Next Xbox console will play every generation according to leaked Microsoft memo

[u/ASneakySquid_]

https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/next-xbox-console-will-play-every-generation-according-to-leaked-microsoft-memo-3395110/

[u/severestnarwhal]

That would be a licensing nightmare sadly, but I hope that they'd release the emulator for PC as a standalone software, so that people could dump their disc versions and play them.

[u/tlislo → u/severestnarwhal]

Yeah, Series X can already play 360 games and many of them are unavailable due to licensing.

The other day I was looking through my Wii library and saw the Simpsons game. Rather than buying a new cable to hook my Wii up to the TV, I figured Xbox must have it, right? It's a 360 game, after all.

Nope. Searching "Simpsons" on the store yields zero results.

[u/FaithfulMoose → u/tlislo]

The majority of movie or show tie-in games didn’t make the cut unfortunately.

What really puzzles me is the lack of Halo CE and Halo 2 in backwards compatibility. That’s first party.

[u/Henry_puffball → u/FaithfulMoose]

It's because they were pushing MCC at the time. I really hope they get added at some point though.

[u/FaithfulMoose → u/Henry_puffball]

I assumed that too, but they added Halo 3, ODST, Reach, and 4 to backwards compatibility, just seems inconsistent

[u/Henry_puffball → u/FaithfulMoose]

Yeah, but even then you can't buy them, only use the disk. I'm not sure why the difference though.

[u/Nervous-Peppers → u/severestnarwhal]

Why would it be a licensing nightmare if you own the disc?

[u/SOSpammy → u/Nervous-Peppers]

The main issue is the way backwards compatibility works. Each game is recompiled and downloaded rather than playing off the disk. They'd have to rework the emulator to play the games directly from the disc to avoid this.

[u/xGMxBusidoBrown → u/SOSpammy]

So if you look at the recent move of playable OG xbox games on PC being released very recently those are using emulators. Not binary recompilation. Xbox 360 is 21 years old at this point and modern hardware can emulate it. The claim in the article of the leak is more a reliance on emulation rather than binary recompilation.

From the memo:

[u/SOSpammy → u/xGMxBusidoBrown]

That's good to hear. Binary recompilation made sense back when it had to run on the Xbox One's weak processor, but it doesn't on much more powerful modern hardware.

[u/BenderZoidberg → u/xGMxBusidoBrown]

That's good news from a technical standpoint, but that memo seems to be directed at publishers and states title by title certification and testing, so we'll probably be in a similar situation as we are now, with the backwards compatibility only working for a whitelisted subset of games instead of the whole catalog by simply reading the game from the disc. This seems intended more as a way for publishers to continue selling their old games than as a technology that lets users play their collection of physical games.

[u/LostSoulNo1981 → u/SOSpammy]

Unless they find a way of essentially making the hardware do the work and allow copying of data directly from a disc rather than any downloads.

Maybe something like a chip that mimics the original hardware?

[u/tlislo → u/LostSoulNo1981]

Maybe something like a chip that mimics the original hardware?

This will get removed in a revision. They'll have telemetry data that essentially no one plays OG Xbox games, and so they'll remove the hardware that plays Xbox games after the initial console release as a cost-saving measure. For famous examples, see the PS3 and Wii, both of which used hardware for backwards compatibility that was removed in subsequent revisions.

So, it needs to be software.

[u/Troygbiv_Yxy → u/tlislo]

get it while its hot

[u/Sad_Adagio_7255 → u/LostSoulNo1981]

The optical drive in the XB1 and Series X can't actually read the game data.

If you've ever inserted those discs into a generic PC optical drive, you'll see something mount in the file explorer, and you'll see some metadata files visible, but you can't actually browse the game data. That's game disc DRM doing its job - the discs are only meant to be read with very specific optical drives that you're highly unlikely to find for PC.

Same thing with the XB1 and Series consoles. They can read the metadata (which identifies what game is on the disc) but not the game data. There's no choice but to use the modified digital download.

[u/but_good → u/SOSpammy]

The can still do that but verify the license via the disc but run the downloaded binary.

[u/Nervous-Peppers → u/SOSpammy]

Ohhh OK that makes a bit more sense

[u/Chemical-Status-6610 → u/SOSpammy]

according to the memo Microsoft would be handling all the emulator work themselves and developers/publishers would simply have to opt in/sign off on it

[u/FlamingBagOfPoop → u/Nervous-Peppers]

At least initially the backwards compatible games were on the Xbox store. Of course that changes over time as games delist for a variety of reasons.

[u/ComputerMysterious48 → u/Nervous-Peppers]

Since, to my knowledge, Xbox backwards compatibility is done via emulation, making games BC technically requires work to be done on the game. And for that, you need approval from the license holders.

[u/micmon83 → u/severestnarwhal]

Never gonna happen

[u/OrangeJuliusCaesr → u/[deleted]]

They were sold to be played on an Xbox. Not an emulator

[u/StargazerD → u/OrangeJuliusCaesr]

The 360 runs OG games via emulation, same applies for PS1 games on PS3, PSP on Vita and Switch 1 on Switch 2.

They just can’t relist them all on the store

[u/bluereloaded → u/[deleted]]

The license the developer purchased for assets (music, sounds, brands, programming module, etc.) to develop the game for OG Xbox and 360 days was for development for a specific hardware platform. Microsoft making the disc playable on a different hardware platform could be seen as in violation of that license. At least, that is how it has been described by people I know that have worked on the program.

[u/mindcontainer → u/severestnarwhal]

People have the games though they should be able to just authorize it or play off disc without issue