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General discussion

Playing original X Box games on X Box 360

Nov 25, 2009 12:03AM PST

I am about 3 years behind the rest of the world (smile) and am finally at the point where I may be purchasing an XBox 360 for Christmas for me and the family.

I have the original X Box with of course a box full of games.

Here are my questions:

1) I know I can play some (maybe most) of my old games on the new xbox 360. But is there one place I can find a list of what games I can play and which ones are not backwards compatible?

2) I am most likely buying the xbox 360 arcade version. Is this an issue? I THINK I read that this model does not have the hard drive, and thus I would need an external one to handle playing the old games. reason I am going arcade version is I have found a killer bundle deal with that and guitar hero band kit which is ultimately what is causing me to perhaps pull the trigger on getting a 360

3) Anything else I am missing?

I tried web searches for all this info, but as you can imagine most of the info I found was OLD from when the xbox 360 first came out. It does not address the 360 arcade

Discussion is locked

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I'd skip the Arcade.
Nov 25, 2009 12:14AM PST

The external drives are just going to be trouble and expense.

As to DATED INFO, nothing has changed. For example Spy Vs. Spy didn't play years ago and still does not. You have to research each title to find out which does or does not play. The arcade version makes the compatibility worse since any download is not possible for xbox live to make the old game work.

My vote? No arcade version.
Bob

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thanks for the response
Nov 25, 2009 12:33AM PST

thanks - your comments addressed the exact red flags I had with the arcade version. The issue is the deal is on the arcade version, and it was the deal causing me to maybe pull the trigger. But if I can't play the old games it is not even worth it, which again i think I need a HD either on one of the other systems or an external one to do that

my old xbox still works, so it is not even an issue that I have all these games my kids can't play.

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I agree, forget the Arcade
Nov 25, 2009 5:36PM PST

I'd go for the latest Elite, ignoring the Premium which, if you can still find it, is just unsold NOS equipment that might still present issues with RROD if you happen across a Falcon-equipped unit. Yeah the Elite's $100 more dear than the Arcade, but the accompanying hard drive is a necessary piece of gear, if not in absolutes then indeed in enhancing the 360's ease of use. Plus you get two games packaged with the bundled Elite offer these days, and that does help mitigate some of the extra cost.

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OR...get the Arcade...
Dec 3, 2009 12:16PM PST

and buy the 360 HD separately if it makes $$ sense. HD is necessary. But you may be able to get your bundle and HD. Don't know if the Elite is the only SKU with HDMI as it was when it first came out - check that too.

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Nope
Dec 3, 2009 1:11PM PST

Nope, they all have HDMI support now.

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get the current elite model
Dec 4, 2009 4:36AM PST

As for your first question I got the link for you to check the backwards compatible games list:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

I believe you need the hard drive in order to play original xbox games so its better to go for the Elite model that has the 120GB hard drive and 2 free games. Sales for Guitar hero should become easier to find pretty soon since Band hero and DJ hero just came out. Getting the Elite would be a wiser investment and you could wait for any sales on guitar hero after. I hope it helped

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Get the Elite >_>
Dec 21, 2009 11:49PM PST