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Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

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No Achievements in Originals

Says someone very special.

Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb says that the new downloadable Xbox 1 games due to go live on 4th December will not have unlockable Achievements and Gamerscore.

Not that we really expected they would, but it's always nice to get some clarity. "These are the original games that were created before Xbox 360. In order to preserve the integrity of the original gaming experience they provide, they will have the features available at the time of their initial release," a statement posted on his blog explains.

"Would it have been cool? Sure it would...but as many folks have noted, for a variety of reasons it's just not possible."

The downloadable games - called "Xbox Originals", which makes us want to sit by fireplaces giving sweets to children - will cost 1200 Microsoft Points (GBP 10.20 / EUR 13.96) and the initial line-up consists of Halo, Crimson Skies, Psychonauts, Fuzion Frenzy, Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex and Burnout 3: Takedown.

Microsoft has already admitted that some of the games have minor bugs relating to the struggle to emulate them. Additional titles will be added further down the line. Indeed, we're told this is "only the beginning".