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Major Nelson: Xbox Originals will not have achievements photo

One of the first things we thought of when we heard that the Xbox 360 would get downloadable Xbox games was Achievements. Surely the addition of Achievements would make bargain bin games like Halo, Psychonauts, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fable worth paying 1200 Microsoft Points for, right?

Major Nelson breaks the bad news:

I have gotten quite a few questions about yesterday’s Xbox Originals announcement. Specifically, folks want to know if these games will have additional functionality like Achievements and Gamer score. The answer is no. These are the original games that were created before Xbox 360. In order to preserve the integrity of the original gaming experience they provide, they will have the features available at the time of their initial release.  I hope that clears that up.

Again, why is this better than purchasing a used copy at GameStop for $5? I did hear rumors saying that game stores like GameStop are "getting rid of" older Xbox games; shipping them back to Microsoft. If true, this could be a messed up way of making us purchase these downloads?


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43 comments | showing # 1 to 43

RitualNet's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:35
RitualNet
That wouldn't make Microsoft very popular. I can go into CEX (UK) and pick up 5-8 Xbox games for £10, making me pay around that much PER game, with no real benefit barring i don't need to get up to switch discs, is pretty damn poor.
RitualNet's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:36
RitualNet
That wouldn't make Microsoft very popular. I can go into CEX (UK) and pick up 5-8 Xbox games for £10, making me pay around that much PER game, with no real benefit barring i don't need to get up to switch discs, is pretty damn poor.
Dr Milkdad's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:37
Dr Milkdad
Meh, doesn't bother me, I'm kind of off trying to go for as many achievements as I can.
DarkTravesty's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:38
DarkTravesty
meh, i wouldn't mind crimson skies since i cannot find it near me at all. i already purchased psychonauts at k-mart for 3$ new. halo ce and fable i don't really need to say more other than i played them to high hell already. also who would even think something stupid like that anyways in order for that to happen the games would have to be heavily recoded if thats even possible. the only dilemma i face now is whether to go back to k-mart and pick up odd world strangers wrath for 5% new.
thedude93's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:39
thedude93
teh suck!
naia-the-gamer's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:43
naia-the-gamer
That would be stupid. I don't have many XBox games (only two. I never had the original machine), but if I decided I wanted to try Halo and find out what the fuss was about, I'd rather spend $5 than $15.
king3vbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:45
king3vbo
This is to be expected
Scrixx's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:45
Scrixx
Lost me as a Customer MS, unless you implant Halo with Multiplayer :D
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:47
Holyetheline
that would be messed up, i don't want to pay points for games i can buy for cheap
Deathsaw's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:47
Deathsaw
Meh. I don't play xbox games on my 360. I consider that a slap in the face of next-gen.
ArrestedDeveloper's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:52
ArrestedDeveloper
It would have been cool but I didn't expect developers to go back to old game code to add stuff in.
crveck's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:57
crveck
no, gamestop will not be shipping their games back to microsoft. they already bought them, and unless microsoft is paying them money to do so, dont expect them to give up those easy profits. They will eventually turn all of their new xbox games into used, like they recently did with gamecube.
RitualNet's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:58
RitualNet
But isn't that how they touted Live though? That yes you're paying for re-hashes, but at least it has live leaderboards and achievements? I know it would be difficult to go back into the code and add things in, but at the least they could just modify the last bit of code that registers the "YOU'RE A WINNER" part, and awards you a 200 point achievement that says something like "Finished (insert game here)".
Kyousuke Nanbu's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:59
Kyousuke Nanbu
Seems fairly pointless to buy these titles then, I can get Burnout 3 for 7, Kotor for 5, Halo for 8, why would I pay 1,200 MS points?
Clockwork's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 16:59
Clockwork
People thought that they were adding achievements to Xbox Games? Haha.
Gameboi's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:05
Gameboi
Who does he think he's kidding? This has nothing to do with the integrity of the original. It has to do with paying someone to encode the achievements. My bullshit meter just went off.
Foshi's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:14
Foshi
You would have to be an idiot to think Microsoft would go through all of the trouble to add achievements to original XBOX games. I mean theres no reason to download these games anyway since a quick trip over to ebay can net you anything you want for cheaper than you can download it for.
Diomeneus's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:19
Diomeneus
It really isn't that much more and the only benefits I can think of is the ability to play without changing the disc (a shockingly good feature for an extra few bucks to a lot of people) and you will own it forever without a chance of your disc being broken.
Drawbacks are the obvious cost and hard drive usage.

My roomie already owns HALO and he plans on downloading it just because he is that lazy (late at night gaming from bed can be fun).
michiyoyoshiku's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:19
michiyoyoshiku
This will go over as well as a Pot Ban at a Cypress hill show.
Lord_Satorious's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:20
Lord_Satorious
No changing discs! Think of the convenience! Gamers are lazy, it's worth an extra ten bucks if you don't have to get off your couch to open the tray and swap one disc for another.
DryvBy's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:21
DryvBy
Does the gaming market forget that downloadable games (regardless of stupid achievements or not) is a horrible idea? I mean, who went out and spend the extra $180 on that 120GB hard drive?

"Give us mod chips or give us death!" -some guy, 18th century
DrNutt's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:26
DrNutt
I don't get why people are saying it's a bad idea. If you don't want to buy them, then don't. Personally, it's a win win situation. If you can find it in the store on a disc, then buy it. If not, you've got a nifty alternate option. I do agree that it's a little silly to be offering games from the most recent generation, but eventually, when the games are hard to find and there is a decent selection available for download, it'll make more sense.
mrkonchu's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:47
mrkonchu
I personally have almost all these games on the xbox that were US released. This will still be nice for some that may be harder to find titles but otherwise Im getting the disk version if I can. I might have rebought something like Psyconauts to support the studio if I got some sorta extras. Ah well for games like Crimson Skys it might reinvigorate people into playing it and since its just like the disk version the people that have it shouldn't have issues joining.
Brochoose's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 17:50
Brochoose
Does anyone know whether the developers will get a cut of the download price? Because I gather that one of the issues that people have with the selling of pre-owned games is that the developers miss out on a cut, the money going completely to the store.
Fading Star's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 18:13
Fading Star
No thanks. I'll buy these games used instead.
Sindicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 18:15
Sindicate
Fail.

real copies ftw.
BFeld13's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 18:18
BFeld13
No loss to me
Wedge's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 18:31
Wedge
It'd be cool if it gets some of the games traffic on Live again. Release GGX2# and SF:AC! Oh wait, 360 controller =<.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 18:38
Sharpless
I guess I'm not surprised, but this is sheer suck. I was excited about this, but now not so much. Come on, Microsoft, get off your asses and put some effort into this. You know damn well that people like achievements and new features. I wouldn't mind a delayed launch, if it meant enhancing the originals.
Kismet's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 18:47
Kismet
I don't know if it applies to all Gamestops, but I do know some of them are removing XBox games that are $1.99 and under from their stores. So it may get a tad bit trickier to find a hard copy of NCAA Final Four 2003 or Madden 2003, at least at Gamestops. Not like anyone would really want those though.
Capn Birdseye's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 18:50
Capn Birdseye
I agree with Sharpless, I would probably buy fable and play it again (I finished it when it came out) if the graphics were upscaled and it had little alterations to it (hey, achievements are an extra incentive to play a game again).

As for everyone else, I don't understand the big deal. You can still play your disc copies, but this way people that can't find a copy of these games can download them.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 18:51
Jim Sterling
Pure shit.
CosmicQueso's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 19:13
CosmicQueso
Wow...

I would think from reading the comments that consumer choice is a bad thing.

Hey, you don't want it, don't buy it! What's the problem, here? Plenty of people don't want to troll the GameStop bargain bin. What's the issue with letting more people play some of these titles they never have before? Hell, if just a few people at developers play Psychonauts and it inspires them to try new things, great!

Ridiculous.
vexed alex's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 19:32
vexed alex
Ass. Pure ass.

I guess the only real incentive for buying these games is not having to go to stores, going through used bins, and dealing with employees beating you over the head with, "would you like to pre-order this game in return for a free keychain while we get rich of interest?"
mispelt's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 19:34
mispelt
So I guess all that pre-launch talk of backwards compatibility was just a slick way to get us to buy such original Xbox hits as Frogger Beyond and every Cabela's hunting game.
timmet's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 19:42
timmet
Why was this expected in the first place? I doubt they're going to dust off the old source code and modify it for the 360, not to mention they might not always be able to get a hold of 3rd party source code making the feature inconsistent. Also, the XBox games run off an emulator, so there may be problems getting an emulated game to communicate with the new 360 API.
Cheeburga's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 19:48
Cheeburga
Psychonauts. Fuck yes.
Orionsaint's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 20:18
Orionsaint
This whole concept of selling original Xbox titles on live seems like a rushed idea. Not polished at all. Let's just dump the code there on live, buy it with glitches. Whatever, just buy shit!
Noah's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2007 21:54
Noah
Crimson Skies was awesome. They need to make Phantom Dust available, too.
skullivan's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/15/2007 00:11
skullivan
Crimson Skies is $1.99 at GameStop :p

They are definitely missing the boat by not adding achievements into these games but I'm sure since they work through emulation it'd be difficult to implement. Hell, you can't even bring up the 360 guide while playing original Xbox games. Achievements probably wouldn't be possible without recoding the entire game.
jeep's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/15/2007 02:09
jeep
man i wish my gamestop was as nice as everybody else's...looking at EBGames.com I find the original Halo at $25 and that there is no Fable or Psychonauts...so i'm thinking that for people who cant find it.

But achievements would be nice instead of 100% emulation (also why I'm hatin on the wii VC...man I want Ice Hockey online multiplayer...gotta love them zambonis) and since MS is the big online system they should be able to work with developers on adding that in.
Eques-Ardor's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/15/2007 02:40
Eques-Ardor
I'm just kind of miffed that they said so long ago that people "weren't interested in backwards-compatibility", then went to all this trouble to make an excuse not to work on BC anymore.
"You don't need backwards-compatibility anymore, right?! You can just reBUY those games that don't work! :D"
:|
michiyoyoshiku's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/15/2007 07:02
michiyoyoshiku
I hope this doesn't mean the end of BC updates.
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