Why dosnt the xbox 360 play all the xbox games?

Answer 1

Basically, the 360 hardware and XBX hardware are completely different, so it's impossible for the 360 to play XBX games without a software emulator. Unlike the PS2 and PS3, which has hardware built in for backward compatibility, the 360 must rely on software emulation for it to play XBX games. So, if there's no software emu for the game, it can't be played on the 360. Every time a new game is added to the list, we have to download the latest patch in order for the 360 to play it.

Answer 2

The Xbox360 is a different hardware platform than the Xbox. Different architecture, processor, everything. As a result, it needs to have an emulator, or translation layer, built to run old games. This is easier to do for some than for others. The more popular the game, the more likely it will have an emulator built... but the harder the emulator the less likely they will succeed.

kind of like why a Linux machine won't run Windows programs natively. You can run a lot of things under WINE, but not everything will run that way. It is a matter of how much demand there is to make it work, and how much effort can be put in to making it happen.

Answer 3

because for each game that they make able to play on the 360 they have to create a new software update. So eventualy most of the games will work, but untill then life sucks for people with a crp load of old games

Answer 4

beacuse of the disc drive and the like, they can make all the games work if they wanted but not everone feels like updatein there stuff to allow it to work

Answer 5

you could have a defective system or a messed up disk

Answer 6

your best source for the whole explaination:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games_compatible_with_Xbox_360