Xbox 360 emulation problems

As of yesterday’s launch in Japan, Microsoft’s new gamer is now on sale worldwide – and the first problems have already started to emerge. Fresh from batting off rumours of a recall there are now red faces all round over the machine’s backwards compatibility feature.

Rather than hard-wiring the ability to play old Xbox games into the system, the computer giant has opted for a software-based emulator loaded onto the optional hard disk. The problem is that it doesn’t work very well. On Thursday the support team released an update to allow eight games from the Tom Clancy series, including Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell 3 (above). But after complaints the update was withdrawn.

The company’s programmers have now gone back to the drawing board as they work on completing emulation compatibility for the 200+ old Xbox games they promised.

It’s hardly going to put us off the 360 but it is an embarrassment for the company. Third party programmers managed to hack the old Xbox’s hard disk to provide emulation for N64, SNES, MegaDrive, NES and even GameBoy games within weeks of launch. We wouldn’t be surprised if they manage the same again before the ‘official’ version’s completed for this machine.