Category: Xbox 360 to One BC

We already had Crimson Skies, we knew that was coming, but now we have another title in Fusion Frenzy,  a 2001 Party game that had an assortment of mini-games akin to Mario Party and like games.  And they have confirmed that no new achievements will be added to these games either, no surprise.  I am excited by the possibility of OG Xbox backwards compatibility..but the first two games (which will be coming in the fall it looks like) do nothing for me.  Feel free to read more information at this link. 

As of June 12th, 2017…Poker Smash has been removed from backwards compatible support.  Feel free to read the link for further information. 

Alright, are you back?  Yeah, it’s a pile of bullshit and I don’t say that often when it comes to Microsoft.  I am generally pretty supportive, but this reeks and not just because I own the game.  And since I have not installed it yet on my Xbox One (just hadn’t gotten around to it)…it appears I am not eligible for Hexic 2, not that I give a flying you know what.  Now, Poker Smash itself isn’t that important its more important the precedent.  I mean Activision could wake up tomorrow and go you know what, remove all COD games from BC, we want to remaster them all for the Xbox One.  And off it goes.  Of course, this is a little crazy but I just don’t like this.  At all.  Later kids.

Welp, I would like to say that last week I quit playing Has Been Heroes, but that is not the case.  I don’t want to give up on it when I should be able to beat it a second time.  But I falter each time, getting either to the second boss or third boss, or somewhere in-between.  Maybe I should stop this week and move on to something else….I guess time will tell.

Anyway, with E3 going on, don’t expect much for sales this week.  In fact, Major is busy, so I had to get my list from other sources.  (Thanks TrueAchievements).  Nothing to report on the BC front, except for the story below this one.  I know I should be super excited but BC games have dropped down considerably and we haven’t seen anything in weeks.  This feels like an attempt to put out about 50 more games (of the original Xbox type) and then go deathly quiet except for something occasionally.  Maybe I’m being selfish because I really wanted to see the Darkness games, Gun or Kingdom of Amalur  make BC status…but I feel those are more important than Crimson Skies.

Oh and with Crimson Skies, theoretically you can chain link 4 systems together.  Original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One and then the new “S”.  Outside of pure nostalgia act, I can’t see this as being practical.  Just wake me up when Fable Anniversary or Fable Lost Chapters gets made BC.  Then I’ll think some good will come of this.  Nothing for me this week buying wise except maybe to put in a preorder for Valkyria Revolution.  Enjoy.

11:00am Edit: https://majornelson.com/2017/06/13/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-84/?linkId=100000000478971

Sorry for not capturing this sooner, but alas some weekends with a 2 year old are rougher than others.  I’m surprised I’m not on my 3rd cup of coffee to be brutally honest.  Anyway, this article comes thanks to E3 and first covered by TrueAchievements.com. I will point out it is actually 386 games that are BC at the moment but if you follow my page, you would already know that.  Anyway, I do like this announcement but I’m not as excited as I thought I would be. Mainly because it will likely include no new achievements and more than likely mirror the old backwards compatible list that 360 had with the Original XBOX.  I’ll attach it here if you would like to peruse that and Crimson Skies was a part of that.

Wikipedia – List of Xbox Games compatible with Xbox 360

Anyway, I’ll have to think about how I’m going to represent those titles in my spreadsheet/table for this site.  I want to avoid using another column but at the same time, I need a proper way to note it for filtering and counting.  And I would rather not have another table to worry about.  We’ll wait until we get an official announcement of the first game or two before I figure it out for good.  Enjoy kids.

Welp, I’m pretty much done with Has-Been Heroes.  After getting my 25th filled orb (actually up to 27 now), I just don’t have it in me anymore.  I can beat the second boss (prefer the big shield guy but I can take down Brothers Trio) but then either the third boss gets me or a random battle in the third area gets me.  A case of simply too fast (like Plants vs Zombies all over again) or not the right spells (which is all too common if you ask me).  I have made progress, but it’s honestly not enough.

So, I did buy Poker Night 2 (but passed on the other two I was talking about) for 360 off the sale last week.  And I did actually play it on Friday and Saturday, enough for three tournaments worth…of which I did win two.  Which means I can still play online poker against computers well basically (too bad that doesn’t translate to real life).  The only problem is that it is a 360 game which sits upstairs and the only reason I had enough time for three tournaments was that my mother in law was in town and helping us out with the toddler.  Hopefully they make it BC sooner than later.  It’s probably the best single player only poker experience I’ve had in a long long time.

Anyway, on to sales.  Suffice to say if you don’t care about Assassin’s Creed III or Call of Duty….well there is always next sale.  I will mention that the Deluxe version of Dragon Age: Inquisition for $5.00 is an absolute steal.  I bought it around $15 and I still think it was a steal then.  Enjoy, hopefully we’ll get some new BC this week.  Later kids.

Welp, no official sales page from the Major today (due to the holiday I’m sure), so I’m doing this with the help from other sources.  Still playing a ton of Has-Been Heroes.  Still only beat it once.  I’ve gotten past the guy with the big shield once and the brothers trio once.  And I’ve only managed to make up to the yellow pirate with the lightning rods once (and didn’t do so well).  At this point, I’m beating up my head against the wall and getting nowhere.  So I think I’m going to put it aside when I hit 25 filled orbs.  (at nearly 24 now)  I need to play something else even if I go back to Burnout Paradise or something.

As far as this week goes, there are a couple of things that I’m looking at on the X1 side and then one thing on the X360 side.  X1, Blackwood Crossing & Trulon: The Shadow Engine.  Blackwood Crossing is a little quick to play through (supposedly only a couple of hours and that’s if you don’t bother with a guide) and Trulon got some bad reviews though that was before they fixed the achievements.  The story or script of Trulon was written by Jak Koke who I’ve read a few of this books actually (and enjoyed them), so I almost feel like I owe it to myself to give it a shot.

Then on the X360 side, I’m looking at Poker Night 2 which is not BC, but $1.99 for a single player poker experience is right up my alley.  However, if I was to guess how much of a chance Poker Night 2 had to be BC, I’d give it around 25% or so.  Telltale is really good about putting games on BC, but there are quite a few licenses here…including Adult Swim, 2k, Valve, and then whoever owns the Evil Dead copyrights.  So…there is that.  Anyway, BC games (Sam n Max’s, Jurassic Park) are well worth their money if you don’t have them and enjoy the rest of your week.

2:00PM Edit – Official Major Nelson Link.

Well, no sooner than I post the previous article (and make change to the spreadsheets), Kotaku has announced the June 2017 Games with Gold.  This is a pretty good lineup, especially for BC folks.  I actually already own WatchDogs on X1, Complete Edition Disc (UK Import, doesn’t exist here)…but I’ll gladly take a digital copy.  I also already own Dragon Age: Origins…actually two copies.  One in the original steelbook, and one in ultimate edition.  But again, digital copy so I don’t have to mess those up?  Yeah, I’m good.  AC series really doesn’t do much for me, but I would imagine the Season Pass will go on sale at some point.  Enjoy.

Xbox One

• SpeedRunners (June 1-30)
• Watch Dogs (June 16-July 15)

Xbox 360

• Assassin’s Creed III (June 1-15)
• Dragon Age: Origins (June 16-30)

Well, I didn’t expect these five, that’s for darn sure.  I mean, it is a good assortment of games and much welcomed…but when Fable Anniversary goes on sale, you just kinda hope…a little bit anyway.  But there is still Thursday hopefully for a few other announcements, and we are due for a GWG announcement at some point this week.  Maybe I’ll get Shinobi.  Enjoy the rest of your week.

Tweet – AC3, Matt Hazard

Tweet – ilomilo, Shadow Assault & Shinobi

• Assassin’s Creed III $19.99 (cheaper on disc)
  • DLC w/Achievements: Season Pass (includes All three parts of Tyranny of King Washington, Battle Hardened Pack, etc) $29.99 (hope for a sale)
• ilomilo $4.99
  • DLC w/Achievements: Autumn Tale $2.99
• Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond $9.99
• Shadow Assault: Tenchu $9.99
• Shinobi $4.99

Well this past week, I have been playing one game and one game only…Has Been Heroes.  And after 30+ tries, I finally beat it once.  I know I like my rogue genre, but that’s pretty crazy…of course I never actually beat Ziggurat (but that game has 5 bosses and this one at least for the first time only has 2) either.  It is very hard, but I also think there is some major luck involved as in you really have to get the right combination of skills to succeed.  All the battle strategies in the world isn’t going to take down these bosses without a good spell or two.  How long will I keep with it?  Not sure…maybe another week, maybe two.  But I need to keep progressing (beating the game again and again) or else I am going to lose interest.

Anyway, after a crazy week last week, one would have to think a drop off for this week and they are absolutely right.  No BC games this week on the 360 side of things.  However, it is really important to note that there are at least three games in this list that have been heavily rumored to go BC.  The two Crackdowns and Fable Anniversary.  The later of which is one of my few holy grails left.  (If Gun ever becomes BC, I will probably close shop and be a peanut farmer).  Could we see a BC announcement today? I sure hope so…the only thing we have seen in the last couple of weeks is a few Japanese games that us American folks can’t even play without a good grasp of the language and a region specific machine.  That’s it for today, hopefully I’m back later in the day with some good news.  Enjoy.

One always forgets that a machine such as the Xbox 360 is a global machine, capable (depending on region coding) of playing games in any language.  Until MS decided to make the three Steins Gate Japanese releases backwards compatible.  I am going to provide titles & links below (and the middle one is a physical release only) as I have them…but no guarantees on even if I get the spelling right.  Sorry, I do apologize for any mistakes, but Google translate can only take me so far.  The 1st and 3rd titles seem to go for about 3,000 yen a piece which would be about $28 USD.  Enjoy if you are able.