One of the major issues with the Xbone and the next generation of consoles (finally after the better part of a decade maybe people can stop calling this current generation "next gen") is the subject of backwards compatibility. Now the odd thing about it is backwards compatibility is really a relatively new concept. Back when Nintendo were all but the only player it wasn't a thing for their full consoles, their handheld machines did it but other than that it wasn't really done or demanded. It wasn't until Playstation 2 that a console really had backwards compatibility down. So are gamers demanding too much of these companies? Well the short answer is no. The longer answer is why I'm writing now.
You see in the old days consoles were quite compact, lightweight and sturdy. Hanging on to your NES, SNES, N64 and Gamecube was not much of a hassle. They took up little space, they were highly portable and they still work today. Compare that to the failure rate of the 360 and the sheer bulk of the console and we start to see the problem. Now I'm relatively lucky. I've had my 360 for nearly 5 years without issue, I am however on my second PS3. The failure rate of modern consoles means there is a giant clock counting down to when all our current gen games are going to be unplayable and that's what has people worried. Have we spent almost a decade putting together a collection that's basically now rushing to the end of its lifespan?
A Microsoft exec recently said that "backwards compatibility is backwards" and that we should be moving forward. That only 5% of gamers actually use backwards compatibility. Considering those figures are based on a generation of consoles where only one console has it and it doesn't even work for all or most games and that it is almost entirely a used game market, ie almost impossible to keep track of, I find that figure dubious at best. At the end of the day Sony saw fit to distribute PS2's up until earlier this year. Go on any of the big 3's online marketplaces and you'll be flooded with previous gen games to buy and download, all the big publishers are pumping out HD remakes of their major last gen franchises and there is a booming market for buying and selling retro games. So what's the real issue? It's the same issue with DRM and online passes. Money. There is no way for the industry to monetise on backwards compatibility. How can the publishers possibly earn money on games you already own? No, it makes much more sense to sell you these games again. Maybe even crap out a HD remake like Konami's insultingly bad Silent Hill collection to make it look like they care when really all they're doing is making you buy the same game twice.
Now, I'm not a tech genius by any measure but the very basic reason full backwards compatibility is not available is that the processors just work differently. The only way to make it work fully without putting an older processor in is emulation. Just like emulators you definitely haven't downloaded for your PC to play old SNES and SEGA games because that's illegal. This is difficult to manage and basically requires patching the emulator constantly to make more games run on it. It is difficult, time consuming and costs man hours. The thing is though, pirates do this all the time for free supposedly on top of whatever their actual job is. Now I'm obviously not suggesting Microsoft and Sony's programmers do this for free also, I'm just saying that the process is possible.
Really the fact is the only thing consoles had going for them was convenience. But with the used game market being killed, always online DRM bullshit, system updates every other day, a game library with an extremely finite lifespan and a totally non-competitive price model, really the only thing I see this next gen of consoles doing is creating a new generation of PC gamers.
You see in the old days consoles were quite compact, lightweight and sturdy. Hanging on to your NES, SNES, N64 and Gamecube was not much of a hassle. They took up little space, they were highly portable and they still work today. Compare that to the failure rate of the 360 and the sheer bulk of the console and we start to see the problem. Now I'm relatively lucky. I've had my 360 for nearly 5 years without issue, I am however on my second PS3. The failure rate of modern consoles means there is a giant clock counting down to when all our current gen games are going to be unplayable and that's what has people worried. Have we spent almost a decade putting together a collection that's basically now rushing to the end of its lifespan?
A Microsoft exec recently said that "backwards compatibility is backwards" and that we should be moving forward. That only 5% of gamers actually use backwards compatibility. Considering those figures are based on a generation of consoles where only one console has it and it doesn't even work for all or most games and that it is almost entirely a used game market, ie almost impossible to keep track of, I find that figure dubious at best. At the end of the day Sony saw fit to distribute PS2's up until earlier this year. Go on any of the big 3's online marketplaces and you'll be flooded with previous gen games to buy and download, all the big publishers are pumping out HD remakes of their major last gen franchises and there is a booming market for buying and selling retro games. So what's the real issue? It's the same issue with DRM and online passes. Money. There is no way for the industry to monetise on backwards compatibility. How can the publishers possibly earn money on games you already own? No, it makes much more sense to sell you these games again. Maybe even crap out a HD remake like Konami's insultingly bad Silent Hill collection to make it look like they care when really all they're doing is making you buy the same game twice.
Now, I'm not a tech genius by any measure but the very basic reason full backwards compatibility is not available is that the processors just work differently. The only way to make it work fully without putting an older processor in is emulation. Just like emulators you definitely haven't downloaded for your PC to play old SNES and SEGA games because that's illegal. This is difficult to manage and basically requires patching the emulator constantly to make more games run on it. It is difficult, time consuming and costs man hours. The thing is though, pirates do this all the time for free supposedly on top of whatever their actual job is. Now I'm obviously not suggesting Microsoft and Sony's programmers do this for free also, I'm just saying that the process is possible.
Really the fact is the only thing consoles had going for them was convenience. But with the used game market being killed, always online DRM bullshit, system updates every other day, a game library with an extremely finite lifespan and a totally non-competitive price model, really the only thing I see this next gen of consoles doing is creating a new generation of PC gamers.
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