Topic: IF the Nintendo Code-Name "NX" DOESN'T have backwards compatibility...

@Emperor-Palpsy Leaving the Wii legacy behind doesn't have to equal leaving Wii / Wii U compatibility behind. Just don't make it a prominent feature or selling point and don't call it the Wii 3. However, we already know that the NX won't be backwards compatible, so that's one less thing to worry about I guess.

@Octane we actually don't know that yet

@DefHalan If you want to argue that they're going with PPC again, fine, but I think you need to come up with some pretty good arguments to convince me then. It's going to be ARM, else it would've been x86; however, PPC is just extremely unlikely.

@Octane it could support 3DS games, if the NX is a portable. Also Xbox One is backwards compatible even though it is a different architecture

@DefHalan And I do think it will be BC with the 3DS, but I believe the question was about BC with the Wii U..

I think we've had this argument before, but the Xbox One is not BC with the 360, it can't be from a technical perspective and it isn't. What Microsoft is doing is offering free Xbox 360 downloads to owners who own a select bunch of 360 games. I'm not arguing that's a bad thing, I actually think that's a good thing, but that isn't backwards compatibility.

Can Nintendo do the same? I doubt it. Because that means they would either have to emulate the Wii U, which is rather unlikely given what the system is likely going to be (it would need to be a lot more powerful to do that), or they would have to port the games over to NX, which is a process that takes a lot of resources and time. I think we'll see a couple of ports, but I am afraid that the majority of your games won't be playable on NX.

@Octane i disagree. The Xbox One is backwards compatible with 360. It may not be hardware based, but it is still a type of backwards compatible. The OP question wasn't about whether or not the NX would be backwards compatible with Wii U. The OP question was about whether you would appreciate the Wii U more if the NX was BC with it. The conversation has changed to basically mirror the thread I made about Backwards Compatibility lol

There's no way the NX will be backwards compatible. That would obviously require not only a disc drive, but a PPC chipset. Whatever the NX is there's no way it could smoothly emulate Wii U.

@-SD- it wouldn't need a disc drive if it is only compatible with digital Wii U games.

@DefHalan I understand that, but I wasn't talking about 3DS BC when I said backwards compatibility, because that wasn't asked in the OP, that's what I meant. I do think it may be BC with 3DS though.

Anyway, that's fine, but then VC is also a form of backwards compatibility and that means that the Wii U is BC with the NES, SNES, N64, Wii, GB, GBA and DS. The difference is just that Microsoft is giving the games away for free.

Anyway, I already stated what I think, apart from a few ports, we won't see much Wii U games playable on the NX. Does that make me appreciate the system more? Not really, as I don't see how BC or no BC is going to change what I think about the Wii U.

So if I have 10 random 360 games, it is safe to assume they will all work?

@Octane the VC is not backwards compatibility since your original purchase of the game doesn't matter.

@Therad no, and that is a downside of software based backwards compatibility

@DefHalan
Literally the Xbox One is NOT backwards compatible with the 360. It can, however, run emulation software that is backwards compatible with the 360. Massive difference.

I can't wait to get a Wii U. I love my Wii. Can't imagine what the NX will be...at this point I can only think it's going to be a VR headset...what else could it be without being another Wii or 3DS...?

Generally when I'm watching a film and I can't imagine how it'll end it's because I've already guessed the ending but discounted it because it would be too blah...applying that thinking to the NX: it could just be another underpowered console, so maybe just going back to retro-roots...or maybe a sequel to the Gamecube...Cube 2 (Cube squared)

@rallydefault that is the difference between software and hardware backwards compatibility.

No it doesn't. If it was an emulator every game could run. They basically port each and every game.

If you could use your original disc, then it would have BC. You have to download the entire game, just because you can do it for free, doesn't mean it has BC. @Octane is spot on, the process is really close to how they do vc. And no one would call that BC.

Do you think mp3 players have BC with audio CDs?

@Therad And I disagree

It's very unlikely the NX will have an optical drive. So there's no way Nintendo can verify whether or not you own a physical copy at the point when you're playing the game. So even if they did have software based BC it'd only be for digital purchases. Which they're not going to do because it'd screw over the people who went for the physical media.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was hardware BC for 3DS games including a recognition of 3DS purchases. I can see the VC expanding to include Wii, GC, GBA and DS games. I can also see them maybe recognising your purchases for past VC releases. But I think we'll only see Wii U games as ports that you have to buy again.

@Therad That's what I argued back when they launched the program, however that means that they ported 240 games at this point. That's a lot of work though. I underatand that an emulator would be able to run every game, but I can't help but wonder if they have some sort of automated process going on.

The CPU in the Xbox One shouldn't be able to emulate the PPC machine code. My guess is that MS are using DirectX in their tool chain, which means it would be a relative painless process to upgrade to the next version. So all they do is recompile the games and probably do some QA work on top of it. Aka they port the games to the new architecture. Why would you otherwise have to download the game despite already having all the data on a disc?

And that process is basically the same as format shifting a CD to a MP3, you 'recompile' the data format on CDs to MP3. The only reason it is called BC is because MS spins it like that and everyone just gobbles up their term.