Xbox Originals: Bare Bones Emulations

Since yesterday’s announcement of Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox Originals program, quite a few questions have popped up regarding functionality, most of which have been answered today — and the results are hardly ideal.

1,200 Microsoft Points was already pushing it, but now that the guarantee of flawless performance has been eliminated, we might as well already classify this as “FAIL.” On Xbox.com a number of “Known Issues” involving the launch titles for the service have popped up that indicate what we’re getting here is nothing more than a standard emulation that’s comparable to what’s already available for the disc-based brethren of each title. Depending on the game, you could run into the following issues:

• Crashing (requiring a restart of the console)
• Audio Static
• Texture Issues
• Frame Rate Drops

Oh, and Major Nelson lets us know that Achievements have been ruled out as well. OK, so it’s not all bad stuff: At least you can download the game manuals for each title.

Known Issues From Xbox.com

There are some known issues with Xbox Originals. With all game titles, publisher logos at the start of a game can be choppy on first play when caching. Also, any additional content within a game (such as a demo or trailer) is not supported by Xbox Originals titles and selecting those options may result in crashing the game (requiring a restart of the console).

There are also some issues unique to specific game titles, as follows:

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge: There is some minor flickering at the top of the screen that happens very rarely. The “Press A to Continue” message is missing when the host player leaves a multiplayer game. Additional content within the game (such as demos & trailers) are not supported and selecting those options may result in crashing the game (requiring a restart of the console)

Fable: There are some random bursts of audio static and some minor texture issues and a short hang up when removing tattoos. Additional content within the game (such as demos & trailers) are not supported and selecting those options may result in crashing the game (requiring a restart of the console)

Fuzion Frenzy: There are some minor frame rate issues. Additional content within the game (such as demos & trailers) are not supported and selecting those options may result in crashing the game (requiring a restart of the console)

Halo: There are some very mild frame rate drops.

Psychonauts: HDMI 720p is not supported for PAL users. Running the game in 720p over HDMI will result in the game locking up for PAL users. If you are using HDMI output, set the resolution to 1080i or 1080p (anything but 720p)