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[Labadal]

I can say this: If they aren't backwards compatible it will set my purchase of either PS4/Xbox720 back 2 or 3 years.

Same here. I'm in no hurry to buy a new console, but no BC means I can wait even longer.

 

[gurasa]

Nil.

 

[Takamura-San]

Required: Digital
Recommended:discs

 

[BassForever]

It's very important, the less amount of consoles I have to have plugged in to play all my games is the best and keeps my tv uncluttered.

 

[Kud Dukan]

It's pretty important, but I wouldn't say it's a complete deal breaker for me. I don't get rid of my old consoles, so I simply hook them up whenever I feel like playing an older game.

 

[Tain]

For those of you who don't mind if new consoles won't play your old consoles retail games, whatabout your digital purchases?

Pretty much the same case, assuming I can always download those digital purchases. In other words, no bullshit like the shutting down of the original Xbox Live.

 

[FrontalMonk]

BC is vital for me, ESPECIALLY with online purchases. There have been so many great games that I would want to keep playing that I've bought online, but specifically games in the fighting and shmup genres, like Deathsmiles, SSF2THDR and SF3TSO (and GGX2AC+ when it comes). These genres have pretty timeless gameplay and I would be really sad to see them go, so much so that I'd rather litter my entertainment center with consoles than deal without.

 

[SUBZERO-08]

Pretty important. Even though I probably won't even go back and play most of the games, it's still nice not having to go and hook up an older console just to do so if I do end up wanting to play something.

 

[Mihos]

At launch it is very important... after a few years and a big library, not so much.

If it wasn't for PSP games, I would probably not be playing my Vita as much as I do right now.

 

[Paracelsus]

They won't upscale anything so I care about 0.0%

 

[djplaeskool]

Not very.
I keep older consoles.

 

[Mitsurux]

Its definatly a selling point... as it was this gen...

It helps pad out sometimes thin launch lineups....


But i think as a few has already stated the handleing of digital purchases off of XBL, VC and PSN are going to be a bigger deal....

But 3DS for the most part showed that it can be done... (minus a few liscesed games etc.)

 

[Vaporizer]

I can say this: If they aren't backwards compatible it will set my purchase of either PS4/Xbox720 back 2 or 3 years.

I have just purchased street fighter alpha 3 recently from the american psn store (fuckin europe store sucks) First thing that hits me? Nostalgia. It's like 1999 all over again.

I bought my playstation 3 when it was £420 in 2007. That was over 700 us dollars. I would have waited for some years. But then the moment i heard BC was getting nerfed, i went straight to Virgin megastore.

 

[Coolwhip]

How does it work for Ipads? If you have an Ipad 2 will you be able to bring all your apps to your Ipad3? Regardless it's pretty important I guess even if not many people use it. It's a good marketing arguement to say your device already has hundreds of games available for it.

 

[J-Rod]

No importance to me. Potentially gimp the system in the long run or raise the price just so I can play games from another system I already own. I don't buy games then not play them, and I don't replay games because I don't have time. I've never used bc except just to test it, unless the master system attachment I had for my game gear counts.

 

[Satchel]

Despite the fact that I keep all my consoles, I still want BC in there.

Just because I keep them all, doesn't mean I want the all out all the time.

Especially downloaded titles.

 

[depths20XX]

I keep old consoles around and BC is still important to me.

Sure I could hook up up countless systems if I wanted to, but thats kind of a pain.

Like someone else said, if a new system isn't backwards compatible, I can wait a longer time before I care about getting it.

I feel the same about XBLA/PSN games, should be BC.

 

[Mattakuevan]

I care very little.

HOWEVER, I can totally see why someone would want BC. If they had primarily PSN games it would be annoying.

 

[MoogPaul]

Very much so. One of the most important to be honest. I don't enjoy having six consoles hooked up to my television.

 

[AkuMifune]

Zero. Aside from one or two exceptions a generation, I don't even go back to games I've played last week.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Pretty important I guess. Don't really have any interest in upgrading, personally though.

 

[KageMaru]

Though I'd prefer BC (especially for the digital games), I don't want it to sacrifice performance or power of the machine.

 

[McBradders]

Given my investment in digital content this generation on both Xbox and PS3, I would say it is absolutely fucking essential. No half assing it. No doing it then taking it out. Absolute, 100% backwards compatibility or you simply don't get my money next gen. Simple as that.

If you're serious about a digital marketplace then this is pretty much how it is going to need to be.

 

[TheFightingFish]

I have a bit of a divide on this.

For home consoles, it's actually not that important. I mostly play bigger multiplayer titles on those systems and I sell / trade them in after I have finished with them. Most indie games I play on the PC, so I don't have to worry about BC with them.

However for portables this matters big time. I don't feel the need to play the newest and slickest on the go so I played a ton of GBA games on the DS and I'm playing plenty of DS games on my 3DS. Was a big point for me to have access to the DS library when picking up my 3DS.

 

[MikeE21286]

It's very important.

Absolutely this.

I expect, at least for early hardware, 1 generation of backwards compatibility

 

[Dark Octave]

Very important.

I played and fiished many PS2 games for the first time on my PS3, just as I did with many PS1 games on my PS2.

My biggest concern is that my downloaded games work with the next Xbox and Playstation.

 

[Acrylic7]

very important/

 

[Deadstar]

Extremely important. It's similar to buying pc games. If I buy the game it better work on the next operating system that comes out.

I just need my Rock Band and Singstar songs to transfer over to whatever the new games are.

 

[Alexios]

Quite important, not just for convenience but also because old systems break down, later systems playing the same games means postponing the often inevitable inability to play older games at some point as manufacturers also stop repairing them and it may not be easy or worthwhile to buy a used one. It's why I love PCs, near 100% compatibility for decades save for vast paradigm shifts like DOS to Windows that don't include DOS, though those also get worked around to a large degree thanks to fan support.

It's also important if you don't actually have the company's previous systems giving you a much larger library to choose from.

 

[statham]

very important, when new systems launch, gamestop (like they are doing now with the Vita) will give you 30% trade in bonus on systems/games you trade in towards one. I could trade in my current system and shave a hundred dollars off the system and still play all my current and future games that launch on future 360/720 or ps3/ps4. I expect we will still have major releases on current gen consoles going into 2014. And then all the cheap games you missed out on for one reason or another on current gen systems you could buy for dollars in a few years.

 

[AgentP]

Very. Would I buy one without or limited? Yes, but having the ability to play all my DD and disc games from the previous gen is really nice. I like that the Vita plays PSP games.

 

[Neuromancer]

It's a nice bonus but I don't expect it and its certainly not a deal breaker.

 

[Shalashaska161]

Not very important at all. It's certainly nice, but I keep all my older consoles and I can still hook them up at any time. Plus there isn't a lot of stuff from this gen that I actually would want to replay again.

Required: Digital
Recommended:discs

Would you mind explaining the logic behind this? Why is it ok for your disks to not be compatible, but not your digital stuff? If anything you'd think it would be the other way around, as chances are the amount of money spent on disk games would be far more than the amount spent on XBLA or whatever.

 

[we.are.the.armada]

Very. It's quite convenient when considering the logistics of your entertainment space and it's nice when the system upscales and/or allows for different filters, etc. I personally like using the current gen wireless controllers over the previous gen wired ones.

 

[Ranger X]

Well, seeing my backlog and how new consoles don't last, I sure hope the next ones will be backward compatible.

 

[stuminus3]

I got branded because I was so mad at this subject one day.

 

[sajj316]

Extremely important. I want all my games to play on the new console.

 

[Icelight]

If they uprender or apply new graphical features (like more AA or something) then I'd care tremendously.

Otherwise, I don't really care all that much.

Although I suppose I might care a little more than normal this time around, as this will probably be the first gen where we won't see reasonable quality emulators for a very, very long time.

 

[KingK]

I can say this: If they aren't backwards compatible it will set my purchase of either PS4/Xbox720 back 2 or 3 years.

Exactly. I'm not in any rush to buy new consoles in the first place. There's still tons of games from this gen that I haven't gotten around to yet.

 

[Bioloff]

For my XBLA/PSN games: Very. Retail would be nice too.

Yeah, this. They better not screw us over when it comes to the games we already bought and can only literally use on one console like that.

I enjoy BC, just for the convenience of not having 10+ consoles hooked up to my TV, and the upscaling is usually pretty cool (PS1 and PS2 games look really good on the PS3 and my HD TV)

 

[Imbarkus]

How does it work for Ipads? If you have an Ipad 2 will you be able to bring all your apps to your Ipad3? Regardless it's pretty important I guess even if not many people use it. It's a good marketing arguement to say your device already has hundreds of games available for it.

The new iPads always seem to play the old games, for now. It's the new games that are starting to stutter and have problems on the iPad 1.

You know, on PC everything was backwards compatible, until OS's evolved far enough to break stuff. But then there is a whole effort of fanpatching, digital services like GOG and Steam, and DOSBox emulators etc to make sure these games can still play. As long as consoles continue to get more and more like PCs in terms of their price and long-term survivability, backwards compatibility will get more important. The way original 360's and BC PS3's fail, who wants to count on having a working one in 10 years? Not me.

That said, I have my concerns about Apple, having been a guy with Mac apps under the old "classic" OS that got abandoned, as well as now having apps that need Rosetta to work, which they have abandoned. I can see iOS doing the same thing eventually, yet every iOS app has patching built in like Steam does for PC.

 

[H_Prestige]

I wouldn't have bought my ps3 back in 2007 if it couldn't play ps2 games. Because it did, I felt very comfortable buying it, despite the $500 price. It just seemed like a natural upgrade over the ps2 instead of something completely different.

 

[Atomski]

As someone who mainly plays pc.. I don't worry much about it.

 

[theRizzle]

For me, it's really important. I have a TON of XBLA games, and I wouldn't be very happy if I had to just leave those behind.

 

[XenoRaven]

One of the biggest things I look for in a console. For me it's the difference between getting a console at launch or if I wait for it to drop to $199.

 

[Imbarkus]

I wouldn't have bought my ps3 back in 2007 if it couldn't play ps2 games. Because it did, I felt very comfortable buying it, despite the $500 price. It just seemed like a natural upgrade over the ps2 instead of something completely different.

Me too though I was a bit late and have the 80GB assy BC model. And they never worked to improve on it, except for now when they want to double-sell me my old games in new, leased digital asset form. Such bullshit.

 

[antipod]

While it would be a welcome addition it's nothing cruicial for me to buy it. There are very few older games I play today and if I'd want to do it I could always bring out the older console from the closet. I rather they kept the console as cheap as possible.

But, what would be the ultimate solution for me is that the console came with an expansion port where you could fit a small module that gave backwards compatibility. For a small cost those that really want it could add it.

That is, if they can't do it in software.

 

[Dipswitch]

Medium importance I suppose. Primarily because I don't think my PS3 and 360 are going to last too much longer. Aside from that, I'm largely going to be focused on playing new content on the next gen machines.

 

[polyh3dron]

It's very important.

This. I'll most likely still have a substantial backlog once the new console comes out and I can only hook up so many things to my system. If I need to switch out my consoles in order to play my older games it would definitely deter me from doing so.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

If it weren't for the OG PS3's BC I wouldn't have had any titles that I liked to play for a long while. How many people here have bought their PS3 or 360 at launch and didn't use the backwards compatibility in the first year. If you bought the console a year or after then you had stuff to play as the game libraries of the consoles grew. But when you are in the first year there are few titles to play and BC is a blessing. Halo 2 was the top played live title till Gears of War for a reason. People like to play through B/C