first time, actually (only in 1P, though... I know I need to get a group together to enjoy this to its fullest). Finished a bunch, including Darkwatch and Jade Empire. Currently working through RalliSport, I-Ninja, and Jedi Outcast.
(Admittedly, I'm "cheating" a bit by playing a few of these on Xbone and PC. It depends on which version I have, and what runs well.)
Max Payne is one of those must-plays that I shamefully haven't played yet, though it is in my backlog! I was considering playing the PC versions of KotOR, Doom 3, and Half-Life 2 soon... I should add Max Payne to the list as well! (Now to just find time for all of these!)
As cool as it is that Xbox BC is coming to PC, this all but confirms that the library is going to be further whittled down a bit- after the odd game here and there was delisted already, and with BC only supporting a portion of the consoles' libraries to begin with!
Not to be too negative, though. This whole development has been one of the most exciting things out of Xbox/MS in a while! I just hope that they reopen this and start adding more games. The engineering and QA (esp. with FPS Boost involved) are altogether substantial, I'm sure, but getting these OG and 360 games on modern PCs allows for a very long tail- that is, they can continue to receive free money indefinitely!
@badboidre I've been binging some OG Xbox lately, and man, that intro still looks so cool to me every time. It practically shouts, "this is the 21st century"!
Yeah, I assumed it was a video at first, too... then I realized it was running at 60fps with framerate dips, which pretty much gave it away. And, as Sindayl mentioned, the back compat games render it in HD/4K, removing any doubt!
PS: Boundary Break does some great stuff. Lots of crazy unused content and technical trickery stored out-of-bounds or inside the models!
@betterthings Microsoft would already be asking the publisher for high-resolution box art and logos when a game is submitted in the first place, and I imagine that they both have the resources on hand and are responsible for exporting them in whichever format they choose.
At the very least, though, someone will need to export and upload all ~700 games' art with different settings, and it's possible that some manual intervention/inspection will be needed to make sure the logos are sized correctly and aren't getting cut off at the sides. Probably not insurmountable, but it appears that they couldn't just hit a button and have it work perfectly for day one.
@DonkeyKongBigBoy You can buy them on the Xbox store, just like any other game. This has been the case for a while now. They typically go for $10 or less, too!
Unfortunately, I can't see any way that our physical collections could be brought to PC (might wanna hang onto that Series X and/or original Xbox!), but I still think it's cool that a bunch of these classic games are now available to a wider audience that doesn't already own a modern Xbox console. Plus, the PC versions will have the best resolution and performance, so that's an upgrade for anyone with an Xbox One.
@Krlozgod Yes, this has actually been possible for quite some time: you can insert compatible OG Xbox games into an Xbox One or Series X, and it will download them automatically and allow you to play as long as the discs are inserted. There's a pretty decent selection of compatible games, even beyond the four titles shown here!
I think you're right that the disc versions won't ever work on disc-less systems like PC, however. Even with those reports we've heard about getting digital entitlements to your physical games, it sounds like only Xbox One and Series discs have unique IDs, which would prevent OG Xbox games from working this way.
@betterthings I assume they edited those manually for the promo image, though this change could be easily automated over a large batch of images. But the problem is that these images aren't quite tall enough to fill the space: is the solution to crop the sides (ruining some of the wider logos) to maintain that taller aspect ratio while hiding the bar at the bottom? Or fill in that bar with something (a second Xbox logo, or some black and green stripes)? ...or just crop the bottom of all of the modern games' box art, effectively half-undoing the change they made in the first place?
@betterthings The images themselves contain this blank bar- this can be verified by downloading the box art from any (OG or 360 game) store page . It's a weird little quirk that has been around for years, and it's unfortunate that this shows up in the dashboard. Sounds like a dealbreaker, at least for now!
@Masquerade443 Yeah, it was insane back in the day: you could take a game like Conker's Bad Fur Day and remake it just 4 years later, and its graphics would be a night-and-day improvement. These days, a game like The Last of Us or Assassin's Creed: Black Flag can still look good 13 years later, and its remake will be nowhere near as big a step up.
I've got mixed feelings about continuing to use the Xbone as a daily driver, though. On the one hand, the graphics still look great in most games. On the other, its performance can be rough: if a game isn't running at 30fps or lower, then it's probably full of lengthy loading screens (1v1 fighters are pretty near unplayable, in my experience). But take one of the many 60fps shooters, like the Halos, CoDs, or perhaps most impressively, Titanfall 2, and it just looks and runs great- strongly supporting the claim that games plateaued a decade ago.
PS: One advantage of devs targeting the Xbox One is that the game can effortlessly support high resolutions and framerates on modern consoles, even without any additional optimization. Sure, it wouldn't be pushing the Series X, but then, I've seen what "pushing the limits" of a console is like, and I can't say I want to go back to that. (See some of Rare's N64 games, which would turn into a PowerPoint presentation when the action was too intense!)
@Banjo- It has happened, even with film... Now, in fairness, the BK games were re-released without any censorship on Xbox 360, and to my knowledge, have neither been censored nor even marked with a disclaimer since then! But I can't imagine that someone would put all of the same stuff in while rebuilding the games from scratch. Not in today's climate.
Start by remaking the first two games, not touching the dialogues! Nothing would depress me more than a new developer censoring Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.
As great as a remake (uncensored) would be, there's no way all of the games' humour would survive unscathed. There are probably all kinds of things that would be sanitized now, with Humba Wumba immediately coming to mind. So the best move is to put away the monkey's paw and just enjoy the recompilation (and the second game in an emulator with a 60fps hack) instead.
OG Xbox. I unfortunately missed out on a lot of great games at the time, as I only had a GameCube for most of that gen (and a Dreamcast right at the end, ironically enough!). But I've been gradually catching up in more recent years. Such a great generation- I still consider it the best one all around: it struck a great balance between modern(ish) polish and presentation on the one hand, and inventiveness and character on the other.
PS: My Xbox 360 collection comes surprisingly close, but that's mostly because of all of the CoD games that I picked up. Not that I especially love the series, but the 360 versions are the ones to get, as they have local multiplayer.
@RegnumSolipsi The HD Pack didn't actually redo the graphics, did it? I think that's the distinction: these new remasters actually remake everything in higher fidelity, as opposed to just presenting the original graphics in HD... which the vanilla PC versions already supported, anyway! Not sure it was necessary for Contracts, from what I've seen, but Codename 47 is from 2000, and it could definitely use some touching-up.
You could make a case for resolution-boosted games like Hitman HD not really counting as remasters, but unfortunately, the waters have been thoroughly muddied, so good luck trying to establish consistent definitions!
Looks like a pretty extensive remaster: you could even call it a graphical remake! Everything seems to be built from scratch, but is quite faithful to the original design.
I wonder how they handled the checkpoints in the first game, as I'd heard those were frustrating... mainly because they didn't exist.
Also curious about how the first and third will stack up. Wasn't 3/Contracts a sort-of remake and expansion of 1/Codename 47?
That seems to be the usual response! There are surprisingly quite a lot of people who remember Vexx, and usually fondly. It just hasn't been at the forefront of people's minds these past couple of decades, for obvious reasons.
Having chatted with someone from Throwback, I can say that they are aware of Vexx's fans, and they do want to bring him back, but there have been a bunch of reasons that it hasn't happened yet. I'm still hoping a remaster and/or a sequel come along soon, though! What I'd really love to see is a realization of the original design shown off in 2002, where there were twice as many levels, you could seamlessly walk from one level to another, there were more boss battles, and the story actually made sense- but that's a pipe dream, as many of the assets from that don't even exist anymore.
@Bartig Yeah, I think I see what you mean. There are a lot of combat platformers out there, but rarely do they have such fluid controls and full-fledged platforming. Some of these level designs are reminiscent of Vexx's, too, like that lava area at 0:22 in the video, which resembles the catacombs under Frostblight Mill.
This one has my interest, though it still doesn't look like it'll quite scratch the same itch. Vexx's world design and aesthetic are unlike pretty much any other platformer.
@Balaam_ If anything, it'll probably be worse now, as they don't need to target last-gen specs. By aiming for last-gen specs, you automatically get the headroom to really crank up the resolutions, performance, draw distance, etc. on even moderately better hardware like Series S. But by aiming for high-end hardware (e.g., Series X) from the start, it's all too easy to fly too close to the ceiling from the get-go... and then things have to be pared back to get the performance back up to par, especially for the S.
It was more than graphical, they changed a lot of the gameplay in it to be less janky
I wasn't aware that any noteworthy improvements had been made in the remake until now, and DR was pretty clunky in its original form, so fair enough! Still didn't need a graphical reworking, though.
About Halo, you'd think porting MCC to PlayStation 4/5 would be the easier move, if all they wanted was to get more Halo on Sony's platforms. Adding a sprint button to the trilogy and fixing the Library in 1 would be great, but I find it hard to get excited about re-re-releases of these games, as I'm old (not actually!) and I still think these are "modern". Especially Halo 2 Anniversary!
Nothing against remakes themselves, but Halo 2? Seriously? They just did a full graphical remake in 2014, and it still looks great! Even Halo 3 holds up fine in-game, though the cutscenes haven't aged well. Are they planning to make considerable gameplay/content changes, on top of the graphics? Is that even necessary?
It's these remakes of modern games, and/or "re-remakes", that bug me. If a game isn't available on modern platforms or has major technical limitations, then by all means, remaster it! If it is available, but has severely outdated polygon graphics or clunky gameplay, then that's a candidate for a full remake. But The Last of Us, Dead Rising, and now this? It just seems pointless.
@nomither6 The N64 already had the quirky and awkward controller, limited storage media, and a bit of a "kiddy" image. So maybe the SNES was really the last great Nintendo console?
You make some valid points. Nintendo did make some baffling and unnecessary decisions with the GameCube that made things more difficult for devs, with little upside. And yeah, I'd probably take N64-era Kirby, Star Fox, Wave Race, and even Mario and Zelda over their GCN counterparts.
But I thought that both the N64 and GCN had really strong exclusives overall, and also appreciated how they had capable tech and were actually a viable option for multi-platform games. Wii kind of threw that out the window. It still had some bangers, for sure, but it was overall a step down, and Nintendo gaming has never reached the same heights as it did before the Wii (in my opinion).
PS: Apologies to those who are here to talk about Xbox! I can complain some more about Xbox One, if that helps?
@nomither6 As someone who loved the GameCube and its library, I was disappointed with and generally uninterested in the Wii:
Many of my favourite games/franchises from the previous gen had somewhat disappointing sequels (Smash Bros. Brawl, Skyward Sword, etc.), or didn't show up at all (F-Zero).
There was a much greater focus on casual experiences, and Wii Remote waggle was shoehorned into all kinds of games, even when it wasn't a good fit.
The Wii was nice to have as a secondary console, but was not viable as a primary/sole platform, as multi-platform games had to be cut down or redesigned... or were more likely to be absent entirely.
All in all, I felt like Nintendo had abandoned their core audience to chase after fickle non-gamers... who all flocked to the Wii for a short time, before tiring of it and moving on within a few years.
This is a philosophy that I not only hope they stick to, but wish more companies would live by. See Microsoft previously alienating their audience with "TVTVTV", or Nintendo alienating theirs with the Wii and Wii U.
@Commander91_YT I didn't mean that physical media have died off already, but that they are in the process of being (partially?) killed off: 20 years ago, every game was entirely on-disc (or card), and would work indefinitely. Now, you've got games with no physical release, consoles with no disc drive, half-baked discs that only contain half of the actual content, and Game Key Cards.
The real issue isn't physical vs. digital, but whether we own our games or not. Fully-offline physical media are great for that, of course. But also, DRM-free digital games will stay in your library forever, and you can copy them and back them up to your heart's content. Live service games, and digital games with DRM, are what's actually at risk of being ripped away from you after you've bought them. And as you mentioned in that earlier post, The Crew is basically non-functional now, even on a physical disc.
@RBRTMNZ Hey, quite a few people seem to like those games!
But it is ironic that the physical version of Hardline has already been "delisted" for a long time, whereas we can keep purchasing unlimited digital copies until its digital delisting. And even after the delisting, we're not going to lose those games we've already purchased.
Of course, physical games can still be bought secondhand after the delisting, but that's a limited quantity, not to mention that an increasing number of modern games aren't even fully playable off the physical medium.
I'm not cheering the death of physical media, but it's a much more nuanced issue than physical-only collectors make it out to be.
Original Xbox, but only assuming you have a working/modded one, as the reliability was pretty poor.
Unlike the 360 and One, the original Xbox has tons of games that never made it to modern platforms. Its games have also aged well enough in general (by gameplay and graphical standards), and the technical performance (load times and framerate) holds up better than a lot of newer console games.
That was a great generation in general, and it's a shame that it was so short!
@Arkz Yeah, that's the thing that many people miss: on PCs, you have all these settings to tweak, and all these upgrades to buy... or you could just ignore them! Get some mid-range hardware and set your games to the medium preset, and 90% of the time, you're going to get a console-like experience without any tinkering needed!
Upgrading the GPU every couple of years, tweaking all of your settings to get them just right, etc., is only important if you're really picky and need the best of the best. If you get a console, you won't be getting the best of the best graphics/performance anyway!
@XxEvilAshxX I have no idea how many (or how few!) people played the Goldeneye port, but I'm sure the 30fps cap* and wobbly rendering** didn't help matters. Even with the 360 remake/remaster being off the table, it would have been nice to see Rare Replay receive a definitive version of the 1997 classic. I would've even purchased the digital edition of RR on sale, despite owning the physical one already!
*not present on N64 and NSO **barely noticeable on N64, not present in NSO, as far as I'm aware.
Surprised that Silent Hill 4 is so high on the list, as you can at least get the PC version for like $10 on GOG. But it's a shame that many of those other ones are still stranded in the past.
I assume the music licensing is prohibitively expensive or complicated in the case of JSRF and especially Burnout 3, but what about Silent Hill 2 and Sonic Heroes? Those ones even have PC ports already!
This is really surprising: the X-Men arcade game is one thing, but I wouldn't have ever expected to see the likes of Maximum Carnage and Arcade's Revenge make a return. The latter, speaking of which, is the only one of these that I have, and its soundtrack is amazing on the SNES. It's by the Follin brothers, so that tells you all you need to know.
Get Rare working on at least one of their classic IPs. If they're not capable, find someone who is.
Similarly, let the other underutilized studios do what they're good at. Start with smaller projects in the short term, if need be.
Reopen the back compat program to allow for more games and maybe more FPS Boost enhancements, especially for the original Xbox. Drop 10+ new additions on the store in time for the 25th anniversary.
Lay off the ads on the Xbox dashboard.
Either commit to continuing with hardware, or retire it permanently, based on inside knowledge that I don't have in reality (but that I would have in this situation). But get out of this weird uncertain no-man's-land as soon as it's feasible.
What's that? We need to scrap all these initiatives, because they focus too much on games and good will instead of AI, and they don't provide Infinite Growth? Yes, Mr. Nadella. Right away, Mr. Nadella!
@EVIL-C Ghost Babel usually gets overlooked, due to being a portable game (being stuck on a ~30-year-old handheld can't help), but it's supposed to be a really strong entry, isn't it?
I actually felt that MG1&2 on the MSX played better than the MGS series (despite obviously being less cinematic), so if Ghost Babel delivers more of the same, plus 60fps and some more "modern" late-'90s game design standards, then it sounds like a winner!
@Romans12 But there are already easy ways to play Gears of War, and with good graphics and performance at that.
MGS4 has been stranded for 18 years on an old console that many people don't own, and even for those who do have a PS3... well, have you seen how this game runs in the busier scenes?
I can confidently say that Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are great games on their own merits, and this has nothing to do with nostalgia, as I got into them a decade after release!
I never bothered with the Xbox port, though, largely due to the unnecessary 30fps cap. The original N64 version was uncapped, making a locked 60fps possible on some emulators. Combine that with the native widescreen that the original already supported, plus the high-precision geometry rendering of almost any emulator, and emulation is just a better experience overall.
Still need to try the cancelled remake, but that one looks incredible!
@Romans12 The default controls make it very difficult to aim up and down, though you rarely need to actually aim on lower difficulties.
I prefer to play with the second control scheme (1.2 Solitaire), as it basically functions like modern dual-stick controls... except it's stuck in southpaw mode, but that feels natural to me on an N64 controller. The left and right hands can even be reversed on emulators (including NSO), resulting in a setup that strongly resembles modern shooters like CoD!
@M20B25 Great choices to start with... though I may be biased, as I started with the same games!
I didn't have an OG Xbox until well after its time, but there was one set up in the lounge at my workplace, so when I found that JSRF/Sega GT '02 combo for just a few bucks, I had to get it. That same day, I also discovered Shenmue II- until that point, I'd only known of the Dreamcast version, so I was shocked to see a North American Xbox version! That kicked off my Shenmue journey, and started the painfully long wait to (hopefully) see the conclusion of Ryo's story.
PS: I'm guessing you jumped on Panzer Dragoon Orta as soon as it came along?
@themightyant Do you mean halfway through the first game, or did you give all three a try? I felt similarly about Crash 1 when I first played it, but gave 2 a try anyway, and that was where it really "clicked". 2 was a lot more refined than 1, and it really nailed the platforming "rhythm", you could say.
...though I still think all of Naughty Dog's games are a little overrated (more technically impressive than anything else)!
@Markatron84 IIRC, it's specifically the 60fps option that breaks that section with the sliding platforms, and all higher and lower rates are perfectly fine. You can even run the game without issues at 60 if you uncap it in the game and then cap it using external tools. Or, if you're lazy, just switch to 50 or 30 in that one level.
@EdgarTheBug As I like to say, "It just works... until it doesn't."
I don't know what went wrong with this, though. Old 3 teraflop cards were able to handle Skyrim (in this heavier remastered form) at 60fps with the settings cranked up. This shouldn't even require any careful tweaking or optimization to run well on a docked Switch 2.
Halo 3 is 18 years old, meaning it's in its 19th year. Did it not win the GotY title in 2007, or did they make the all-too-common mistake of forgetting to count the first year?
@BAMozzy Oh, I have no doubt that there are technical challenges involved! IIRC, the Xbone (and possibly Series) has some features that specifically help it with Xbox 360 emulation (handling texture formats or something), which few/no PCs would have. If it is possible to bring BC Xbox games directly to PC, it's likely because any semi-modern PC has enough muscle to brute force the solution, by relying more heavily on software emulation in those areas (with less offloading to hardware).
Much of my previous comment was regarding the licensing side, rather than the technical aspect. I don't know exactly what these companies did, or whether the language in the agreements is broad enough to allow for PC ports, but looking at the results, it's clear that their agreements in the previous gen allowed for the games to be brought over to future hardware with no publisher intervention.
But all that aside, this is still something that I, as a customer, want to see, regardless of whether it can be done!
Comments 344
Re: Review: Toy Story: Retro Roundup! + Toy Story 3 Complete Edition (Xbox) - A Welcome Trip Down Memory Lane
Sounds like Practice Mode is using input recording, a common feature on many emulators.
Basically, it records all of your button presses as you play, in order to create a replay file that can play back the game exactly as you did. Or, in this case, a dev or tester recorded a replay and included it with the game.
This is a very space-efficient method, since it doesn't involve actual video recording. And because the game is being played back in real-time, you can override it and jump in at any time!
Re: The Blood Of Dawnwalker Adds Much-Requested 60FPS Performance Mode For Xbox Series X
@Fiendish-Beaver You're about a quarter-century* older than I am, but it sounds like your eyes are better than mine! I can see the difference with 4K games, but I doubt that I could tell with movies.
I still feel like DVDs are okay with decent upscaling (e.g., on an Xbox One or Series X), with some 4:3 movies being remarkably crisp. VHS is definitely a step too far, though, unless you still have a CRT kicking around!
*Does that make it sound older?
Re: The Blood Of Dawnwalker Adds Much-Requested 60FPS Performance Mode For Xbox Series X
@Mr-Cage But if you're playing at 30fps, then that's Xbox 360 (or PS1) performance in 2026 on a Series X!
Do you often like to sit still and look at the scenery without moving the camera? Maybe take some screenshots? Because all of that extra detail just disappears into a soup of motion blur and/or double vision as soon as you move the camera.
I have to wonder: maybe we literally see the world differently?
Re: The Blood Of Dawnwalker Adds Much-Requested 60FPS Performance Mode For Xbox Series X
@Fiendish-Beaver I know it was meant as a lighthearted comment, but I would have to... mostly? disagree about people all deciding that 60fps is unplayable in the future. I say mostly, as many people even now have already gotten used to 120fps and higher, and they temporarily struggle to go back to 60!
But I think the "absolute" (as opposed to the "relative" process of higher fps simply being better than lower) aspect of this needs to be taken into account: 30fps is low enough that the human eye can usually discern the individual frames (especially on a screen with high motion clarity), whereas 60fps and especially 120fps usually aren't.
The same thing happened with resolution: 240p is objectively very limited in its clarity and detail, but there's a point where things are "good enough". I think most would say it's around 1080p, but 4K at most (unless you play with your nose pressed up against a 50" TV)!
Or graphics, where the blocky models and low-res textures of PS1/N64 games are objectively a poor representation of real life, but a game from 10 years ago can still look pretty close to reality if you squint a little. 20 years, if it's a racing game!
I'd gather that 1080p and 30fps is the threshold of "good enough" for your eyes? I'd probably say 720p60 for myself, as long as it's a 720p TV- 720p close-up on a 1080p computer monitor doesn't look great, though still preferable over 30fps for me!
PS: Interesting that Mortal Shell 2 specifically bothers you at 30fps... I wonder what's different. Maybe it lacks motion blur?
Re: Xbox Rolls Out Mandatory Age Verification To Access 18+ Rated Games In Australia
@BAMozzy Okay, I can get behind that. Thanks for clarifying!
Re: Xbox Rolls Out Mandatory Age Verification To Access 18+ Rated Games In Australia
@BAMozzy Exactly. If there's a giant "18" on the cover, then the parents must know what they're doing. And if the kids just swiped the credit card out of Dad's wallet, then they could use that to bypass the age verification anyway.
I take issue with the idea that parents should be fined for letting their kids play games above their age rating, though. I'm generally on the conservative side about age-appropriate gaming, and I'd still be okay with letting a 12-year-old play Halo: Combat Evolved, for instance (which is 17+, at least in North America). Parents already have the tools they need; now it's up to them to make the call as to how they want to raise their kids. We don't need a bunch of busybodies calling the cops or the Children's Aid Society because their kid claims that the neighbours' kids are playing something a couple years above their actual age!
Unless you mean egregious cases where kids are exposed to extremely graphic content, but there must be laws about that already!
Re: The Original Xbox Intro Was Rendered In Real-Time, And Here's The Proof
@badboidre An eclectic assortment, really. Just played a bit of Fuzion Frenzy for the first time, actually (only in 1P, though... I know I need to get a group together to enjoy this to its fullest).
Finished a bunch, including Darkwatch and Jade Empire. Currently working through RalliSport, I-Ninja, and Jedi Outcast.
(Admittedly, I'm "cheating" a bit by playing a few of these on Xbone and PC. It depends on which version I have, and what runs well.)
Max Payne is one of those must-plays that I shamefully haven't played yet, though it is in my backlog! I was considering playing the PC versions of KotOR, Doom 3, and Half-Life 2 soon... I should add Max Payne to the list as well! (Now to just find time for all of these!)
Re: Leaked Roadmap Hints At Xbox's Plans For Backwards Compatibility In 2026-2028
As cool as it is that Xbox BC is coming to PC, this all but confirms that the library is going to be further whittled down a bit- after the odd game here and there was delisted already, and with BC only supporting a portion of the consoles' libraries to begin with!
Not to be too negative, though. This whole development has been one of the most exciting things out of Xbox/MS in a while! I just hope that they reopen this and start adding more games. The engineering and QA (esp. with FPS Boost involved) are altogether substantial, I'm sure, but getting these OG and 360 games on modern PCs allows for a very long tail- that is, they can continue to receive free money indefinitely!
Re: The Original Xbox Intro Was Rendered In Real-Time, And Here's The Proof
@badboidre I've been binging some OG Xbox lately, and man, that intro still looks so cool to me every time. It practically shouts, "this is the 21st century"!
Re: The Original Xbox Intro Was Rendered In Real-Time, And Here's The Proof
Yeah, I assumed it was a video at first, too... then I realized it was running at 60fps with framerate dips, which pretty much gave it away. And, as Sindayl mentioned, the back compat games render it in HD/4K, removing any doubt!
PS: Boundary Break does some great stuff. Lots of crazy unused content and technical trickery stored out-of-bounds or inside the models!
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think Of The New 'Poster' Artwork On Xbox?
@betterthings Microsoft would already be asking the publisher for high-resolution box art and logos when a game is submitted in the first place, and I imagine that they both have the resources on hand and are responsible for exporting them in whichever format they choose.
At the very least, though, someone will need to export and upload all ~700 games' art with different settings, and it's possible that some manual intervention/inspection will be needed to make sure the logos are sized correctly and aren't getting cut off at the sides. Probably not insurmountable, but it appears that they couldn't just hit a button and have it work perfectly for day one.
Re: Xbox Announces Backwards Compatibility For PC, First Four Games Revealed
@DonkeyKongBigBoy You can buy them on the Xbox store, just like any other game. This has been the case for a while now. They typically go for $10 or less, too!
Unfortunately, I can't see any way that our physical collections could be brought to PC (might wanna hang onto that Series X and/or original Xbox!), but I still think it's cool that a bunch of these classic games are now available to a wider audience that doesn't already own a modern Xbox console. Plus, the PC versions will have the best resolution and performance, so that's an upgrade for anyone with an Xbox One.
Re: Xbox Announces Backwards Compatibility For PC, First Four Games Revealed
@Krlozgod Yes, this has actually been possible for quite some time: you can insert compatible OG Xbox games into an Xbox One or Series X, and it will download them automatically and allow you to play as long as the discs are inserted. There's a pretty decent selection of compatible games, even beyond the four titles shown here!
I think you're right that the disc versions won't ever work on disc-less systems like PC, however. Even with those reports we've heard about getting digital entitlements to your physical games, it sounds like only Xbox One and Series discs have unique IDs, which would prevent OG Xbox games from working this way.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think Of The New 'Poster' Artwork On Xbox?
@betterthings I assume they edited those manually for the promo image, though this change could be easily automated over a large batch of images. But the problem is that these images aren't quite tall enough to fill the space: is the solution to crop the sides (ruining some of the wider logos) to maintain that taller aspect ratio while hiding the bar at the bottom? Or fill in that bar with something (a second Xbox logo, or some black and green stripes)?
...or just crop the bottom of all of the modern games' box art, effectively half-undoing the change they made in the first place?
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think Of The New 'Poster' Artwork On Xbox?
@betterthings The images themselves contain this blank bar- this can be verified by downloading the box art from any (OG or 360 game) store page . It's a weird little quirk that has been around for years, and it's unfortunate that this shows up in the dashboard. Sounds like a dealbreaker, at least for now!
Re: Apparently Dying Light: The Beast Was Coming To Xbox One, But Not Anymore
@Masquerade443 Yeah, it was insane back in the day: you could take a game like Conker's Bad Fur Day and remake it just 4 years later, and its graphics would be a night-and-day improvement. These days, a game like The Last of Us or Assassin's Creed: Black Flag can still look good 13 years later, and its remake will be nowhere near as big a step up.
I've got mixed feelings about continuing to use the Xbone as a daily driver, though. On the one hand, the graphics still look great in most games. On the other, its performance can be rough: if a game isn't running at 30fps or lower, then it's probably full of lengthy loading screens (1v1 fighters are pretty near unplayable, in my experience). But take one of the many 60fps shooters, like the Halos, CoDs, or perhaps most impressively, Titanfall 2, and it just looks and runs great- strongly supporting the claim that games plateaued a decade ago.
PS: One advantage of devs targeting the Xbox One is that the game can effortlessly support high resolutions and framerates on modern consoles, even without any additional optimization. Sure, it wouldn't be pushing the Series X, but then, I've seen what "pushing the limits" of a console is like, and I can't say I want to go back to that. (See some of Rare's N64 games, which would turn into a PowerPoint presentation when the action was too intense!)
Re: 'It's A Franchise We Love' - Toys For Bob Keen To Work With Xbox On Banjo-Kazooie Game
@Banjo- It has happened, even with film...
Now, in fairness, the BK games were re-released without any censorship on Xbox 360, and to my knowledge, have neither been censored nor even marked with a disclaimer since then!
But I can't imagine that someone would put all of the same stuff in while rebuilding the games from scratch. Not in today's climate.
Re: 'It's A Franchise We Love' - Toys For Bob Keen To Work With Xbox On Banjo-Kazooie Game
@Banjo-
As great as a remake (uncensored) would be, there's no way all of the games' humour would survive unscathed. There are probably all kinds of things that would be sanitized now, with Humba Wumba immediately coming to mind. So the best move is to put away the monkey's paw and just enjoy the recompilation (and the second game in an emulator with a 60fps hack) instead.
Re: Poll: Which Xbox Console Have You Collected The Most Physical Games For?
OG Xbox. I unfortunately missed out on a lot of great games at the time, as I only had a GameCube for most of that gen (and a Dreamcast right at the end, ironically enough!). But I've been gradually catching up in more recent years. Such a great generation- I still consider it the best one all around: it struck a great balance between modern(ish) polish and presentation on the one hand, and inventiveness and character on the other.
PS: My Xbox 360 collection comes surprisingly close, but that's mostly because of all of the CoD games that I picked up. Not that I especially love the series, but the 360 versions are the ones to get, as they have local multiplayer.
Re: Three Classic Hitman Games Are Getting Remastered For Xbox In 2027
@RegnumSolipsi The HD Pack didn't actually redo the graphics, did it?
I think that's the distinction: these new remasters actually remake everything in higher fidelity, as opposed to just presenting the original graphics in HD... which the vanilla PC versions already supported, anyway! Not sure it was necessary for Contracts, from what I've seen, but Codename 47 is from 2000, and it could definitely use some touching-up.
You could make a case for resolution-boosted games like Hitman HD not really counting as remasters, but unfortunately, the waters have been thoroughly muddied, so good luck trying to establish consistent definitions!
Re: Three Classic Hitman Games Are Getting Remastered For Xbox In 2027
Looks like a pretty extensive remaster: you could even call it a graphical remake! Everything seems to be built from scratch, but is quite faithful to the original design.
I wonder how they handled the checkpoints in the first game, as I'd heard those were frustrating... mainly because they didn't exist.
Also curious about how the first and third will stack up. Wasn't 3/Contracts a sort-of remake and expansion of 1/Codename 47?
Re: Roundup: All The Biggest Xbox Reveals From The MIX Summer Showcase 2026
@Elbow
That seems to be the usual response! There are surprisingly quite a lot of people who remember Vexx, and usually fondly. It just hasn't been at the forefront of people's minds these past couple of decades, for obvious reasons.
Having chatted with someone from Throwback, I can say that they are aware of Vexx's fans, and they do want to bring him back, but there have been a bunch of reasons that it hasn't happened yet. I'm still hoping a remaster and/or a sequel come along soon, though!
What I'd really love to see is a realization of the original design shown off in 2002, where there were twice as many levels, you could seamlessly walk from one level to another, there were more boss battles, and the story actually made sense- but that's a pipe dream, as many of the assets from that don't even exist anymore.
Re: Roundup: All The Biggest Xbox Reveals From The MIX Summer Showcase 2026
@Bartig Yeah, I think I see what you mean. There are a lot of combat platformers out there, but rarely do they have such fluid controls and full-fledged platforming. Some of these level designs are reminiscent of Vexx's, too, like that lava area at 0:22 in the video, which resembles the catacombs under Frostblight Mill.
This one has my interest, though it still doesn't look like it'll quite scratch the same itch. Vexx's world design and aesthetic are unlike pretty much any other platformer.
Re: Xbox's Next Call Of Duty Game Won't Release On Last-Gen Consoles For The First Time In 14 Years
@Balaam_ If anything, it'll probably be worse now, as they don't need to target last-gen specs.
By aiming for last-gen specs, you automatically get the headroom to really crank up the resolutions, performance, draw distance, etc. on even moderately better hardware like Series S. But by aiming for high-end hardware (e.g., Series X) from the start, it's all too easy to fly too close to the ceiling from the get-go... and then things have to be pared back to get the performance back up to par, especially for the S.
Re: Report: Halo 2 & 3 Remakes Are In 'Active Development' At Halo Studios
@shoeses
I wasn't aware that any noteworthy improvements had been made in the remake until now, and DR was pretty clunky in its original form, so fair enough! Still didn't need a graphical reworking, though.
About Halo, you'd think porting MCC to PlayStation 4/5 would be the easier move, if all they wanted was to get more Halo on Sony's platforms. Adding a sprint button to the trilogy and fixing the Library in 1 would be great, but I find it hard to get excited about re-re-releases of these games, as I'm old (not actually!) and I still think these are "modern". Especially Halo 2 Anniversary!
Re: Report: Halo 2 & 3 Remakes Are In 'Active Development' At Halo Studios
Nothing against remakes themselves, but Halo 2? Seriously?
They just did a full graphical remake in 2014, and it still looks great! Even Halo 3 holds up fine in-game, though the cutscenes haven't aged well. Are they planning to make considerable gameplay/content changes, on top of the graphics? Is that even necessary?
It's these remakes of modern games, and/or "re-remakes", that bug me. If a game isn't available on modern platforms or has major technical limitations, then by all means, remaster it! If it is available, but has severely outdated polygon graphics or clunky gameplay, then that's a candidate for a full remake. But The Last of Us, Dead Rising, and now this? It just seems pointless.
Re: Xbox Leadership Issues Massive Statement On The Future Of The Brand
@nomither6 The N64 already had the quirky and awkward controller, limited storage media, and a bit of a "kiddy" image. So maybe the SNES was really the last great Nintendo console?
You make some valid points. Nintendo did make some baffling and unnecessary decisions with the GameCube that made things more difficult for devs, with little upside. And yeah, I'd probably take N64-era Kirby, Star Fox, Wave Race, and even Mario and Zelda over their GCN counterparts.
But I thought that both the N64 and GCN had really strong exclusives overall, and also appreciated how they had capable tech and were actually a viable option for multi-platform games. Wii kind of threw that out the window. It still had some bangers, for sure, but it was overall a step down, and Nintendo gaming has never reached the same heights as it did before the Wii (in my opinion).
PS: Apologies to those who are here to talk about Xbox! I can complain some more about Xbox One, if that helps?
Re: Xbox Leadership Issues Massive Statement On The Future Of The Brand
@nomither6 As someone who loved the GameCube and its library, I was disappointed with and generally uninterested in the Wii:
All in all, I felt like Nintendo had abandoned their core audience to chase after fickle non-gamers... who all flocked to the Wii for a short time, before tiring of it and moving on within a few years.
Re: Xbox Leadership Issues Massive Statement On The Future Of The Brand
This is a philosophy that I not only hope they stick to, but wish more companies would live by. See Microsoft previously alienating their audience with "TVTVTV", or Nintendo alienating theirs with the Wii and Wii U.
Re: Eight Xbox Games Are Currently Set To Be Delisted In April & May 2026
@Commander91_YT I didn't mean that physical media have died off already, but that they are in the process of being (partially?) killed off: 20 years ago, every game was entirely on-disc (or card), and would work indefinitely. Now, you've got games with no physical release, consoles with no disc drive, half-baked discs that only contain half of the actual content, and Game Key Cards.
The real issue isn't physical vs. digital, but whether we own our games or not. Fully-offline physical media are great for that, of course. But also, DRM-free digital games will stay in your library forever, and you can copy them and back them up to your heart's content.
Live service games, and digital games with DRM, are what's actually at risk of being ripped away from you after you've bought them. And as you mentioned in that earlier post, The Crew is basically non-functional now, even on a physical disc.
Re: Five Xbox Games Are Being Delisted In April & May 2026
@RBRTMNZ Hey, quite a few people seem to like those games!
But it is ironic that the physical version of Hardline has already been "delisted" for a long time, whereas we can keep purchasing unlimited digital copies until its digital delisting. And even after the delisting, we're not going to lose those games we've already purchased.
Of course, physical games can still be bought secondhand after the delisting, but that's a limited quantity, not to mention that an increasing number of modern games aren't even fully playable off the physical medium.
I'm not cheering the death of physical media, but it's a much more nuanced issue than physical-only collectors make it out to be.
Re: Talking Point: Which Xbox Console Do You Think Has Aged The Best?
Original Xbox, but only assuming you have a working/modded one, as the reliability was pretty poor.
Unlike the 360 and One, the original Xbox has tons of games that never made it to modern platforms. Its games have also aged well enough in general (by gameplay and graphical standards), and the technical performance (load times and framerate) holds up better than a lot of newer console games.
That was a great generation in general, and it's a shame that it was so short!
Re: Forza Horizon 6 PC Specs Revealed, Ray Tracing & ROG Xbox Ally Compatibility Confirmed
@Arkz Yeah, that's the thing that many people miss: on PCs, you have all these settings to tweak, and all these upgrades to buy... or you could just ignore them! Get some mid-range hardware and set your games to the medium preset, and 90% of the time, you're going to get a console-like experience without any tinkering needed!
Upgrading the GPU every couple of years, tweaking all of your settings to get them just right, etc., is only important if you're really picky and need the best of the best. If you get a console, you won't be getting the best of the best graphics/performance anyway!
Re: The 10 Most Wanted Backwards Compatibility Games According To 'Xbox Game Preservation'
@XxEvilAshxX I have no idea how many (or how few!) people played the Goldeneye port, but I'm sure the 30fps cap* and wobbly rendering** didn't help matters. Even with the 360 remake/remaster being off the table, it would have been nice to see Rare Replay receive a definitive version of the 1997 classic. I would've even purchased the digital edition of RR on sale, despite owning the physical one already!
*not present on N64 and NSO
**barely noticeable on N64, not present in NSO, as far as I'm aware.
Re: The 10 Most Wanted Backwards Compatibility Games According To 'Xbox Game Preservation'
Surprised that Silent Hill 4 is so high on the list, as you can at least get the PC version for like $10 on GOG. But it's a shame that many of those other ones are still stranded in the past.
I assume the music licensing is prohibitively expensive or complicated in the case of JSRF and especially Burnout 3, but what about Silent Hill 2 and Sonic Heroes? Those ones even have PC ports already!
Re: SSX 3 Is Incredible On Xbox, Here Are Five Reasons You Should Try It In 2026
This reminds me that I picked up the PS2 version years ago for next to nothing, but have barely even played it. (SHAME!!!)
Would definitely pick up the XB version if it goes on sale, but PCSX2 probably offers an equally great experience...
Re: Six Classic Games To Feature In 'Marvel MaXimum Collection' On Xbox Series X|S
This is really surprising: the X-Men arcade game is one thing, but I wouldn't have ever expected to see the likes of Maximum Carnage and Arcade's Revenge make a return. The latter, speaking of which, is the only one of these that I have, and its soundtrack is amazing on the SNES. It's by the Follin brothers, so that tells you all you need to know.
Re: Talking Point: You're The New Head Of Xbox, What Do You Do Now?
What's that? We need to scrap all these initiatives, because they focus too much on games and good will instead of AI, and they don't provide Infinite Growth? Yes, Mr. Nadella. Right away, Mr. Nadella!
@FraserG Great choice of topic, by the way!
Re: MGS4 To Make Its Xbox Debut In Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 This August
@EVIL-C Ghost Babel usually gets overlooked, due to being a portable game (being stuck on a ~30-year-old handheld can't help), but it's supposed to be a really strong entry, isn't it?
I actually felt that MG1&2 on the MSX played better than the MGS series (despite obviously being less cinematic), so if Ghost Babel delivers more of the same, plus 60fps and some more "modern" late-'90s game design standards, then it sounds like a winner!
Re: MGS4 To Make Its Xbox Debut In Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 This August
@Romans12 But there are already easy ways to play Gears of War, and with good graphics and performance at that.
MGS4 has been stranded for 18 years on an old console that many people don't own, and even for those who do have a PS3... well, have you seen how this game runs in the busier scenes?
Re: Talking Point: Three Years Later, What Do You Think Of The GoldenEye 007 Port For Xbox?
I can confidently say that Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are great games on their own merits, and this has nothing to do with nostalgia, as I got into them a decade after release!
I never bothered with the Xbox port, though, largely due to the unnecessary 30fps cap. The original N64 version was uncapped, making a locked 60fps possible on some emulators. Combine that with the native widescreen that the original already supported, plus the high-precision geometry rendering of almost any emulator, and emulation is just a better experience overall.
Still need to try the cancelled remake, but that one looks incredible!
Re: Talking Point: Three Years Later, What Do You Think Of The GoldenEye 007 Port For Xbox?
@Romans12 The default controls make it very difficult to aim up and down, though you rarely need to actually aim on lower difficulties.
I prefer to play with the second control scheme (1.2 Solitaire), as it basically functions like modern dual-stick controls... except it's stuck in southpaw mode, but that feels natural to me on an N64 controller. The left and right hands can even be reversed on emulators (including NSO), resulting in a setup that strongly resembles modern shooters like CoD!
Re: Talking Point: As Xbox Celebrates 25 Years, What's Your First Ever Xbox Memory?
@GamingGod Would that be Spyhunter, by any chance?
Re: Talking Point: As Xbox Celebrates 25 Years, What's Your First Ever Xbox Memory?
@M20B25 Great choices to start with... though I may be biased, as I started with the same games!
I didn't have an OG Xbox until well after its time, but there was one set up in the lounge at my workplace, so when I found that JSRF/Sega GT '02 combo for just a few bucks, I had to get it. That same day, I also discovered Shenmue II- until that point, I'd only known of the Dreamcast version, so I was shocked to see a North American Xbox version! That kicked off my Shenmue journey, and started the painfully long wait to (hopefully) see the conclusion of Ryo's story.
PS: I'm guessing you jumped on Panzer Dragoon Orta as soon as it came along?
Re: YouTuber Thinks They've Found More Evidence Of Xbox Making A New Spyro Game
@themightyant Do you mean halfway through the first game, or did you give all three a try? I felt similarly about Crash 1 when I first played it, but gave 2 a try anyway, and that was where it really "clicked". 2 was a lot more refined than 1, and it really nailed the platforming "rhythm", you could say.
...though I still think all of Naughty Dog's games are a little overrated (more technically impressive than anything else)!
Re: YouTuber Thinks They've Found More Evidence Of Xbox Making A New Spyro Game
@Markatron84 IIRC, it's specifically the 60fps option that breaks that section with the sliding platforms, and all higher and lower rates are perfectly fine. You can even run the game without issues at 60 if you uncap it in the game and then cap it using external tools. Or, if you're lazy, just switch to 50 or 30 in that one level.
Re: Skyrim On Switch 2 Suffers 'Kinect-Level Input Lag', Says Digital Foundry
@EdgarTheBug As I like to say, "It just works... until it doesn't."
I don't know what went wrong with this, though. Old 3 teraflop cards were able to handle Skyrim (in this heavier remastered form) at 60fps with the settings cranked up. This shouldn't even require any careful tweaking or optimization to run well on a docked Switch 2.
Re: Halo 3 Wins 'Game Of The Year' As GameStop Reveals Its Full Set Of Awards For 2025
Halo 3 is 18 years old, meaning it's in its 19th year. Did it not win the GotY title in 2007, or did they make the all-too-common mistake of forgetting to count the first year?
Re: The Game Awards Trailer Prices Range From 'Free' To Over '1 Million' USD, Claims Report
@somnambulance Implying that he actually plays games?
Re: Rumour: Xbox 'Hopes' To Bring Backwards Compatibility Program To ROG Ally & Windows PC
@BAMozzy Oh, I have no doubt that there are technical challenges involved! IIRC, the Xbone (and possibly Series) has some features that specifically help it with Xbox 360 emulation (handling texture formats or something), which few/no PCs would have. If it is possible to bring BC Xbox games directly to PC, it's likely because any semi-modern PC has enough muscle to brute force the solution, by relying more heavily on software emulation in those areas (with less offloading to hardware).
Much of my previous comment was regarding the licensing side, rather than the technical aspect. I don't know exactly what these companies did, or whether the language in the agreements is broad enough to allow for PC ports, but looking at the results, it's clear that their agreements in the previous gen allowed for the games to be brought over to future hardware with no publisher intervention.
But all that aside, this is still something that I, as a customer, want to see, regardless of whether it can be done!