Feature: Looking Back At The E3 That Delivered Xbox Backwards Compatibility

Every time I see Don Mattrick speak I feel like I need a shower… that clip on particular….

Listening to Phil talk is such a huge change…. That man knows what it means to be a fan of video games.

I don’t particularly remember the BC reveal, since at the time I still had XBox on my Poop List, and although I was a bit impressed at the time about the intentions (reading articles) I didn’t believe yet it would go far enough.

I still hope MS goes further with the project and courts more publishers to add their OG and 360 games over.

That show made me an Xbox fan!

Viva original Xbox.

I know I am in the minority here... But the backwards compatibility is useless to me. I really only care about the new games that come out. I want to experience the new system and all of the power it brings. I don't want to play old games that might look a tiny bit better. And again, I know that most people wont agree with me and that is fine. Just wanted to give my opinion that no one asked for.

@OliverOwen
Totally agree it’s a nice to have and comes in handy now and again.
New games is what matters to me, if I wanna play old games I would have kept my Xbox one, as simple as that.
I have always looked forward to a new generation for the new games and new power it brings and not spend £450 to play old games slightly tarted up. You could say more fool me for buying one.
So the series x from a new generation games perspective has been a joke, 7 months in and still nothing.
Then on top of that when we get games this fall, I’m guessing they will all be cross generation, that I can stomach as long as time has been taken to make the new generation version a lot better.

Unfortunately it’s the times we live in and not the Xbox to the Xbox360 to the Xbox one generation change.

Did Don Mattrick brings us the xbox360?
If he did then he gave us the best Xbox there has ever been so far, for games and new IP.

I bloody love having my whole collection on one console. Just wish more were available. Also the reason I've kept a Wii U was backwards compatibility. Did love telling my friend who is a MASSIVE Sony fan boy how great Mad Max runs at 120fps and feels like a new game.

@Dezzy70 I get it that we all spend our time more often on new games. But there’s something nice about having my back catalogue available on the latest device so I don’t have to keep multiple things hooked up. When movies transferred from vhs to dvd and later blu-ray and streaming, I never said “Well if I wanted to watch old movies I would just keep my vcr with the vhs’s I own”. Like, I may not go back often, but when I do it’s nice that the movies I want to go back to are available to watch using the latest system (with some maintenance upgrades in sound and visual quality). I see games the same way.

@xMightyMatt14x
Yes I did put it is a nice to have, but along with some new games please at launch and during the first 7 months please.
I’m all for BC along with some new games.
But not as a replacement, which lets be honest is what has happened so far.

@OliverOwen there is not even one game you played in the past that you liked so much you replay it every so often? At all?

@The_New_Butler Yes, once i play a game i typically don't play it again after its been beaten. There are some very rare exceptions though but not very often to i play a game that i already beat.

@Tharsman One game, Tales of Vesperia. But they ended up coming out with a re-master that included all the DLC and some options that the PS4 version had and i bought that a second time. That is the only game from the past that i have ever wanted to play again. I have tried to play old games and because i am spoiled with the new graphics and FPS and all that, it just doesn't have that nostalgic feeling for me anymore. There is nothing wrong with everyone else enjoying the prior generation games and continuing to play them. I just look forward to the new games and games designed for the new system and new system alone. Its like owning the NES and then the Super NES came out and you couldn't play old NES games on it. That is how i feel about this.

@Dezzy70 that’s fair. My gut on the lack of new games (at present) has been that they really have been investing in growing their studios to prepare for a future where they can have mostly AAA funded studios as opposed to pushing their new studios to create and release quickly and end up with a few AAA funded and several small studios. We gotta remember too that many of the recent purchases were finishing projects, which have released to pretty solid acclaim even as multiplat as (Wasteland 3, Outer Worlds). There’s still plenty of great games to play it’s just they’re multiplat. We’re all waiting until 2022 for the long cycles to start paying off but after that it’ll be a steady stream due to their current investment in building up studios and growing new teams. It sucks not having the exclusives after 3 years (or less in some cases) but at the same time if all of them had been pushed and were releasing game’s now they would be probably smaller in size and scope, or poor quality. I’ll only be upset if the fruits don’t pay off in 2022 and after.

@xMightyMatt14x That's also how I see backwards compatibility, a priceless yet free feature.

@Dezzy70 It's not a replacement, it's just that the new studios need time.

@xMightyMatt14x
Yes I think things should start to pay of the end of this year with Halo and maybe a FH5 then a good steady stream would be good 2022, rather than bunching all the big AAA games at the end of 2022. I find Xbox out of all three tend to like a big end of year lots of games AAA titles. Then they get caught up in the CODS and FIFA gang.
It’s nice to have a AAA game in day March and July, even better when on game pass as well.

@OliverOwen I get the "I want to play new games" thing to a point, but even if you never want to replay a game you've already replayed, the Gen 7 and 8 catalogues are MONSTROUS! It's almost impossible there's not a large number of games for it that you haven't played yet that you might be interested in playing. It's nice just turning on your system and buying/playing them (and not rep-buying them at full price just because they're a "rerelease" for your current hardware) and not having to have a bevvy of consoles hooked up on A/B switches to switch which console plays what games like retro consoles have to. And it's nice when those "old" games can take advantage of your newer, better hardware, to boot!

But, then, I had my NES and SNES side by side and spent probably equal time on them with an A/B switch (Actually, A/B/C - Sega Genesis on t he third.) That NES library was huge, and there was so much I hadn't played yet.... And they didn't get any graphics upgrades from my SNES....boo!

@Tharsman It's so true. The message alone was bad enough, but that guy just LOOKs like the sleaziest used car/insurance/time share salesman you have ever met in your life, and has the same 90's "company IT guy" persona and attitude to go along with it that makes you just want to implode whatever product he's selling before you even see it.

I'm sad I can't download Transformers: War for Cybertron (I know it's a licencing thing) and play that, but I'll dig out the 360 for that. Other than that, Xbox has me covered.

This and the OG Xbox Backward Compatible announcement are my top two favorite E3 moments ever. They made so very little from this monetarily but gained so much respect.

I love back compat and use it regularly but it makes me sad there is still no JSRF

@NEStalgia I agree. I still haven't played The Witcher 3 and Series X version is coming soon 😁. Because I skipped Xbox and Xbox 360, I have tons of Xbox, Xbox 360 and even Xbox One games to play and they all look better on Series X (resolution, FPS...).

My name is Phil Maximus Dominus Meridius Spencer, Commander of Microsoft Studios in the North, Lord of GamePass and Leader of technical Innovation to the Xbox Gaming Community, Father to a gamer daughter, husband to a gamer wife. And I will have my Redemption, in this Generation or the Next.

I love the backwards compatibility; but with every remaster it gets devalued unfortunately. That’s why I couldn’t wrap my head around everyones hype for Mass Effect Legendary Edition. I already have the 3 games on my Series X and they each play very well.

I’m sure a FF Lightning Trilogy and Dead Space trilogy would also get eaten up; but yet there they are, ready to play on Series X.

Microsoft should really show it off more.

Also you tend to see a lot of Playstation players saying they don’t care about old games; but at the same time most of them get super excited for the remasters.

With the recent Sega Sonic anniversary stream; I saw people wanting a remaster of Sonic Generations. I literally finished that the other day on Series X; and am about to return to my decade old saves of Star Ocean and Infinite Undiscovery.

I absolutely love back compat, my Steam collection stays with me, so to see my main console of choice offer a similar thing is amazing. I have a huge digital collection across all generations and I can play them on my Series X & S right now, how could I not love this feature!? One of the stand outs of the Xbox platform!

PS & Nintendo are quite frankly totally embarrassing in this regard, and companies with their history should be ashamed of themselves for their lack of game (art) preservation.
We wouldn't allow such limited access to classic movies or albums would we? Why should gamers put up with that crap?

Thank you Microsoft.

(To be clear I game on XB, PS, Switch & PC)

That Xbox E3 was easily the best Xbox event from 2010-2020. Backwards compatibility, good lineup of games both close and far away, plenty of surprises, etc.

I really hope Xbox E3 2021 gets at least somewhat close, 5 days to go.

Backwards compatability is probably a bit nichè in the grand scope of things. But as a gamer with more games than time, "new games" turn into "old games" alarmingly fast. Microsofts commitment to backwards compatibility is the reason I prioritized a Series X over a PS5.

I'll get both eventually, but that still means Microsoft are the recepients of my money for new games right now - and by the time I get a PS5, maybe I'll just use it for exclusives and keep Xbox as my "dominant console" for 3rd party output this generation. The ripple-effect of good BC can have a noticable effect, and it's fairly common knowledge that the manufacturers don't make a lot of money on selling the console itself - it's all about the games.