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Duane Cunningham · May 2, 2012

I think all we can do is look at the current evidence:

PSN - You can go to the PS Store and if you've already bought something, it appears as a red shopping bag, meaning you don't have to pay again. It's one central account whether you log in via the PS3, Vita, their site, a replacement PS3, or anything. Just like iTunes or whatever. I see zero reason this will change with future hardware, the system is already in place. Yes, you'll be able to take your purchases with you.

Nintendo - Hard to say. They don't tie your purchases to a central account, really, unless you connect it to Club Nintendo, but even then, it's not like a central store with "previous purchases", your purchases are really just tied to the system. On DSi and 3DS, you can transfer everything to a new system if you have them both in front of you, but that's it. So far, there has been no crossover between things you can purchase in the 3DS and WiiWare/WiiVC stores, so there's no explicit example so far of having to pay twice, but there doesn't seem to be a system in place to prevent it. Ultimately, unless they announce some totally new account system, I'm saying no, you wont be able to on Nintendo.

XBLA - Microsoft has only released one post-XBLA system, so we don't know for sure that you'll be able to log back in and re-DL your past purchases. But it sure seems like it since XBLA is an iTunes/PSN style service. So most likely yes here as well.

Aaaand, after typing all that out, I realize that the real question being asked here is whether said software will actually be playable on the new consoles.

mclem · May 2, 2012

I do expect it but I wouldn't be *too* surprised if there's some backwards-compatability SNAFU that breaks it on one of the platforms, given how BC hasn't exactly been rock-solid this gen.

I also expect Nintendo to faff about and not offer it at launch, but will down the line. I'm more confident that they won't run the risk of BC issues than the other two.

Cerebral Assassin · May 2, 2012

I expect that they will carry over (unless there is a technical reason for this to not be the case, like in the recent PS4 rumours), if a company doesn't transfer them across I will no longer buy DD content from them ( & will likely only buy the console(s) that do carry over, regardless of whether I have any content to carry over).

Persona7 · May 2, 2012

I expect PS1 games at the very least to transfer over onto the PS4.

SeanR1221 · May 2, 2012

BattleMonkey said:
Apple has also been doing incremental upgrades of the hardware making it easier for BC issues. Problems with consoles is they come years apart and often with big hardware differences making it harder to keep individual apps and such working. There have been issues with older apps not working right on newer Apple, and if the original publishers do not suppor the software, the more these issues will continue to happen.

Console makers are going to have major problems with BC with how they will be releasing such big jumps in hardware

Curious, list the apps.

Bluemercury · May 2, 2012

So if i buy Super metroid and Rondo of Blood i will be able to transfer them to WiiU?

Pandaman · May 2, 2012

if i cant keep my psn purchases, well there's certainly no reason for me to stay in the sony family.
bad BC is why i went ps3 after xbox. wont be very hard on me to switch back when circumstances change.

UraMallas · May 2, 2012

ShinUltramanJ said:
They'd better. If not I'll never download another game again on a console.

Exactly true.

Christine · May 2, 2012

Tain said:
In Wii's case, Virtual Console's biggest strength is the ability to output in original game resolutions, which is something the Wii U will not be capable of doing. No big deal.

How do you figure that?

Jasper Avenue · May 2, 2012

Here's how I think it's going to play out.

XBLA will allow it (with a few exceptions). Similar architecture almost ensures this.
PSN is highly doubtful. Sony has shown with this generation that BC isn't a big deal for them anymore.
WiiU, I don't think it will offer BC for DD. If VC is a thing that exists on the WiiU, they're going to sell you those same titles again.

jono51 · May 2, 2012

Out of interest, have Sony/MS/Nintendo ever said what % of users have bought dlc/arcade games? Just wondering how many would be affected by BC.

lolez2matt · May 2, 2012

If for any reason they can´t be used in the next console, I wiil buy a 2nd console (when they price drop a lot) just in case my main console dies.

It will be my only option.

Tenck · May 2, 2012

Is there a legitamate reason they can't?

tinfoilhatman · May 2, 2012

I'm 100% confident 360 arcade\downloadable games will be forward compatible(or easily re-downloaded\patched) Nintendo and Sony who the hell knows.

jett · May 2, 2012

No, for the simple reason that I don't expect the PS4 to be backwards compatible. Your PSN purchases will be on your account forevah, but they just won't be playable on the PS4.

michaelius · May 2, 2012

BattleMonkey said:
Theres already been content taken off all these services, it's going to continue obviously but it's in their best interests to keep as much as possible up for as long as they can. I'm sure there will be compatibility issues though that will hurt some apps though. We are going to be losing stuff over the following gens.

Console gamers who want console games are not going to suddenly run to the iphone/ipad for their gaming fix

Most of my pc games from early 2000s still work

Pociask · May 2, 2012

Having purchased a good bit of WiiWare and VC titles for the Wii, it will be a significant barrier to me upgrading if they're not along for the ride. Probably enough to take me from day 1 purchaser to after price cut. There's plenty of content I haven't experienced yet, so I will avoid a kick in the balls as longas possible.

H_Prestige · May 2, 2012

For ps4, I'm certain ps1 and ps2 games will be compatible. Not so sure about ps3 stuff.

UberTag · May 2, 2012

XBLA? Yes.
PSN? Nope. Except for possibly PS1/Minis. Slim chance of PS2 if those download versions include emulation software. Vita is already struggling with PS1 so this may not be a Day 1 deal regardless.
WiiWare? People say yes. I say no.

IronLich · May 2, 2012

I'm already iffy on the new consoles, but if they lose support on being able to play all those nice online fighting games we have this gen (Skullgirls, 3SOE), that just secures that I really don't need them as essentials going forward.

Sp3eD · May 2, 2012

I hope my Rock Band content has somewhere to go next generation. I have $2000+ dumped into it.

Combichristoffersen · May 2, 2012

UberTag said:
XBLA? Yes.
PSN? Nope. Except for possibly PS1/Minis. Slim chance of PS2 if those download versions include emulation software.
WiiWare? People say yes. I say no.

They don't. The PS2 emulator is in the PS3 OS, so they'd need to write a PS2 emulator for PS4.

a Master Ninja · May 2, 2012

I've spent so much money on XBL content that if that stuff didn't carry over it would, at the very least, delay my purchase by several years. I didn't buy nearly as much on PSN or Virtual Console, so it is less important to me but still relevant.

It just seems smart for these companies to allow the 1000+ games already on these services to be purchased on the next gen hardware along with all the new stuff. Easy money. Breaking compatibly and releasing the odd "HD remaster" would make less money.

OldJadedGamer · May 2, 2012

surly said:
If they don't, it would seriously put me off buying the console(s).

Same here. This is VERY important to me.

Tain · May 2, 2012

TwinIonEngines said:
How do you figure that?

None of the HD consoles do. Even the original Xbox didn't. PC video cards haven't officially supported it for years.

I guess it's always possible that Nintendo will go out of their way to make sure everything works perfectly for SD televisions, but I'd imagine that upscaling to 480i in those cases is way more likely.

Deadstar · May 2, 2012

Do you create a new steam profile when you buy a new computer? Of course they'll transfer. They're digital items linked to your account. I assume that my xbox live tag and psn id will transfer, so as long as those do I expect all my downloaded content to come over.

tinfoilhatman · May 2, 2012

Tain said:
None of the HD consoles do. Even the original Xbox didn't. PC video cards haven't officially supported it for years.

I guess it's always possible that Nintendo will go out of their way to make sure everything works perfectly for SD televisions, but I'd imagine that upscaling to 480i in those cases is way more likely.

Not sure if I understand correctly but regardless of game 360 can output at any standard resolution you want(based on interface\connector)

Mitsurux · May 2, 2012

I would be dissapointed if the new consoles don't allow the transfer of games to their sucessors...

But at the same time i realse that it could be an issue more realted the the hardware (changes) that the new systems will have.... it almost becomes an issue of Backwards compatability....

Combichristoffersen · May 2, 2012

Deadstar said:
Do you create a new steam profile when you buy a new computer? Of course they'll transfer. They're digital items linked to your account. I assume that my xbox live tag and psn id will transfer, so as long as those do I expect all my downloaded content to come over.

Your PSN ID will transfer, but your PS3 DD content may not be playable on PS4 due to the rumoured difference in architecture.

Wiz · May 2, 2012

I'd be pretty pissed if my VC games couldn't be transferred to Wii U. That being said it could go either way. There's no reason why they can't do it.

Struct09 · May 2, 2012

XBLA and PSN, yes. For Wii it would be nice, but since Wii didn't have a central customer account like the Wii-U will have I'm not expecting it.

KorrZ · May 2, 2012

Absolutely. When I buy the new iPhone/iPad all of my apps don't suddenly stop working. If you're going to create a digital ecosystem you need to have forward compatibility or you lose all consumer trust. I think MS at least knows this with WP8, Win 8 and Xbox all being one unified ecosystem.

I know I sure as hell would never buy anything on XBL/PSN again if I lost all my shit.

Tain · May 2, 2012

tinfoilhatman said:
Not sure if I understand correctly but regardless of game 360 can output at any standard resolution you want(based on interface\connector)

I'm pretty sure the composite output of the 360 scales everything to 480i, and I couldn't get component to go lower than 480i when I was messing with XNA on 360. On top of that, there isn't a single low resolution game port that supports unscaled sub-480i resolutions (even including M2's Cave game framework).

So the games can be rendered to a low resolution buffer, sure, but the end result is nothing like playing a Genesis game through VC.

M3d10n · May 2, 2012

It's ironic that Wiiware is the most likely to transfer, because the Wii U is the only next gen system guaranteed to be backwards compatible so it's only a matter of Nintendo setting up a transfer app that logs into whatever account system they come up for the Wii U and removes the licenses from the Wii.

Sony and Microsoft already have cross-platform account systems, but it means nothing if their next-gen consoles are unable of running previous-gen code.

tinfoilhatman · May 2, 2012

Tain said:
I'm pretty sure the composite output of the 360 scales everything to 480i, and I couldn't get component to go lower than 480i when I was messing with XNA on 360. On top of that, there isn't a single low resolution game port that supports unscaled 240p (even including M2's Cave game framework).

So the games can run in it, sure, but the end result is nothing like playing a Genesis game through VC.

Why would you want to go lower, I mean do want to play these games in a tiny little black box corner section of your HDTV?

M3d10n · May 2, 2012

Tain said:
None of the HD consoles do. Even the original Xbox didn't. PC video cards haven't officially supported it for years.

I guess it's always possible that Nintendo will go out of their way to make sure everything works perfectly for SD televisions, but I'd imagine that upscaling to 480i in those cases is way more likely.

The HD 4xxx series can output 240p. I use all the time to play retro games on a CRT (via a custom RGB->s-video adapter). Nintendo doesn't need to get out of their way at all. Of course, I doubt it would work via HDMI, but that would be useless anyway since there's no CRT TV with HDMI input that I know of.

Kasumi1970 · May 2, 2012

yes.....if MS or Sony don't do it........I WILL NOT BUY THERE NEW SYSTEMS.

zroid · May 2, 2012

With Sony and Nintendo, we already have that precedent set on their respective handhelds, so I expect the same to follow for the consoles.

With Microsoft, I really have no idea, but they ought to.

D_prOdigy · May 2, 2012

Wow, the whole "Nintendo probably won't because it's Nintendo + online" thing really is dogma now, isn't it? Maybe some people really are proud of ignorance.

It's quite amusing that, in reality, people have more of a reason to expect Nintendo to do it because they did it with DSi -> 3DS. People should be more questionable of Microsoft because there's no precedence. I don't have any knowledge of the PSP -> Vita situation so I don't dare to assume Sony's dispositions.

Tain · May 2, 2012

M3d10n said:
The HD 4xxx series can output 240p. I use all the time to play retro games on a CRT (via a custom RGB->s-video adapter). Nintendo doesn't need to get out of their way at all.

If so, I'm surprised. I was under the impression that you would need to make custom drivers, custom resolutions, or use AdvanceMAME in a different OS (or something) if you wanted to output an honest-to-god unwavering scanlined low resolution image to an SDTV with modern cards. Is there anything to this outside of using the adapter? I have a spare-ish PC with a 4850 that might be worth hooking up to my SDTV.

Either way, I'm not totally convinced that Nintendo will bother, but if the 4xxx series can do this the Wii U supporting true low resolutions would be more likely than I thought.

tinfoilhatman said:
Why would you want to go lower, I mean do want to play these games in a tiny little black box corner section of your HDTV?

That kinda leads into what I was getting at. Being able to output in those sub-480i resolutions (like the Wii does) only benefits those with CRT SDTVs, so I thought it was a safe bet that Nintendo won't bother with their new hardware.

I have a CRT SDTV, and low resolution games look way better on it than on an HDTV (as always), so I hope I'm wrong.

H_Prestige · May 2, 2012

D_prOdigy said:
Wow, the whole "Nintendo probably won't because it's Nintendo + online" thing really is dogma now, isn't it? Maybe some people really are proud of ignorance.

It's quite amusing that, in reality, people have more of a reason to expect Nintendo to do it because they did it with DSi -> 3DS. People should be more questionable of Microsoft because there's no precedence. I don't have any knowledge of the PSP -> Vita situation so I don't dare to assume Sony's dispositions.

You do know that Nintendo has only just reached the point where they only allow you to transfer shit from one system to another, right?

On the Vita you can just download any PSP game that you already bought. So Sony already has the right system in place, it's just a question of whether the PS4 is able to run PS3 code. Nintendo is not there yet, and there is no indication that will change with next gen.

lucius · May 2, 2012

If PSN and XBLA games don't transfer over I won't buy the systems as earlier as planned I will just stick with PS3/360 much longer. Also I will never invest as much as I have in Digital purchases from them again if ever, I will just take that money and spent it elsewhere I am sure there will be other options.

tinfoilhatman · May 2, 2012

Zeer0id said:
With Sony and Nintendo, we already have that precedent set on their respective handhelds, so I expect the same to follow for the consoles.

With Microsoft, I really have no idea, but they ought to.

I think As long as the horse power is there and the game didn't deviate from DirectX standards to far emulation or strait up execution should be pretty strait forward.

Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken

All indi games written in C# will\should obviously transfer since they should be relatively platform independent.

D_prOdigy · May 2, 2012

H_Prestige said:
You do know that Nintendo has only just reached the point where they only allow you to transfer shit from one system to another, right?

I'm failing to see the significance of the "only just". You're essentially just pointing out that there wasn't a handheld before DSi that let you download stuff onto. You're not really making any point.

Unless your burning concern was the ability to transfer software between the same system. I'm sure you could make a thread for that. I'm not sure it's that important for most people though.

Zabian · May 2, 2012

The console manufacturers' lack of transparency on how they will handle this has led me to limit my purchases severely (haven't bought anything for years), and I have spent my money on Steam instead.

I don't believe that purchases will carry over to the next consoles, and if they do, it certainly won't be for free.

H_Prestige · May 2, 2012

D_prOdigy said:
I'm failing to see the significance of the "only just". You're essentially just pointing out that there wasn't a handheld before DSi that let you download stuff onto. You're not really making any point.

Unless your burning concern was the ability to transfer software between the same system. I'm sure you could make a thread for that. I'm not sure it's that important for most people though.

No, I'm pointing out that you can't play your DSi DD stuff on a 3DS unless you transfer it. In which case you lose access to it on the original system. It's still a limited system.

-PXG- · May 2, 2012

They fuckin better

ii Stryker · May 2, 2012

Digital purchase compatibility is only really important with the arcade titles and a selection of the Disc based games the top XBL UU. Those disc games would have to be backwards compatible as well

WiiRevolution1 · May 2, 2012

Nintendo already does this from DSi to 3DS. So for Wii to Wii U I fully expect you'll be able to transfer all Wii VC and WiiWare and 3DS to whatever.

Sony has...somewhat done this with PSP to PSV but apparantly Cell is hard to emulate so its up in the air. (Not a tech person) I still don't know why you can't play all PSP and PS1 games on PSV. People say Nintendo rushed the 3DS but atleast when the eShop DID open you could transfer all DSiWare games unless they had liscening issues. I'm pretty sure all of the PSP games that aren't in the PSV store or even compatible through PS3 don't have liscening issues. Surely not 100% of the PS1 PSN library has liscening issues :lol

Xbox 360 - Whatever, I really don't see why they won't unless its hard to emulate like cell is.

Zoramon089 · May 2, 2012

Are all you people claiming Nintendo won't support this even aware they already do for the 3DS? Are you guys aware Nintendo Network and the Wii U WILL support user accounts? It just doesn't make any sense to think it won't when all signs point to them setting up systems to allow this

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