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Xbox Originals won't have Achievements

Larry Hryb addresses speculation around the issue, says it's 'just not possible.'

189 Comments

Original Xbox games, including Fable, Halo, and Burnout: Takedown, will be coming to the Xbox 360 as downloadable content in time for Xbox Live's five-year anniversary. Many people may have wondered whether the games will feature any kind of enhancements for the 360 console; for instance, Achievements and Gamer Scores. Xbox Live group marketing manager Aaron Greenberg stopped just short of saying they wouldn't be included in a Q&A earlier this week, but whatever faint hope 360 owners might have had is now gone.

Today, the director of programming for Xbox Live, Larry Hryb, has answered that question on his Major Nelson blog without any shadow of a doubt--no, they won't.

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

Hryb added that the decision had also been made to maintain the integrity of the games and bring them to the 360 with the same features that they had at the time of their initial release.

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jk80

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what are the reasons that it's not possible? surely it's possible

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metal_gear269

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So, wait, for $15 dollars we get a large, poorly emulated, bonus-less downloadable game that could be bought in a game store for 1/3 of the price?\? You've got to be kidding me.

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bacchus2

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As someone else said, why is this even an article? It was noted in the Q&A that they wouldn't have achievements. Adding achievements to these games impossible? No. Impractical? Definitely. Xbox 360 games are built from the ground up to have integration with achievement points and all the other bells and whistles. Games would need to be reprogrammed, and I think this is much more work than many people here realise. Sure, conversions of older games released in the arcade have achievement points. They are also a lot simpler in terms of game design. For those saying "Microsoft, I would have bought this product if you had added achievement points"; would you still be saying the same if these games were 1600, 2000, or more points because of all the extra work that went into giving them achievements? 1200 points for last generation games that I don't have to leave my house to buy? Yes please.

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eric1320

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Pete5506

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I can live with that

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danleeah

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Achievements are just fun to shoot for. I don't use them as bragging rights. It really boosts up the replay value. All the achievement whores miss the whole point of it.

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foolwestcoast33

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if they just keep the games the same and dont update them than why not spend 10 dollars? and save five?

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PixyMisao

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Since when is bragging rights more important than gameplay? Oh right, since Xbox Live came out. Enjoy your bragging rights... and being single and living in your parents basement for a dozen years longer than you should.

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7-ate-9

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PS. an achievement whore in denial.

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7-ate-9

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it's been interesting to see how important 360 owners feel achievements have become to their gaming experience. But really now, what are achievements but a measure of how much time you spent playing games and performing repetative tasks for valueless points. Anyone ever heard of classical conditioning?

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jknight5422

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What? )(@#$*)(#%...and furthermore, )(#*$@#$*@)#*$!!! They better be free then, I have no incentive to play them. Can't I just go get the old Xbox version & play that? It's way cheaper.

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Vincent9mm

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I think the main thing about the achievements is that it keeps track of all your progress in games and gives you a profile letting you and everyone else know what you've done. I know its a little shallow not to play something cause it doesn't have achievements, however if I can't keep track and let everyone else know how i'm doing on the games I play, really it almost doesn't seem to matter.

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Fauij

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if they add achievements, they pretty much have to actually reprogram the game

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DrCLos

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Not a big deal as achievements are not the main reason we play games. At least I would hope not.

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kickyourq

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You could buy these games really good old games at circuit city for about 8 bucks.

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zsciaeount

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I think this is a missed opportunity... one of the reasons I do most of my gaming on the 360 is that I want achievements. Whenever I stray to check out games on the Wii or PS3, I can't help but feel that I'm shutting myself out of more achievements. This basically ensures that I won't be downloading these games.

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Taegre

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Just as long as we can still play custom soundtracks via dashboard, I'm hyped. Otherwise, I'm just excited.

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m1lkshakes

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aww... acheivments were the whole reason I wanted to buy Fable and Halo again.

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IKKF

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Anything's possible if you just believe.

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AZisBack

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Although I understand the are not going to do it they should have tried. Microsoft would have made a lot of sale on achievement whores.

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Kraige

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Oh well will still be getting some of the greats like Halo and KotOR, but not some I was planning on getting like ones I've beat many times through diffrent versions so was just getting for achoevments.

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dorohala

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Sounds crap to me LOL!!!

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xKrayZee

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Games on the original Xbox was never mean't to develop achievement points, obvious enough that it isn't in the game's code. And anybody who tends to not buy these games, at least you have $5 off of a game that has been priced drop down to $20 today. Microsoft suggested developers that every Xbox 360 game to have achievements, and they never intended any achievements for the original Xbox games unless the game was ported (That's right, not backward compatible) such as Burnout Revenge to the Xbox 360 and/or becoming part of the Arcade. Deal with it, Microsoft can't force the developers to modify their published games with achievements that would useless used on the original Xbox. Neither modify the game their way without permission even if it's a first party game. That is my two cents.

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WarGameJunkie

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This rates an entire article? Yeah, achievements are great, and Microsoft already said they weren't asking the original developers to "go under the hood" of their games for this release. Who is it that puts the achievements in the games in the first place? The developers! I simply can't believe anybody had any "confusion" on this. The only way these games get achievements is if the developers go back in and add the code to do it. Which means, instead of seeing them in December, we'd probably see them in June for a lot more money because of the expense of fixing them.

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korpdawg

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Do you seriously base your decision on buying these games on whether or not they have achievements??? Wow, you must really like them. ("You" is non-specific)

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MrOrmond

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Ouch... Something tells me Psyconauts will be ignored... again. No matter, all I want to do is play some of the last generation games I missed out on. Achievements were the last thing on my mind with this program.

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Vincent9mm

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Awww... I was going to buy a few of these games too... Oh well, that money will go towards more games with Achievements.

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jfh1981

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Oh Microsoft... I love you and hate you at the same time... you give us great games and online playing... though you nickel and dime us any which way you can and we get very little in return. With these original Xbox game downloads taking up at least 2GB of space or more, were forced to buy your $180 or so 120GB HDD. And paying $15.00 for a game I can get for $5 to $10.... You'd think we'd at least get achievements...... Oh wait that's right quote "Hryb added that the decision had also been made to maintain the integrity of the games.." I forgot that sloppy emulation was one of the quote "same features that they had at the time of their initial release."

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Franchise2k6

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if they came with achievements, these games will sell more imo. MS would make a lot of money if achievements were added to these classic. I guess MS doesnt need any more money

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JangoWuzHere

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I see no reason why its not possible:(

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Wezker619

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Hey I want achievements. Its going to be on Marketplace. It better have online mode on the orginal halo.

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Thrall-3-20

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Thats to bad. I woulda bought some of them if they came with Achivements, even if I already own them. Oh well. I'll just wait till Republic Camando comes out. That was an awesome game. ANYWHO back to Assassins Creed for me. Awesome game btw.

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RolandReeve

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Achievements = $$$ for M$ Dont you want $$$ M$?!~!!!!!~@!~@@~!@~!@~!~@!~!@@!~~!@@!~

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x-2tha-z

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I already own most of these games. I would've bought them again if they added achievements. They can add achievements to Double Dragon and Street Fighter 2 but not Burnout 3? This whole thing just smells like a lazy cash-in. I won't be buying any of them.

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DeltaSpirit

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It would have annoyed me a bit if it did because i own almost all those games already and i wished they'd put online multiplayer for halo

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7-ate-9

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It seems like a poorly thought out plan to me, why would I want to fill up my already limited 20gb hard drive space and pay more money for a downloadable game with no resale value, no new features, no transportability and "minor errors". When I can buy the original disc online for a fraction of the price? Gamers are smarter than this. Wise up.

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jessefromh-town

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Interesting. Achievement point would have swade alot of people into buying at least Halo, including myself but since there is no achievements, I'm not getting it. I guess if it's not possible, I'm not really mad about it.

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F-E-A-R13

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Microsoft got no ideas to come up with. while Sony still has plenty of ideas to come.

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drinkb0x

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Don't like it? Don't buy them. You people are really hyper-sensitive.

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Raizo138

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WTF, Fable and Halo already work on 360, and if u dont own them, buy them used 4 hella cheaper!

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Naganox777

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I knew this would happen. The Xbox originals would've had maybe 200 gamerscore like XBLA games, since they are full download games.

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z3dd1cu5

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umm who on earth would expect otherwise?

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emorule

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Get lost microsoft, your ripping people off!

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rose_please

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I was never looking forward to achievements for O.X games anyways, my eyes are on fable!!

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Cube_of_MooN

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Too bad...

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Amadpineapple

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Im not going to pay for psychonauts now. Ill buy Fable because i havent played it in 3 years and my disk is scratched But if i can just go back and pop my psychonauts disc in theres no reason to download it for 15 bucks Sorry Tim Schafer, I cant support this one

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RgvXavi

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there is a reason they are calling them "Xbox Originals": they didn't have achievements on the orignal Box. if you want achievements play any/all of the 360 games as they were built for achievements. All MS/Live doing for the rehashes is probably sweetening up the graphics, if even that much is being done. want achievements in fable? Wait until Fable 2 is released. Or better yet pick up Oblivion(and both Expansion Packs) and TRY to get all the achievements. Wanting to earn achievements in the original Burnout? Pick up Burnout: Revenge, get the achievements and then upload some wicked cool photos/vids. This should not be a big deal ya'll. Sure it would have been nice to add some stuff but then it would be "Original" . would it?

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PrivateJessard

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I wish it had achievements. I would get all of them on Halo: Combat Evolved. I didn't even know they were making those games downloadable. I would download Halo 1 if they made new maps and stuff.

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ColdfireTrilogy

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Um its not a factor of laziness. MS did not develop the games, they DONT know the CODE and THEY CANT JUST LEARN IT OVER NIGHT. They would have to petition companies, many of whom the same people who initially developed the games, are gone. This isnt like porting and changing up a fricken SNES game with around ten thousand lines of code. Were talking about a massive freaken effort ... roughly 2 gigs for Halo .... have fun relearning all of Halo1s code and nit picks Numb-Stump .... i sure wouldnt not even if i was getting payed....

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Numb-Stump

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No achievements? Overpriced? No Live for games previously without Live? THAT ALL SUCKS! $3.34 ea. for all of the 4 games listed above at a used game store like EB Games, GameStop, of GameCrazy! What a rip-off! I would spend $10 on the Xbox Original, Halo, IF they included ACHIEVEMENTS. IF they threw Live into the mix, I WOULD be willing to pay $15. But since Microsoft is being so ****in' Lazy, why would anybody pay $15 dollars for (a) game(s) they probably already have?!?! WHERE'S THE LOVE? ... and the Achievements... come on... everybody is addicted to Achievements... who could resist buying a game they already played, beat, and own, if it had Achievements? I know I couldn't. .... Live would be nice too, but fine. Maybe they could release HALO for the PC on Xbox Originals instead. I need to go simma down now.... I've been loyal to Xbox since it came out, and I know I'm still gonna be loyal through their time of studpidity/asholedness/hoperazing. Now why can't they be loyal to their loyal fans? They say there's going its going to be a one-console world in a few years. with stunts like that, Microsoft will NOT come out on top.

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