Play Patched Xbox Games on Xbox 360
Is this how Microsoft is going to get around not having the hard drive as standard?
With Microsoft dropping the hard drive as a standard component of Xbox 360 and backwards compatibility being dependent on game-specific emulation code, it was presumed that those who pick up a console without a hard drive would be out of luck. But perhaps not.
According to a report at 1Up, Microsoft has been in contact with developers about putting the emulation code needed to run Xbox games on Xbox 360s right onto the games themselves, meaning you won't need to have a hard drive to play Xbox games.
This is probably something that will only be done for the top-selling older Xbox games and any new games in development now, as publishers would have to press new versions of their games and to redo the packaging so that people know which games will work out the box and which won't.
Microsoft has not yet commented on the veracity of the report. Microsoft's Robbie Bach is set to give a talk at the Tokyo Game Show next month that will probably go into more detail.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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