Xbox360 -- OP Update, MS Press Release, "Xbox Originals" (Psychonauts!)

Bamelin

Update -- Xbox Originals Confirmed for December 4th -- 1200 MS Points per game

Included in this update will be the launch of the Xbox Originals, which, for the first time ever, will enable consumers to download and own full Xbox games , such as Halo®, Psychonauts(tm), Crimson Skies®: High Road to Revenge(tm) and Fable® among others directly to their Xbox 360.

Press Release wrote:

As Xbox LIVE Turns Five, Microsoft Announces Next Wave of Social Fun

Xbox LIVE Membership Soars Past Eight Million Mark, Microsoft Unveils New Download Service for Full Xbox Games Direct to Your Living Room, Beginning Dec. 4

REDMOND, Wash. - Nov. 13, 2007 - On November 15, Microsoft Corp. will celebrate the fifth anniversary of Xbox LIVE. In addition, the company notes that the latest membership figures show more than eight-million members are now actively engaged in the largest social entertainment network on TV. Xbox LIVE has grown from a small community of gamers in two countries, playing a handful of games online with their friends, to a worldwide social entertainment network offering online access to gaming, movies, music and TV shows. As friends across 26 countries and nine languages have connected on Xbox LIVE, it is their feedback and active participation that has guided the service to become what Wired magazine recently called "The king of the online arena." As a gesture of thanks to the gaming community, all eight million members will have the opportunity to download a free Xbox LIVE Arcade game* between 12:01 a.m. PST on Nov. 15 and 11:59 p.m. PST on Nov. 16**. In addition to this, every active member who joined the service in 2002 will receive 500 MS Points for free.

Starting on December 4th, all Xbox LIVE members will receive a free system update with a host of new features and enhancements. Included in this update will be the launch of the Xbox Originals, which, for the first time ever, will enable consumers to download and own full Xbox games , such as Halo®, Psychonauts(tm), Crimson Skies®: High Road to Revenge(tm) and Fable® among others directly to their Xbox 360. This new service will launch with an array of blockbuster titles spanning the most popular genres from action-adventure to classic role-playing games.

With no disc necessary, and at just 1,200 Microsoft Points per game, Xbox LIVE members can easily rediscover these hit titles, or check out a game they missed the first time around. This launch line-up is only the beginning as Xbox 360 owners can expect to see a growing catalogue of Xbox games for download to own over the coming year.

"In just five short years Xbox LIVE has revolutionized the way friends and family have fun in the living room," said John Schappert, corporate vice president of LIVE, software and services at Microsoft. "On its fifth birthday, Xbox LIVE truly is the place for hanging out with friends and enjoying downloadable TV shows, movies, videos, game add-ons and now downloadable Xbox games on demand."

For more information about the downloadable games available on Xbox LIVE, the evolution of Xbox LIVE or the "Xbox LIVE is 5IVE" member rewards, visit www.Xbox.com.

Joystiq wrote:

Official Xbox Magazine has the scoop on the Fall Xbox 360 dashboard update, and you better believe it's a doozy. UK-based CVG reports that the December 2 update will allow 360 owners to download and play Microsoft-published Xbox 1 games on their 360s.

Let's say that one more time: come December 2, you will be able to download full, original Xbox games to the Xbox 360. The initial list of available games includes Fable, Indigo Prophecy, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex, Burnout 3, and, of course, Halo: Combat Evolved.

Games will cost approximately 1200 Microsoft Points, or $15 USD. Microsoft plans on re-releasing as many Xbox 1 titles as possible through Marketplace. Look out, Virtual Console.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/13/fall-xbox-360-dashboard-update-revealed-download-halo-december/

Man I'm going to need a bigger drive.

The article joystiq links to has been pulled down by CVG as well ... but the internet knows ALL

CVG wrote:

The Fall Xbox 360 dashboard update has been revealed to our colleagues at OXM from Microsoft and it's looking very good indeed with gaming classics and films on demand.

December 4 is the date you'll need to watch out for; that's the day you'll be able to download and play Halo. Yes, Halo as in the Xbox game, through Marketplace, on your Xbox 360.

Microsoft is introducing games it has published for the original Xbox on XBL Marketplace, with the eventual plan to bring as much of the back catalogue across as possible.

Games cost about 1200 Microsoft points (about ten quid), which according to us puts them a little over what you'd pay for them second hand.

The initial list of downloads includes Halo, Fable, Fahrenheit, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex and Burnout 3. All good then, apart from maybe Crash.

And if that wasn't enough, films on demand, though not confirmed for the December 4 date, aren't far away. Studios such as Warner Bros are potentially lined up for the service, so we can look forward to films such as The Dark Knight, The Assassination of Jesse James and I Am Legend appearing eventually.

Films will cost less than a fiver and come in 720p resolution. You have 14 days to start watching a film once it has downloaded. Once you started watching a film, you have 24 hours to finish it. After that, the film deletes itself from your hard drive. It's basically an online rental service then, like the US Video Marketplace.

What do these new additions mean for the future of Xbox Live Arcade? Does the PS3's PSOne download service now look horribly dated? It's going to be an exciting 2008 in the download space, for sure.

Samphis

It's cool, but I can walk into any Gamestop and buy all kinds of used BC games for $2-9.

Bamelin

Samphis wrote: »

It's cool, but I can walk into any Gamestop and buy all kinds of used BC games for $2-9.

Yeah but those games require you to get up off your couch.

Dragkonias

Samphis wrote: »

It's cool, but I can walk into any Gamestop and buy all kinds of used BC games for $2-9.

Was thinking the same thing...but in the same time everytime I go to get Indigo Prophecy or Crimson Skies I ask myself "Do I want to go all the way to Gamestop just for those games?" Maybe this will stop me from being such a lazy bastard.

Cherrn

That's awesome, though the initial list isn't that interesting to me. Fable is better on PC, I have Crimson Skies & Halo, and the rest are shit. Well, except Burnout, but it gets shit later on.

I can't really think of any Xbox games I'd buy that I don't already have. Maybe Stranger's Wrath, but that's it. It's a good initiative either way, but hopefully they churn out games at a fast pace.

Einhander

Yeah, I was totally trying to find more info to make sure that it wasn't a lameass hoax or something before I made a thread about it, and then you made this one.

I think it's awesome, if a bit spendy ($15 for a game I can buy for less than $5 most places is pretty lame). I guess it'll be nice for tracking down that hard to find copy of something, though.

Here's hoping they get other publishers onboard.

Also, lols at everyone who hasn't bought an Elite. Hopefully this will drive down the price of the 120GB hard drives.

Recoil42

:arrow: Guys, CVG took down the article.

Just saying. Don't call this confirmed just yet.

Bamelin

I think they took down the article because it was posted too early ... but yeah I guess it's only 90 percent confirmed.

Here's the honest truth though ... as somebody mentioned above, 1200 points is too much for alot of original Xbox games ... especially considering you can pick up most titles for 5 - 10 bucks used.

ParisInFlames

Um, 1 generation worth of legecy? This shouldn't take long to blow through.

But if you can't find these games in your area cheap I guess it's not anything bad, just more functionality.

revolutionary bean

How are we going to fit all these goodness into a 13 gig (don't tell me it's more than that gawdamnit) hard disk?

Not a feasible idea really..

Bamelin

Original CVG article:

The Fall Xbox 360 dashboard update has been revealed to our colleagues at OXM from Microsoft and it's looking very good indeed with gaming classics and films on demand.

December 4 is the date you'll need to watch out for; that's the day you'll be able to download and play Halo. Yes, Halo as in the Xbox game, through Marketplace, on your Xbox 360.

Microsoft is introducing games it has published for the original Xbox on XBL Marketplace, with the eventual plan to bring as much of the back catalogue across as possible.

Games cost about 1200 Microsoft points (about ten quid), which according to us puts them a little over what you'd pay for them second hand.

The initial list of downloads includes Halo, Fable, Fahrenheit, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex and Burnout 3. All good then, apart from maybe Crash.

And if that wasn't enough, films on demand, though not confirmed for the December 4 date, aren't far away. Studios such as Warner Bros are potentially lined up for the service, so we can look forward to films such as The Dark Knight, The Assassination of Jesse James and I Am Legend appearing eventually.

Films will cost less than a fiver and come in 720p resolution. You have 14 days to start watching a film once it has downloaded. Once you started watching a film, you have 24 hours to finish it. After that, the film deletes itself from your hard drive. It's basically an online rental service then, like the US Video Marketplace.

What do these new additions mean for the future of Xbox Live Arcade? Does the PS3's PSOne download service now look horribly dated? It's going to be an exciting 2008 in the download space, for sure.

capable heart

So, when are we going to get some kind of adapter to be able to put our own 2.5 inch hard drives in the 360? Because I have like approximately 7 gigs left with no demos or video content of any kind.

Einhander

Well, Microsoft talks a lot about how they don't want to leave Core users out in the cold with large filesizes on Live Arcade games (which is why the current size cap is at 150MB if my memory serves me well), but they also said that they would never allow a game to be released that required the hard drive, and since launch there have been two, plus they're opening up this restriction for MMOs by allowing them to create a TOC/install.

Basically, whlle compression is nice, it doesn't work miracles. you're still going to be seeing multiple gigs of data for most games.

Might not matter, since at $15 I don't think many people will be buying many of them anyway.

Cherrn

Oh, shit, I forgot about the Otogi games. They're pretty rare/expensive these days, so I'd totally get them if they appeared on Live. Maybe they'll put Metal Wolf Chaos on there as well. Doubtful, but it'd be cool nonetheless, since it's in English.

Samphis

Why are companies so greedy when it comes to digital purchasing? Guitar Hero track packs, this, Horse Armor, Steam being the same price as retail...

I know that there is plenty of good in the DLC world, but the prices are simply too damn high for not getting a physical copy, and not being able to resell it.

Bamelin

Actually I'm thinking this might be a good idea after all ... especially if they dare to add achievements to original Xbox games. Not to mention possible 720p and 16:9 support on some older games ... that might make it worth paying a couple extra dollars for the downloadable version.

Einhander

Assuming it's true, my wonder is still whether or not having an Xbox game played from the hard drive will affect LAN or Live play at all. Also, hopefully they'll be able to tighten up security enough so we could play downloaded Xbox games outside of Xbox sandbox mode, meaning we'd have full access to the Dashboard. The main reason that would be awesome is so that we'd be better able to handle custom soundtracks.

I wonder if they'll be adding achievements? We'd see better load times, which is cool.

Inglorious Coyote

Cool idea, but nothing in that first batch really interests me (that I don't already have.)

Now, they get some other good stuff on their (like Psychonauts maybe...?) and I'd be all for it.

suadeo

Hrm, if this is true (which would be awesome), I would be worried about space. I know compression would come in, but how much would they be able to compress it?

I hope its true, but I think it maybe a little far fetched.

RainbowDespair

Although the initial group of games isn't that interesting, the fact that downloadable XBLA games and demos so far have been region free has got me excited. Being able to download and play a region free English version of Panzer Dragoon Orta on my Japanese 360 would make me a very happy person (the Japanese version of the game is like $80). And like someone else mentioned, a cheap downloadable region-free version of Metal Wolf Chaos would rock.

Mr_Grinch

Not a bad idea but seems a tad pointless considering you can go out and purchase the discs and play them on the same console. The Virtual Console works because to play those games, you'd need a big seperate bunch of consoles and controllers and the downloads are really small meaning spur of the moment purchases.

The way internet connections are at the moment, these games could take a number of hours to download and you'd only fit roughly two on at a time.

wunderbar

Einhander wrote: »

Assuming it's true, my wonder is still whether or not having an Xbox game played from the hard drive will affect LAN or Live play at all. Also, hopefully they'll be able to tighten up security enough so we could play downloaded Xbox games outside of Xbox sandbox mode, meaning we'd have full access to the Dashboard. The main reason that would be awesome is so that we'd be better able to handle custom soundtracks.

I wonder if they'll be adding achievements? We'd see better load times, which is cool.

if they can do these things, totally worth the $15

Aoi

Einhander wrote: »

Assuming it's true, my wonder is still whether or not having an Xbox game played from the hard drive will affect LAN or Live play at all. Also, hopefully they'll be able to tighten up security enough so we could play downloaded Xbox games outside of Xbox sandbox mode, meaning we'd have full access to the Dashboard. The main reason that would be awesome is so that we'd be better able to handle custom soundtracks.

I wonder if they'll be adding achievements? We'd see better load times, which is cool.

Not necessarily. From what I've heard, PS1 games purchased through the PSN still have the same load times as their PS1 disk versions. While there's room for LOL Sony in that statement, it still shows that just because it's on the hard drive doesn't mean it's going to run faster.

As for who this will appeal to? Both on the Nintendo and Xbox side of things, people are purchasing the single Sonic games through XBLA and VC for a price that is JUST under what you could buy the entire collection of games in the series for on previous generation media.

SniperGuy

May I also point out that they will probably optimize them for HD with the 720p requirement and all that?

This is a godsend for me at least, because I can finally play games like Halo 2 on my widescreen monitor here, without it looking like shit.

Assuming they do it of course.

Einhander

Do you think the network could support streaming, A La GameTap? That might be more interesting.

suadeo

I was just thinking a bit more about this. It seems like MS would be pushing out a lot of there top games all at once. KOTOR, Halo, Fable (in a sense), Crisom Skies, etc.

If this is true, wouldn't MS want to spread these games out over a longer period of time?

Durandal Infinity

hey give it good emulation Ill take Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance for Xbox

Einhander

Load times on the PS1 games might just be there to prevent something from getting broken. There are a few games that depend on the game accessing data from the disc at a certain speed (Silent Hill is a good example).

Xbox games don't have any trouble on an original box when it's been modified with a quicker DVD drive and ATA 100 cables, and some seem to load quicker while being played on a 360 than they did on their legacy hardware, so I think we'd be in the clear on that end.

Inglorious Coyote

suadeo wrote: »

I was just thinking a bit more about this. It seems like MS would be pushing out a lot of there top games all at once. KOTOR, Halo, Fable (in a sense), Crisom Skies, etc.

If this is true, wouldn't MS want to spread these games out over a longer period of time?

Maybe, but there's also the thought that they need to have some good stuff from the start to build interest in the service.

And they still have some good games left, especially if they get 3rd parties on board.

NexusSix

I wonder what the odds are on this expanding and possibly including an eventual DL of the original Perfect Dark with Xbox Live support... and... Blast Corps. Rare retained full ownership of all original IPs (Joanna, Conker, etc.) after the M$ purchase, right?

Legacy

For some reason, I don't believe this for a second.

Dragkonias

NexusSix wrote: »

I wonder what the odds are on this expanding and possibly including an eventual DL of the original Perfect Dark with Xbox Live support... and... Blast Corps. Rare retained full ownership of all original IPs (Joanna, Conker, etc.) after the M$ purchase, right?

If that were true...PD with Live, maybe...Proximity mines everywhere! Madness!

Gaming-Module

As the owner of 40 original X-Box games, I don't like this news.

For starters, the premium model's hard drive just isn't up to snuff for the task. I can't help but think that MS caught wind of how much money Nintendo is making off of VC downloads and wanted a piece of the action, but games on VC are cheaper and less of a hassle than scouring Ebay for them. The filesize to storage space ratio also allows dozens of games to be retained on the console at once, with the ability to add flash memory for expansion.

As has been said, original X-Box games are pretty cheap these days. I'm selling a bunch of mint ones myself for $10 or less right now on another forum.

Secondly, I can't help but wonder what will happen to BC for the physical media. I highly doubt they will continue it, as it would directly compete with their "VC" service.

I'm happy with my 360, but believe it or not, I've always had my eye on BC and made a promise to myself that if MS couldn't bring me as a customer to a point where I no longer need to keep my original X-Box in my entertainment center, I would take that into consideration when purchasing their next console.

I guess Sony isn't the only console manufacturer that makes missteps.

NexusSix

Dragkonias wrote: »

NexusSix wrote: »

I wonder what the odds are on this expanding and possibly including an eventual DL of the original Perfect Dark with Xbox Live support... and... Blast Corps. Rare retained full ownership of all original IPs (Joanna, Conker, etc.) after the M$ purchase, right?

If that were true...PD with Live, maybe...Proximity mines everywhere! Madness!

Laptop Gun. Double Cyclones unloading on alt-fire!

Also: it's not even a rumor--it's unfounded, gross speculation solely on my part, but I want it, dammit. And you should want it too.

LibrarianThorne

I'd love to see Psychonauts get on the list. It's a game I'd love to get, and somehow playing it on PC would feel a little like heresy.

Mr_Grinch

I have a feeling they won't make any additions to the game, it's not REALLY in their interest. It'll likely be simply a disc image of existing xbox titles.

cloudeagle

Huh. Neat I suppose, but considering you can buy an Xbox game for cheap and just pop it in there it isn't nearly as cool as, say, downloading a classic arcade game or a groovy new game.

I really wonder what this means for physical BC. Will they stop updating it to encourage people to use this? Or will this news actually extend its life, as Microsoft will have to update the general emulator when downloadable games come out? That's what I'd like to know.

Dragkonias

Mr_Grinch wrote: »

I have a feeling they won't make any additions to the game, it's not REALLY in their interest. It'll likely be simply a disc image of existing xbox titles.

Well, that's possible but I mean they added stuff they didn't have to add to some arcade games...so one can dream.

august

LibrarianThorne wrote: »

I'd love to see Psychonauts get on the list. It's a game I'd love to get, and somehow playing it on PC would feel a little like heresy.

Er... why? Buy a gamepad, if that's an issue.

Einhander

I'm assuming the emulation technology used for a downloaded Xbox game will be the same as the technology used in a physical Xbox game, so I doubt that this will stifle disc-based BC at all. I don't think MS could get away with offering a game as a premium downloadable that is unable to be played from an actual game disc.

If that's true, then they would all at least feature the upscaling to 720p and full screen AA that disc-based Xbox games have.

RainbowDespair

I really don't think this is a threat to emulation of the original games on disks. If anything, I think this would be a boon to backwards compatibility as they're probably using the exact same code to emulate the downloadable games as they do to emulate the games on disk. $15 might seem a lot (and it is for some titles), but keep in mind that local game stores don't necessarily have all the games you might like and downloading a game is much quicker than ordering a game online and waiting for the game to get to you several days (or weeks) later.

Some people enjoy having games on their hard drive and not having to bother with disks. Other people prefer having the physical product. I don't see why both can't coexist.