Microsoft Games General Thread

[Matisfaction]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

New XB1 backwards compatible games:

Bayonetta
de Blob 2
Arkanoid Live
QIX++
Of Orcs and Men

[Big Boss Man]

Apparently the Nesbox emu has passed certification now and will be up on the Xbox store over the weekend or maybe sooner.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

That's cool. Don't know how long it will last though.

[Big Boss Man]

That's cool. Don't know how long it will last though.

Not long unfortunately. I don't think there's an issue with the emu itself because it breaks no copyright or patent laws and it doesn't use any operating system ROM (I don't think Famicom disc system is emulated and I think you need a specific ROM for that). It's the game ROMs that will be an issue and Nintendo to quickly send out a cease and desist to Microsoft. But if they do that, they'll have to get it off the Windows store. But again, there's alot of emulators on Android etc and they don't get shutdown. So who knows how long it last. But maybe the fact that you can play old games on a video games system will be the issue but really outside of Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Megaman etc the other games don't have much monetary value anyway apart from nostalgia and some software houses aren't even around. IIRC it also emulates Sega games so it's something where it will either get shutdown quickly or their argument will be only public domain ROMs are included and therefore they arent breaking any laws.

[Big Boss Man]

Looks like the emulator has been removed before it was even up.



I guess Nintendo and Sega heard about it and that's why MS aren't allowing it.

[Matisfaction]

It's not just Nintendo and Sega, it's also what will inevitably follow. I don't think Sony would be too impressed with Microsoft officially supporting "Free" Playstation games on Xbox, Microsoft are very sensibly nipping this in the bud.

[Big Boss Man]

Yea that is very true. If they had opened up that door, then you'd have emulators for every system under the sun. I dont think MS would have allowed a Sony emulator but I'm sure the XBox One can emulate majority of consoles don't know about the PS3 but I'm sure it can a PS2. I'd like to see Linux distribution for the XBox One and more open sourced software so folks could make their own homebrew games but that's unlikely to happen.

[Matisfaction]

There's also third party publishers to think of, Capcom, Konami, Namco etc have old games (including NES titles) on Live/PSN/eShop. MS also own Rare, so there's a lot of factors to this.

I'm not really sure how Google manage to get away with it on Android though?

[Hawq]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Matisfaction]

Nintendo 64 Emulator Has Been Pulled From Xbox One Store

An N64 emulator app for Xbox One was released and then quickly removed from the console's marketplace.

Word of the app - named Win64e10 - spread yesterday via Reddit, although it had actually launched quietly over the weekend.

While available, it cost £7.69 to buy Win64e10 in the UK.

The app was hidden on the marketplace as it had not received a Microsoft-approved release - but was searchable by name if you knew of its existence.

Microsoft obviously took note of the launch: the app is no longer available to buy now.

Regardless, anyone who did hand over money can still use Win64e10.

linkle

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Big Boss Man]

Anyone here get the app? Would have been cool to play VPW2 on XBone.

[Matisfaction]

It probably wouldn't run VPW2 at this stage, what's going to happen for people who've already bought the app, are the authors still going to provide updates for those peeps?

[Big Boss Man]

Yea thats true, I assume it just runs the more commonly known N64 games - Zelda, Mario et al. I also think they most likely won't have to provide updates because the app's been removed and Microsoft won't allow them to do any update(s) either since it breaks their terms of service etc. Plus I'd imagine Nintendo and the publishers would come down on MS like a ton of bricks if they allowed a N64 emu on the Xbox. I also question the legality of the emulator as surely the authors use a form of re-engineering to be able to code a workable emulator which IIRC you can't do because any reverse engineering etc on a video games console isn't really allowed.

[Matisfaction]

The app isn't public anymore so offering support for the handful of people who purchased it, they could still honour that or just offer refunds.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

200M sales expectations to blame for rocky Xbox One launch, says Phil Spencer

Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of Xbox, has offered some fresh insight into what was going on behind the curtain during the Xbox One's infamously rocky launch.

Speaking bluntly to Stevivor about Microsoft's decision to focus heavily on features like DRM and media streaming during the console's unveiling, Spencer has revealed the company was under pressure to figure out how it could sell 200 million systems.

Those internal expectations resulted in Don Mattrick's team pitching the device as an all-in-one multimedia hub that "could be at the center" of the video on-demand movement.

In hindsight, says Spencer, that was a mistake. And it's one he's been trying to rectify since he was moved up in 2014.

"When we came in after two-and-a-half years ago and started running the Xbox program, I centered us back on not trying to become something other than a game console," he explains.

"You don't earn the right to be relevant in other categories of usage for the console until you've earned the gaming right, so let's go make sure that's what we deliver."

He's keen to emphasize that Microsoft's wayward focus wasn't part of some evil corporate plan. In fact, Spencer says the approach was "quite rational, from a "pure business standpoint." Unfortunately for Microsoft, it was also extremely naive.

"It's not like people aren’t watching YouTube and aren't watching Netflix and Amazon and anything else that's there," continues Spencer, "but I still think that we have to succeed with gamers first before we get any permission to go do anything else.”

To hear more from Spencer, you can read the full interview over on Stevivor.

Source: Gamasutra

[Hawq]

Xbox One May Get Backwards Compatibility For Original Xbox Games

Not just yet though.

As you know, Microsoft has been working to bring backwards compatibility to the Xbox One for many Xbox 360 games, but what if they made original Xbox games compatible as well? It seems like they may have a little something up their sleeve when it comes to that.

When asked on Twitter whether this is something that would happen, Phil Spencer said that they haven't ruled it out but they're not working on it at the moment, although he'd like to find the time to do so.

Spencer doesn't want to stop at one generation, and if this goes ahead, it'll be one of the first instances of two generation backwards compatibility for a console.
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