Xbox Memory Games Comments by Kristan Reed

Phfffft!

Would have been fantastic a year ago - doh!!!

Heh, keep up fellas!

Its really not as complicated as the write up would suggest when you're doing it, but it does take a hell of a write up. From first getting it, to backing up my saves and transfering took me all of 10-15 minutes, and as I say, I was complete beginner.

Krudster, are you sure GTA:SA transfered? It refused to for me. My version is the original, rather than classic.

Oh and PES5 option files work too, although its slightly more complicated. PESInsights forum explains how to do it though, and most of their OF's can be downloaded in a 360 compatible format.

And for your next question, I dont know if PES6 OF's can be transfered...havent seen any yet but I've not bothered looking.

And finally, the XSata also lets you extract PGR3 (not that you need to anymore due to photomodes built in upload) and TDU photos. Although the latters always look a bit crap.

I do not work for Datel. :)

Edit: Oh and one more further thing, in the States, theres a new version out which enables you to remove the HDD from the X360 and plug it in. At present it needs power from the 360, which could be inconvenient if your PC is miles away from your 360, although mine is working fine with a 3m USB extension cable. Wont do you much good in an upstairs/downstairs situation.

Hey, Fruit Salad - you had me worried there. No, you definitely can use old PSone mem cards on the PS2, I even went back and checked just now.

Edit: I didn't imply you could *load* old PSone games from a memory card - that would be a bit daft :)

This is pretty old news, isn't it? I'd heard of people doing this a good month or two ago...

Sure it's old news, but the Xbox is 5 today, and we're kicking off the celebrations...

Furbs - I can't verify GTA SA myself, but the YouTube video shows it working, so I assume it is possible. And, yes, I think it's down to which version of the game you use.

"But when it comes to the 360, it's much more difficult to pack away that old Xbox. For a start, more than half the Xbox catalogue still doesn't run on the 360 (including a multitude of the best games ever released on the machine - if in doubt check this official backward compatibility list), and even when support is added for your old games, Microsoft - in its infinite wisdom - neglected to give users a means of transferring their old save games."

I guess that's the polite way of saying xbox 360 b/c is buggered.

Why doesn’t MS just put up the level complete game saves on Xbox live for 360 owners to download.

We receive no Gamer Points for them so no one gets hurt.

I could then have all the Halo and Halo 2 levels available to me again, when I fancy taking on the Library AGAIN.

Is this just too simple a solution..?

My head hurts.

Speaking of which Sony has nerfed me with B/C game data on PS3 instead of having one 60 GB PS2/PS1 virtual memory cards you've got to format it 8MB at a time and even virtually put it in ports.

You've got to virtually juggle 8MB mem cards in a 60GB hardrive.

Wow, that sounds...almost as complicated as doing this.

"In this day and age, console owners have every right to expect to be able to run their old games on the next incarnation of the system."

No they don't.

Nice article and very useful for those few people that still want to transfer their games over but it's still not as easy a process as say connecting the two machines together and clicking a Transfer Save Files button is it?

Of course, the Xbox's problem is that the saves are held on a security locked hard drive whereas on the PS2 those saves are on a memory card. As such all Sony had to do was release a PS2-to-USB memory card adaptor and that sorted out that problem which is exactly what they've done. Microsoft on the other hand have totally ignored it/never given it any thought at all.

Being able to transfer some files is all very well but what about downloaded premium content which is too big to fit on a memory unit and requires you to buy it again if you try to download it from the Xbox game when it's running on your 360, e.g. the Links 2004 courses? Plus some save game files are simply too big to fit on a memory unit in the first place like the Star Wars KotOR I and II ones.

All-in-all it's a bit of a mess really and Microsoft really should have addressed this issue last year when it would have been more useful to have had those save files (during the infamous Xbox 360 games drought that lasted until March 2006).

Is this an article or an advertisement?

Thanks, handy info.

Obviously it's an article that just so happens to only be possible by buying this product. Consider it a guide review, if you like.

it'd be worth mentioning what else is needed to be bought to get this to work, such as an xbox memory card (or usb flash device that gets formatted by the xbox in this process) and an ability to attatch said card to a pc (such as an xbox/usb converter)

Yes, that's all covered.

Not with the XSATA. You need a 360, an HDD, a PC and a USB cable. Thats it. You're thinking of the Datel Transfer Kit which is different.

The only old xbox games I've played on the 360 are Halo 2 (online only) and Links 2004 (a sports game so I don't really care about saves). So far it hasn't really been a problem for me.

This is all well and good, but the burning question on everyones lips is - What do you give this process out of 10?

What I meant, Furbs is that's all covered in the article.

"In order to get your Xbox save game into the Action Replay programme, your best bet is to buy the Action Replay itself, or you can plug in your old Xbox Memory Unit into a USB transfer cable that Datel sells on its site (linked to transfer cable) (or, if you own an Xbox Action Replay, that will also work). "

I recently ordered one because my harddisc is quite full and I don't feel like deleting anything. According to Amazon it was shipped tonight so I guess I will get it tomorrow.

Hey, don't be sad - they made RSC 1 compatible with the last update, so who knows? There must be another update coming soon, seeing as the last one was about 3 months ago now.

Sorry krudster, you got your reply in before me to geepersd. Your F5 skills are impressive, but you are not a jedi yet.

mattigan said: "This is all well and good, but the burning question on everyones lips is - What do you give this process out of 10?"


Yeah, could you mark the process out of 10 please? I want to see how it stacks up against GoW.

(sorry, couldn't resist).

Did Datel pay for this blatant advert?

No, but Sony did.

Wow, next thing people will say that game reviews are adverts because we're recommending that they go and buy them.

In this day and age, console owners have every right to expect to be able to run their old games on the next incarnation of the system

Why?

The Playstation 2 was not fully backward compatible - neither is the PS3.

"In this day and age, console owners have every right to expect to be able to run their old games on the next incarnation of the system

Why?"

Why not?

I can still run games from 1998 on my current PC so why can't that apply to consoles?

"Plus some save game files are simply too big to fit on a memory unit in the first place like the Star Wars KotOR I and II ones."

Too big for a 8MB memory card, but there are bigger versions.

"The Playstation 2 was not fully backward compatible - neither is the PS3."

And yet, both consoles have a level of BC (95%+) that the Xbox 360 can only dream of.

Correct, some PC games from as far back as about 1988 still run that I own. The PS2 was superbly backwardly compatible, the Wii will be with the Cube, The PS3 will be (we hope) and yet the 360 is struggling at about 25% compatible. Check through the list of great games that don't work - it's not really acceptable. I want to build up a games collection, not throw out old systems every time a new one comes along. Nor do I particularly want to have to have five or six consoles all around the TV on the offchance I might want to go back and finish an old game.

Three seems quite enough :)

My personal qualm was with the phrase "right to expect". I'm not entirely sure I can put why it bothers me into words, but nonetheless, it does seem indicative of our entitlement era. As if a console manufacturer failing to support backwards compatability was somehow encroaching on our civil liberties, which seems somewhat extreme.

We have freedom of thought, and are free to desire backwards compatability, but is that itself indicative of a right to expect that functionality?

One thing that does seem odd to me, is that the majority of the hardcore gamers I knew at the time of the PS2 launch were generally negative about the benefits of backwards compatability. The same sort of people that now decry any failing in such support, having once said things akin to "it's not like I'm suddenly going to lose my PS1".

For the record, I'm a big fan of backwards compatability. If nothing else, it saves wear and tear on my older consoles.

Ok, "right" was the wrong word, but we have every *reason* to expect console manufacturers to look after loyal users by allowing those that supported it to play their old games. I just hope Microsoft doesn't quietly cease adding to the BC list.

Old news, but good to see EG posting thorough guides like this that will definitely help some people out.

I guess I'm a little miffed that I didn't buy the XSATA when it was first released, and mis-priced at £10.

Yeah, meant to do this months ago - but what with the 5th anniversary and all that, it seemed a good time to remind people that there is a way of achieving what was thought to be impossible.

Of course, this is all MUCH easier if your Xbox is softmodded as that means you can copy the saves off the hard drive and onto your PC non-buggered-about-with, then just copy them straight onto the 360's hard drive with the XSATA :)

krudster
15-Nov-06 12:45:41

Wow, next thing people will say that game reviews are adverts because we're recommending that they go and buy them.

Well, now that you mention it... ;o)

Actually, being serious for a moment. I'm not accusing EuroGamer of such underhanded things, but i've known positive reviews to be 'bought' by certain companies marketing dept.'s in the past. I've seen plenty of reviews over the years that truthfully could have been described as an advert. Even had a marketing exec flat out admit he had an arrangement with a staff member on a well known magazine to my face some time ago, and with certain magazines it can be painfully obvious when they've been influenced to give a game a positive review.

Of course, i understand that wasn't how you intended your comment to be interpreted.

See I don't expect it, and I think as we move into future generations it might start to become near impossible.

PC's have backwards compatibility because they remain the same basic architecture over the years, just with faster processors.

Consoles generally change the architecture of everything, including the main board and CPU. They thus run different instructions and have to emulate their forebears. With the PS2, it had a PS1 chipset in it I believe so you essentially had two consoles in one. With Xbox that wasn't possible, but they managed to emulate the games. Hence the small number from the back catalogue as each one is done individually. I've no idea how it's done on PS3.

Point is, as consoles get more and more complex, it becomes more and more complex to emulate them in their next gen replacements. Why should you expect them to do so? Do you really want a next gen console designed in such a way that it keeps some of it's toes in the past, thus restricting it's evolution? The only easy path to backwards compatibility is to retain the same architecture and throw in a better graphics card and cpu. Works for the PC. But it slows the evolution down significantly. I'd be very surprised to see PS3 and Xbox 720 (:)) being backwards compatible with the PS3 and 360, purely from a technical standpoint. But who knows, maybe the next 360 will retain the same chips, only faster, with 8 cores. Maybe the next PS will have 4 cell processors instead of one. Thus allowing more or less the same instructions to be retained. Doubtful.

@ DocTep

Yeah, see 9/10 for Sensible Soccer 06 for an example....

Actually, regarding my post about this article being an advert (and it does read like one of those bought articles in magazines), I hardly ever post on here, I find it amusing that one post gets reponses from 2 of the EG staff. Touched a nerve maybe?