How about downloadable Xbox 1 games for your 360?

[warning]

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7915&Itemid=2

Microsoft told the Official Xbox Magazine that the update, scheduled for December 4, will allow Xbox 360 owners to download classic titles such as Halo, Fable, Crash Bandicoot and Burnout 3 via Xbox Live Marketplace for around 1200 Microsoft points per title. As time goes by, the platform holder reportedly hopes to make as much of the original Xbox’s back catalog of titles available to Xbox 360 owners as possible.

A movie-on-demand service similar to the US Video Marketplace will also be launched in Europe, although a solid start date for this service has yet to be confirmed. Effectively an online rental service, users will be able to download movies to their Xbox 360 hard drive. They will have 14 days to start watching the downloaded content. Once they begin watching the content, they will have 24 hours to finish it before it is automatically deleted from their hard drive.

Sounds cool.  I'll need a bigger hard drive.

[Misguided]

15 bucks a pop?! 
Hopefully they at least run better now than previously.
Framerate was terrible on Fable.

[Knightshade Dragon]

And suddenly I see why Backwards Compatibility is on the back burner.  Why give away what you can charge additional money for?

[greeneggsnham]

Sad but true... but I'd pay 15 bucks to play Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath again. Or Psi-Ops.

The likelyhood of these two ever hitting this service, however... 

[Larraque]

For the price of just one ass-raping, we'll sell you a game that you can buy used at EBGames for $10 less. 

Heck, they'll probably throw in 200 points worth of achievements, just to sell to the achievementards.

[warning]

I'd gladly pay $15 for Beyond Good & Evil and Mercenaries, emulated to perfection.

[CeeKay]

Sad but true... but I'd pay 15 bucks to play Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath again.

oh hellz yeah!!!!

The likelyhood of these two ever hitting this service, however... 

oh hellz no!!!!

[Brendan]

And suddenly I see why Backwards Compatibility is on the back burner.

??

[Misguided]

And suddenly I see why Backwards Compatibility is on the back burner.  Why give away what you can charge additional money for?

That's assuming that whatever is required to make these games playable on the system is a different process
than the regular BC process.

[EngineNo9]

Yeah, I'm assuming it would basicaly just use the same emulation as the backwards compatibility stuff, so the better that works the better off these games would be. 

I'm not sure why someone would rather pay $15 to have a non-tangible version of the game that is just taking up hard drive space and can't be resold when you can likely get the same game for less that $10 on disc.  Other than people being stupid, of course. 

[Purge]

And suddenly I see why Backwards Compatibility is on the back burner.  Why give away what you can charge additional money for?

They release quarterly, and have been making strides. Have you heard something we haven't? Brendan, how's the BC beta testing thing going... any glimpses of titles avail at the next update? (Other than Barbie Horse Adventures 2)

[kronovan]

Umm...no...just make all of the games in my XBox libray backward compatible thank you. I can't see how this is anything but a money grab. If MS wanted to go the route of emulated BC then they ought to pony up and provide it for their existing DVD library. A number of these games may be close to the max capacity of a DVD...oh...wait a moment....I guess that means you'd need to buy a larger HD or an Elite; now I see their plan.
$15 seems steep considering just how little it costs for these preowned now. If I see Midtown Madness 3 or Rallisport 2 show up on this download list, I'm going to blow a fuse! 

[Tebunker]

they see how well VC and Psx downloads work for Nintendo and Sony, and want part of that market, what they fail to realize is that Xbox 1 games are cheap and readily available and wouldn't be worth a download without some serious extra stuff added in. Heck, maybe they'll pull a Sony and disable BC all together.

I personally think this is more of a bullet on back of the box so they can say that you download 'classic' previous gen games just like the competition.

[Kevin Grey]

they see how well VC and Psx downloads work for Nintendo and Sony, and want part of that market, what they fail to realize is that Xbox 1 games are cheap and readily available and wouldn't be worth a download without some serious extra stuff added in. Heck, maybe they'll pull a Sony and disable BC all together.

I personally think this is more of a bullet on back of the box so they can say that you download 'classic' previous gen games just like the competition.

Yeah, I pretty much already own every Xbox game I would ever consider buying.  The issue is actually being able to play them. 

I'm sure there are a few out there but, offhand, I can't think of too many very rare or expensive Xbox titles.   

[Purge]

Phantom Dust. If everyone could download that one it'd be a blast. Oh, and Live 360 support would be kickass. Since the game had a limited run, good luck finding a decent copy. I've seen it occasionally, but I'm not going to bite if there's no one else to play with.

As far as I'm concerned, if I can buy Golden Axe, then I should be able to get me some Phantom Dust. I can't demonize MS for offering the same crap that other systems are doing RIGHT NOW. Most demos today are bigger than XB1 games.

[Larraque]

The list they're giving is so very lackluster.

Halo - this one will probably be the biggest seller from the list, even though the gameplay is now quite dated. Does anyone really want to go back to this after Halo 3? Or any of the other great shooters in the past six years?

Fable - this was never all that great a game to begin with. The game takes all of 10 hours to play and I never wanted to go back after finishing it. I guess if you're RPG starved, but why play this when you can play better RPGs like Oblivion... and more oblivion?

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex - not really sure what kind of gamer enjoys the Crash series. I guess it's kid-friendly, so that's a good thing.

Burnout 3 - this is already available on the 360 in the form of Burnout 4. (Or whatever it's called. Maybe it was Burnout 3?) I'd rather just shell out the money for that.

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge - Solid game, but you can buy it for about $5 used at Gamestop.

Fahrenheit - I have no idea what this game is. I've never heard of it before.

The whole list is a wash in my mind. Your mileage may vary. Mind you, if I want to go back to playing old games, I'll dust off my XBox and play something on that. I highly doubt I'd download and play any of the downloadable content anyways.

[Kevin Grey]

Halo - this one will probably be the biggest seller from the list, even though the gameplay is now quite dated. Does anyone really want to go back to this after Halo 3? Or any of the other great shooters in the past six years?

I replayed portions of Halo right after H3 and it's held up wonderfully IMO.  Still an excellent game. 

Fahrenheit - I have no idea what this game is. I've never heard of it before.
anyways.

Called Indigo Prophecy in the US.  Basicially an adventure game- got some really good notices but evidently it kind of goes nuts near the end (I haven't played it yet). 

[EngineNo9]

Burnout 3 - this is already available on the 360 in the form of Burnout 4. (Or whatever it's called. Maybe it was Burnout 3?) I'd rather just shell out the money for that. 

Burnout 3 is the game before Burnout Revenge, and in my mind is the pinacle of the series.  But it's already on the backwards compatibility list so I can play the copy I have. 

[metallicorphan]

farenheit / indigo prophecy...great game,im having that when it comes

this has really got my mind buzzing,as i am hoping games like the star wars battlefront games could be released and therfor breath new life into the online part,as it really needs it

and also KOTOR 1 and 2



the only thing i am concerned about is the space,sure i have a 120 gig hard drive but with europe getting the video marketplace the same day....i am thinking that a 200gig HDD wont be far away


1200 points per game is pretty good IMO....thats about 8 quid(or 6 bottles of 2ltr coke if you like)

[hepcat]

For the price of just one ass-raping, we'll sell you a game that you can buy used at EBGames for $10 less. 

Heck, they'll probably throw in 200 points worth of achievements, just to sell to the achievementards.

what's the standard ass raping rate, by the way?  can you buy an ass rape in a package deal, if you were so inclined?  tell me more, i'm intrigued by your ass raping service.   

[Jumangi]

The list they're giving is so very lackluster.

Halo - this one will probably be the biggest seller from the list, even though the gameplay is now quite dated. Does anyone really want to go back to this after Halo 3? Or any of the other great shooters in the past six years? 

The only thing that might interest me would be if they added MP Live! support to the game. Could be some fun in a retro sort of way though I doubt this would ever happen.

[Ridah]

Again we're trying to nail Microsoft for giving us more options? Don't buy the game if you don't agree with the price! It's just an extra option, it's not like the original DVD versions won't work anymore.

[Calvin]

I think this is a fantastic idea, a good option for gamers to have, and possibly a way for some lesser known Xbox games to maybe become bigger hits after the fact if they can be easily downloaded (hi Crimson Skies, miss you!). Either way, I think this, from the looks of it, is putting the Sony PS1 download service absolutely to shame if MS follows through with it. Good stuff from them, although I would still like BC updates.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Man....Friday Night Fights with Crimson Skies?  The pull is strong...

[TheMissingLink]

Man....Friday Night Fights with Crimson Skies?  The pull is strong...

THE GAME IS $1.99 USED AT GAMESTOP.  Please don't waste your $15.00 on a game you can get for $13 LESS!

Take any game offered on PSN or via the Wii's Virtual Console and it isn't marked up by $13 by any sale you can find.  Hell, they gave me Crimson Skies free with Xbox Live service back in the day.  Only to charge $15 for it now?  That's loco.

**edited to add**

Any kind of VC service is a good thing.  I was just pointing out the price of one of the games.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Man....Friday Night Fights with Crimson Skies?  The pull is strong...

THE GAME IS $1.99 USED AT GAMESTOP.  Please don't waste your $15.00 on a game you can get for $13 LESS!

Take any game offered on PSN or via the Wii's Virtual Console and it isn't marked up by $13 by any sale you can find.  Hell, they gave me Crimson Skies free with Xbox Live service back in the day.  Only to charge $15 for it now?  That's loco.

**edited to add**

Any kind of VC service is a good thing.  I was just pointing out the price of one of the games.

Oh I don't typically sell off my games.  I still have the game.

[Laner]

More options are always good, but I doubt I'll buy many (if any at all) unless there's some kind of value-add - achievements, online multiplayer for pre-Live games (Halo, ahem...), etc.  As others have pointed out, you can grab the originals on disc for half or less... at $15 a pop it's not a particularly good deal.

And that hard drive has got to come down in price.  Stat.

Random musing:  Maybe this will pave the way for other console titles to be added?  Dreamcast, perhaps?

[metallicorphan]

i hope silent hill 2 comes,because the european version never made it to the back compat list

the GTA games would do well,again it scares me on how big these games will be gig wise...hope armed and dangerous makes the list sometime as well

[kronovan]

More options are always good, but I doubt I'll buy many (if any at all) unless there's some kind of value-add - achievements, online multiplayer for pre-Live games (Halo, ahem...), etc.  As others have pointed out, you can grab the originals on disc for half or less... at $15 a pop it's not a particularly good deal.

And that hard drive has got to come down in price.  Stat.

Random musing:  Maybe this will pave the way for other console titles to be added?  Dreamcast, perhaps?

Exactly! I think you've nailed all the issues down here Laner.

- MS needs to add extra value to the games to make them worth while. After all, since all of these games are only 1 console gen old they're not exactly classics like SNES or PS1 games. Since getting my X360 a month ago I have played a few XBox games on Live, but the extent of the service is definitely much less than 360 Live. In addition to this, games that only provided system link should be tweaked to be support Live mplay.

- Extra storage space will be required, just no avoiding this. Most folks have 20 GB HD's and it's already a challenge for demo download junkies. However, at least with demos you don't plan on keeping them for very long.

-Dreamcast games would be the smart thing for MS to provide. There's very few DC games on Gametap and since the DC was an intel based system it would be a perfect fit for the X360 to emulate. Even the GPU used a graphics API that was briefly available for Windows based computers. And most of them fit on 1 CD-ROM, which is about the size of the smaller demos on Live.

[Tebunker]

Yeah, I don't want to sound like I am faulting them for giving us more stuff. I am all on board with that, but it does seem quasi-half hearted at the moment. Also, I don't want to see anyone who's bitched about the price of Virtual Console games say that these are fairly priced. They aren't, as many have shown already.

I do however have several thousand points that I am sitting on, and I may be tempted if the right title shows up, and it is not readily available from a store.

Personally it seems, right now, that it is more of a "Oh they've got that feature, WE need it too!". Not necessarilly a bad thing, just makes me question the potential implementation, See price .

[EngineNo9]

My hard drive is constantly on the verge of being full anyway with the demos, Arcade games and videos I download.  Practially very week I have to delete something to try out a new demo. 

UPDATE: A statement from Microsoft adds that Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Psychonauts will be getting a second chance at life on the Xbox 360 as Xbox Originals. "This new service will launch with an array of blockbuster titles spanning the most popular genres from action-adventure to classic role-playing games," reads Microsoft's statement.

I'd probably purchase another version of something like Psychonuats just to show some support for the game.  I'd rather give MS and DoubleFine $15 than give that all to GameStop.  I can't see myself buying too many other titles that I don't already have or couldn't go buy for $5-10 in disc format, though.

I agree that it would be neat to see some extended Live functionality and Achievements for the games. 

[Purge]

Yeah, I was going to say that giving some of these games a second chance at market is a good thing.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/p/psychonauts/

[Ridah]

So much for the games being released in perfect form, MS is already giving us a heads up on issues with the games:

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge: There is some minor flickering at the top of the screen that happens very rarely. The "Press A to Continue" message is missing when the host player leaves a multiplayer game.

Fable: There are some random bursts of audio static and some minor texture issues and a short hang up when removing tattoos.

Fuzion Frenzy: There are some minor frame rate issues.

Halo: There are some very mild frame rate drops.

Psychonauts: HDMI 720p is not supported for PAL users. Running the game in 720p over HDMI will result in the game locking up for PAL users. If you are using HDMI output, set the resolution to 1080i or 1080p (anything but 720p).

[kronovan]

Looks like Major Nelson has cleared up whether or not achievements will be made available in these games. Unfortunately it's not the answer we wanted to hear.

I have gotten quite a few questions about yesterday’s Xbox Originals announcement. Specifically, folks want to know if these games will have additional functionality like Achievements and Gamer score. The answer is no. These are the original games that were created before Xbox 360. In order to preserve the integrity of the original gaming experience they provide, they will have the features available at the time of their initial release.  I hope that clears that up.

http://majornelson.com/archive/2007/11/14/will-xbox-originals-have-achievements.aspx

I agree it's nice to give a game a 2nd chance at the market, but that will come at the expense of the preowned / trading market. As it stands there's still some preowned XBox games that will fetch over $10, but after the introduction of this service, I'm not so sure.

[whiteboyskim]

Looks like Major Nelson has cleared up whether or not achievements will be made available in these games. Unfortunately it's not the answer we wanted to hear.

I have gotten quite a few questions about yesterday’s Xbox Originals announcement. Specifically, folks want to know if these games will have additional functionality like Achievements and Gamer score. The answer is no. These are the original games that were created before Xbox 360. In order to preserve the integrity of the original gaming experience they provide, they will have the features available at the time of their initial release.  I hope that clears that up.

http://majornelson.com/archive/2007/11/14/will-xbox-originals-have-achievements.aspx

I agree it's nice to give a game a 2nd chance at the market, but that will come at the expense of the preowned / trading market. As it stands there's still some preowned XBox games that will fetch over $10, but after the introduction of this service, I'm not so sure.

If that's the case then hell no, MS can keep 'em. The games I've kept for the Xbox are all BC and are ones I still replay. They'll work fine whenever I upgrade to a 360 and I see zero need to pay $15 for ZERO difference than a game that can be had used for $1.99 as previously mentioned. I never thought I'd say this, but "Go EB."

[Purge]

If that's the case then hell no, MS can keep 'em. The games I've kept for the Xbox are all BC and are ones I still replay. They'll work fine whenever I upgrade to a 360 and I see zero need to pay $15 for ZERO difference than a game that can be had used for $1.99 as previously mentioned. I never thought I'd say this, but "Go EB."

The only reason I could see doing this is if I was bothered by too much hard disk space (on my 20GB *cough*11gig*cough* unlikely) or if you wanted to support the developer. EB games isn't sending any of that money back for the 12 copies of Psychonauts in circulation.

[kronovan]

As was said earlier in this thread, there's just too many negative factors in offering games for download from a platform as recent as the Xbox 1. MS needs to get real and offer an older console platform that's currently underrepresented on classic gaming services; I can't think of anything better than the Dreamcast. They could offer DC games for 800 points a pop and make available titles like:

Soul Calibur
Skies of Arcadia
Jet Grind Radio
Grandia II
Rayman 2
Power Stone 2
Hydro Thunder
F355 Challenge
Metropolis Street Racer
etc..

I swear, titles like those would get downloaded onto X360 HD's in a constant stream.