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foxtail on 16 July 2014
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the-pi-guy said:
foxtail said:

The original Xbox was x86 and the X360 was PPC and it managed to do backwards compatibility through software emulation.  Is the reverse really so impossible?

They also could have just added a Cell chip to the PS4 like early PS3 models had an Emotion Engine chip for PS2 backwards compatibility.

Xbox 360 doesn't actually use emulation in the same way, you can't put in any game and have it work some of the time.  It uses profiles for very specific games, in order to work.  So, they make a Halo profile so they can run Halo, and a Halo 2 profile to be able to run Halo.  But a game without a profile won't work.   

Hardware emulation that way is expensive.  Let's say Sony is losing 1$ on each system as is.  Now to add a chip, let's say it is a 20$ chip, so now they are losing 21$ on each system.  Then consider they are making millions of systems.  1 million systems, that is $21 million lost.  See how millions add up pretty quickly?

I think MS had around 460 backwards compatible games on there for North America, which is around 50% of the games available on the console. They last updated their compatibility list near the end of 2007.  I think the profiles were also bundled with an update.  MS should be applauded for their effort in making so many Xbox games compatible with the 360 console, even though their software emulation wasn't perfect for all games.  

Though hardware emulation like the PS2, Wii or early PS3 had is still preferable.  So I do like the idea of another PS4 sku option with an added Cell chip for backwards compatiblity for a little extra price.

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-on-other-devices/original-console/play-original-games