Rumor: Next Xbox won't be backwards compatible and will use AMD chipset

[oliver.begg]

well from the way that creative director reacted to people bitching about always on its highly likely that there's at least going to be a massive focus on nerfing any offline experince


you don't go off like that unless someones calling your baby stupid or something

 

[Able Seacat]

Wouldn't surprise me. Microsoft gave up on backwards compatibility for the 360 pretty damn quickly, and Sony certainly haven't made any effort to do much for the PS4 in that regard. It just seems like something companies aren't bothered with any more.

I think that's pretty shitty tbh. People argue "Oh, but you just need to keep your old system hooked up" but that kinda misses the point. Backwards compatibility doesn't just exist to allow old fans to play their favourite games. It's a good way to get gamers to try out old games that perhaps they missed first time round. How many gamers do you think picked up a copy of Crash Bandicoot or Spyro when they first got their PS2 and were waiting for some new games to come out? How many Wii owners picked up a second hand copy of Wind Waker?

Gaming as a medium is weighed down by this short term mentality which pretends that anything more than a couple of years old doesn't exist. We should be encouraging companies like Sony and Microsoft to be including backwards compatibility. Fuck it, we should be demanding it. Backwards compatibility allows gamers to go back and play some of the greatest games in history, without needing to wait for HD rereleases. It gives the medium a sense of history. If Sony and Microsoft both skimp on BC, then that will only say bad things about where the industry currently is at.

I agree with you so much. I was really hoping the PS4 would be backwards compatible as there are a few PS3 games I have missed out on; Heavy Rain, MGS4, Journey and the upcoming The Last of Us. For someone like me who doesn't have a PS3, a backwards compatible PS4 would have been a major selling point.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Don't know what an AMD chip is, but regarding the backwards compatibility I really don't care. If I want to play a game from this gen, I will play it on a console for this gen. If I want to play a game from a gen before that, I will play it on a console from before that.
I realise some people are required to sell their console to afford a new one, however for me personally backwards compatibility really isn't something I care about.

 

[everythingbeeps]

We always complain about BC, but I just haven't found it to be an issue. As much as I think now that I'll want to play my X360 games in five years, I really won't.

There have only been a handful of Xbox games I've wanted to play since I got my 360, and almost all of them are available in the Marketplace. Ditto PS3 (except that in this case, they're also available as HD remasters). I still have my PS2, and there are a couple PS2 games I've played since getting my PS3, but my PS2 has stayed unused on a shelf for like 97% of that time.

So next generation, I'll do the same thing. I'll keep my 360 on a shelf somewhere, and on the very off chance that I want to play a 360 game, I'll haul it down, plug it in, and play it. Then put it back on the shelf.

In any case, I think we'll see the same thing next gen that we saw this one: games available on the marketplace, or re-released compilations of older games for discounted prices. Either way, I don't anticipate a huge problem.

 

[krazykidd]

Wouldn't surprise me. Microsoft gave up on backwards compatibility for the 360 pretty damn quickly, and Sony certainly haven't made any effort to do much for the PS4 in that regard. It just seems like something companies aren't bothered with any more.

I think that's pretty shitty tbh. People argue "Oh, but you just need to keep your old system hooked up" but that kinda misses the point. Backwards compatibility doesn't just exist to allow old fans to play their favourite games. It's a good way to get gamers to try out old games that perhaps they missed first time round. How many gamers do you think picked up a copy of Crash Bandicoot or Spyro when they first got their PS2 and were waiting for some new games to come out? How many Wii owners picked up a second hand copy of Wind Waker?

Gaming as a medium is weighed down by this short term mentality which pretends that anything more than a couple of years old doesn't exist. We should be encouraging companies like Sony and Microsoft to be including backwards compatibility. Fuck it, we should be demanding it. Backwards compatibility allows gamers to go back and play some of the greatest games in history, without needing to wait for HD rereleases. It gives the medium a sense of history. If Sony and Microsoft both skimp on BC, then that will only say bad things about where the industry currently is at.

Now i love backwards compatibility , but the problem you are talking about is easily remedied with an online digital store , kind of how , the ps store works . You can easily buy a copy of crash bandicoot / spyro , and othe ps1 games for as little of 5$ . So that's basically a non-issue .

Now if only there was a way to not have to RE-BUY games that you already owned , that would be the bees-knees . If microsoft ( or sony for that matter ) could establish a way to be able to digitally download games people already own for free , that alone would win them the console race.

OT: did anyone really expect the next gen consoles to be backwards compatible? I for one am not surprised.

 

[ItsNotRudy]

Don't know what an AMD chip is, but regarding the backwards compatibility I really don't care. If I want to play a game from this gen, I will play it on a console for this gen. If I want to play a game from a gen before that, I will play it on a console from before that.
I realise some people are required to sell their console to afford a new one, however for me personally backwards compatibility really isn't something I care about.

For me the bw compat on the Wii was nice because my GameCube controllers are plugged in there. Also don't want multiple consoles on my TV table. Too cluttered with the wires. or reswitching when you run out of sockets.

And AMD chip means the processing unit inside.

 

[Seth Petersen]

BC is a great feature for a dedicated gaming console, but that's not what sony or m$ wants to make anymore. Gaming is becoming more mainstream, and to appeal to that market they want to add features like netflix, social networking and the like to cater to that demographic. Both systems will have killer exclusives, but the systems they run on will continue to pull shit like the kinect and PS move out of their ass to attract a wider audience. Keep in mind that to most people who are just now trying out controllers, those things are daunting. You may be able to pick up any remote and just play, but newbies often find the configuration of buttons and sticks akin to learning how to type on a keyboard. Motion controls bypass this steep learning curve. True, you sacrifice ALOT of control and precision, any gamer can tell you that some motion control games are borderline unplayable. That really isn't going to matter to the casual crowd though.

 

[krazykidd]

Now i love backwards compatibility , but the problem you are talking about is easily remedied with an online digital store , kind of how , the ps store works . You can easily buy a copy of crash bandicoot / spyro , and othe ps1 games for as little of 5$ . So that's basically a non-issue .

Really? How many of the total PS1 games ever released have made it onto PSN? What if I wanted to play Breath Of Fire 3? Suikoden? Croc: Legend Of The Gobbos?

The amount of PS1 games on PSN is a tiny fraction of the games that were released for the system, a problem even worse with the PS2 and its gargantuan library of games.

So no, it is an issue. It really is.

Yes it is a tiny fraction , but having every single ps1 game is unrealistic and pointless in my opinion . The most sensible thing to do would be to release the most popular ( which they are doing ). Also , give it time . There are updates every so often , rome wasn't built in a day . It's not worth it to put EVERY SINGLE ps1/ps2 game in the store . Sometimes you just have to admit you missed the boat . That being said , i am confident , that the library is going to expand . So no, still a non issue . Of course this is all a matter of opinion and persepective.

 

[Auron]

Wouldn't surprise me. Microsoft gave up on backwards compatibility for the 360 pretty damn quickly, and Sony certainly haven't made any effort to do much for the PS4 in that regard. It just seems like something companies aren't bothered with any more.

I think that's pretty shitty tbh. People argue "Oh, but you just need to keep your old system hooked up" but that kinda misses the point. Backwards compatibility doesn't just exist to allow old fans to play their favourite games. It's a good way to get gamers to try out old games that perhaps they missed first time round. How many gamers do you think picked up a copy of Crash Bandicoot or Spyro when they first got their PS2 and were waiting for some new games to come out? How many Wii owners picked up a second hand copy of Wind Waker?

Gaming as a medium is weighed down by this short term mentality which pretends that anything more than a couple of years old doesn't exist. We should be encouraging companies like Sony and Microsoft to be including backwards compatibility. Fuck it, we should be demanding it. Backwards compatibility allows gamers to go back and play some of the greatest games in history, without needing to wait for HD rereleases. It gives the medium a sense of history. If Sony and Microsoft both skimp on BC, then that will only say bad things about where the industry currently is at.

That, not to mention the hassle of changing chords and the amount of space having an entire generation of multiple consoles would start to take after a while.

 

[zumbledum]

well i hope the bit about AMD chips is true, they have been getting slaughtered in the high end bracket for several iterations now and getting a good cash injection might save them , not that i expect MS is going to paying a lot for them but you know cash flow is good and all. would suck to see Intel left as monopoly int he PC market.

as for the problem of non backwards compatible im sure you can get spliter cables to save having to mess around plugging different things in all the time , hardly as good as backwards compatible but odds are you wont see that this generation with the big architecture changes .

 

[Xarathox]

Doesn't really matter to me. I've been dissatisfied with the current generation of consoles over the past few years as it is. So, I'll be making the jump to PC only in the future and not bother buying into dysfunctional piles of shit that break the moment someone coughs.

Seriously, with the amount of money I've spent replacing my 360 three times due to hardware failure days after the warranty expires, I could've upgraded this 7 year old PC into Metal Gear REX.