The Witcher 2 Xbox One Backward Compatibility Frame-Rate Test

Digital Foundry:
The latest top-tier Xbox 360 game to run on Xbox One - but just how well does one of the old system's most challenging games run on Microsoft's latest console?

[Sonyslave3]

Dang it like every xbox one game is getting frame testing left and right lol.

[YinYangGaming]

Didn't see every PS now game get out under the microscope like this by DF, they need to ease off

[Sonyslave3]

I know right

[FamilyGuy]

PS Now games are streamed, they run exactly as they did on the PS3 with the exception of slight input-lag based on your internet connection setup. Frame-rate test would be pointless.

Those PS2 games they've been remastering would be the only comparison but that's not truly "backward compatibility" like the 360 games on X1.

[uth11]

Because PS Now is not going to have frame drops unless the user has a bad connection

They do test the ps2 games on ps4 though

[Shiken]

@Familyguy

You do know that PS2 games on PS4 and X1 BC are almost the same thing right? When you put in your 360 game it downloads the emulated version to your X1 and it plays off the hard drive. The disc is only used to confirm you own the game before playing it.

So in reality they are the exact same and neither one is "true" BC. In theory Sony could do the same thing with PS2 games, they just choose not to.

[q8kik]

BS
They do even niche titles like Gravity Rush remastered on the PS4.

[Bahamut]

Why do they need to ease off? It's good to know what you're getting into. I don't see what the big deal is, whether the framerate is good or bad, it's good to know.

[skratchy]

Even in an Xbox article you guys bitch about the PS4. Give it up, man. Not even related.

[Army_of_Darkness]

@yinyang

Ease off?? Lol! You worried that MS's amazing bc will disappoint cause of bad frame rate findings?? You should be glad they're doing the testing for you so you know what to expect rather than hoping all goes well when you play it.

[Locknuts]

Wouldn't make sense. They should do latency tests for PSnow games.

[Kingthrash360]

Ease off? Why? It's just deep information about the games...man. if it isn't a good port then this will let you know. No Matter THE Console At Least THEY Take THE Time To Do this for us. Reviews don't even go this far. Smh...."ease off"..just because it's a Xbox game. Ridiculous.

[MasterCornholio]

Its not an Xbox One game. Its a 360 game that's emulated on the X1.

As for every X1 game getting tested well the same happens on the PS4. You really can't blame digital foundary since its their job to analyze games.

[TheCommentator]

Also, the XB1 wasn't even supposed to be able to play 360 games due to architecture and power limitations. I doubt the same would hold true of PS2 emulation on PS4, so I would expect nothing less than perfect performance from PS2 emulation.

[MasterCornholio]

@Commentator

"I doubt the same would hold true of PS2 emulation on PS4, so I would expect nothing less than perfect performance from PS2 emulation."

Let me put it this way. Software emulation isn't perfect which is why there might be some issues with games running through emulation. In the XB1s case the majority of emulated 360 games run great on it. However every once in a while there's a game with less than adequate performance. That's the reason why I don't see a problem with these types of analysis. For someone who already owns the game it won't matter much but for somebody who's looking forward to buying a 360 game for their X1 it does.

[ChuckTheIceMan]

I don't have a problem with testing a completely free system. Haters gonna hate no matter what.

[phallusitator]

What's completely free? The X1 BC? Don't you still have to buy the game if you didn't already buy it?

[KiwiViper85]

This game is free right now, but your point stands for all other games.

[JasonKCK]

phallusitator that is possibly the most desperate defense you could possibly use. You have to buy every game if you didn't own it before. If you do happen to own the games BC is "FREE" there's no way to spin that into a negative. It's not a pay only option found on other consoles.

[ChuckTheIceMan]

@phallusitator yes you need to own the game, they aren't giving away free games, other than the fact that every games with gold xbox 360 release going forward is backwards compat. But the backwards compat is free. Unlike sony where you have to pay for the game even if it's on your shelf at home.

[magiciandude]

Well at least this time they didn't push the button on their equipment to drop the Xbox One recording FPS down to 0 like they did multiple times on their Fallout 4 comparison video.

Looks like this game performs slightly better on Xbox One than on the 360 in some areas, and Xbox 360 better than Xbox One in others. All in all, it's great on both consoles. I'm so going to play it on Xbox One soon. Loving the Xbox 360 backward compatibility!

[killer_goat]

"Well at least this time they didn't push the button on their equipment to drop the Xbox One recording FPS down to 0 like they did multiple times on their Fallout 4 comparison video"

Really kid? You believe that? Lol

[ThePope]

I cant comment as to whether or not that is true but I have watched a few DF videos that show frame drops on the X1 and not on the PS4. The issue is that the graph at the bottom of both shows the same dips but the frame counter doesn't change on the PS4 version. Maybe the graph means nothing I don't know but it was pretty weird.

[Bigpappy]

Looks to be an excellent emulation. I have already played it to the max and am not inclined to go through it again. But for those who have played or completed it, it looks to play exactly as it did on 360, which is a good achievement.

[DarkOcelet]

The game still looks beautiful even by today's standards.

[ErogeMaster]

You mean on PC master race side of things.

[Paytaa]

Nope he means The Witcher 2 not some gaming cult

[kraenk12]

It's still hard for me to grasp some idiots actually use a Nazi description to elevate themselves.

[nogoodusernamesleft]

i am starting playing my free copy i got from ms. it blows my mind how good this game looks and how fun it is!!!!! every xbox one and xbox 360 owner should grab this game for free while they can

[shinrock]

My days on this site are coming to a close.

[T1ttyMunch3r]

I dont even think anybody even discussed ps2 emulation frame rate. Its always xbox getting these kinds of articles

[Wallstreet37]

Thats a lie, there have been several articles showing differences between ps2 games and emulation on ps4.

As for the ppl that say PS Now didnt have articles lol, Stop reaching and trying to force a bs conspiracy theory agenda. There were literally dozens of articles in regards to that service on this site and all over the web.

Funny thing is, if anything DF this gen has been real sympathetic to Microsoft, trying to downplay big differences between better PS4 multiplats over Xbone. Ppl your "DF is biased towards Microsoft" innuendos is funny. Last gen one blade of extra grass on Xbox 360 version over Ps3 and it was a full DF blowout of how much better 360 version is lol. Fast forward, higher rez games, most games better with performance and sometimes more things on PS4 version and its "but if you have more friends on live, then you might want to go with Xbone or The resolution is higher on PS4 but....." 😂 😂

Phuckinyernan.....

Yeah bcus i get butthurt over inanimate objects lol sounds like you took my comment personal, so whos really butthurt? Dont spew false info than you wont get corrected. I like assasinating fraudelent posters on here. Lame much?

[T1ttyMunch3r]

Butthurt?

[T1ttyMunch3r]

You are one of those fanboys who writes paragraphs all day trying to defend thier console of choice with bs facts. "Oh look! xbox one version has 1 less grass! i should write a paragraph to explain how much better the ps4 version is!"

[Wallstreet37]

No im one that corrects lying trolls with agendas. Your comment was so full of "oh why are they analyzing the system i worship, let me lie to make a frivilous point" i had to comment.

Sorry if i poked holes in your bs comment.

Seems like the one defending and trying to make Xbone a victim is you :) Good try though.

[DigitalRaptor]

@ phuckinyernan

None of what you responded with there disproves Wallstreet37 in any manner, particularly not logic. This video, you obviously didn't even watch because it's not negative, and so insecure that you are you feel the need to make this about bias, despite the video not containing any negatives but plenty of positives.

[Condemnedman]

Lol not doubting what you say I can't be bothered to read it all but it seems a little angry.

[Wallstreet37]

condemnmedman...

Im pretty sure you read it all but even if you didnt great response (yeah im so angry inside :))

[butchertroll]

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas says : HI!

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

[sullynathan]

the game had a good 360 port so I'm expecting it to run well on Xbox one.

[conanlifts]

It's pretty good so far. I'm about 5 hours into it. There are pop up textures and very occasional frame rate slow downs, but I don't know whether this is the same as the 360 version anyway. Good game though, although difficult playing witcher 2 after playing so many hours of witcher 3. Still a good game regardless.

[Khaotic]

Im not watching this bs video but i am curious if it runs well

[MCTJim]

It runs quite well according to the video they have and I can say from experience it runs quite well.

[Khaotic]

Thank you, i was hoping to here from someones experience. The withcher 3 is the only one i have played so i will get this one as well

[conanlifts]

I am about 5 hours or just over 20% of the way through the game. It's very playable. There are a few texture pop ups and very occasional frame rate slow downs. These might be comparable to playing it on the 360, I really can't tell if it's different. It's a good game. I did one Occassion have to load a previous save during the Kyran fight. The game wouldn't load my save and got stuck on a black screen, now i just manually save on a regular basis to be sure.

The hardest thing is going from the witcher 3 to witcher 2. It seems like they fixed everything regarding controls and interface that was off in witcher 2 when they made no 3. But I'm still enjoying it. Oh and it's worth it as it explains the missed aspects of the story that we saw in 3.

[Khaotic]

Thanks for the ifo I appreciate it

[cfc83]

Least there's a 360 version to test. Very good game. How do i get code if i find disc ?

[lastking95]

You don't, you simply put the disk in and play.

[cfc83]

Thanks. I'll have a look.

[FamilyGuy]

I'm pretty jealous of this form of emulation, Sony's gotten so greedy with all these remasters, they'll probably never attempt true backward compatibility again. It's a shame really :/

I'd love to be able to just pop old disc in whenever I felt nostalgic, no matter how rare that feeling may be, the option itself is just nice.

[Kribwalker]

It's totally free right now for anyone with gold

[Rookie_Monster]

Yup....and also, for those that have already have it when it was free last year as well. Just check and mine automatically just showed up for me to download.
http://i1376.photobucket.co...

this is the way emulation BC should be done and MS got it right. So convenient and so much way to play games you have already owned and in this case, Free for gamers with GwG as well.

[cfc83]

Nice one. I think i'll do another w2 walkthrough at some point. I've not even played the 1st w3 dlc yet for some odd reason. I got through w3 quite quickly, and i really liked the game. I dunno why. Seems like i was exhausted by the game without feeling exhausted in any way. I remeber finishing it and thinking it ended too abruptly. No spoilers obviously.

[Condemnedman]

I think it's free to download right now for a short while, well it is in the UK.

[peshkavusCA]

It's so easy to get off the jealous state.. Buy an Xbox One!

[killer_goat]

Who's jealous?

[peshkavusCA]

people who dislike my above comment ;)

[Tankbusta40]

Frame rates aside... Is this game worth playing? Never had a 360 so missed it. Enjoyed Witcher 3 but I read this was much more linear and much smaller maps.

Thanks in advance

[conanlifts]

I replied to khaotic above, but in short yes. If you want to see the story that the witcher 3 mentions it's worth it.

[Bladesfist]

Witcher 2 was awesome. I liked it more that the Witcher 3 but it might have been because it was the first game I played.

[Tankbusta40]

Thanks Blades and sd11...I finished the prologue and parts of the first act.

I enjoy it more than 3 already...too bad Foltest died he was awesome

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Don't forget the game is free til the 5th I believe.

[no_ripley]

console graphics ... it's like watching the History channel :)

[megatron00733]

XONE == A LOW END PC

[Orionsangel]

That's just not true. Anything the PS4 can run the Xbox One can run. I own both consoles btw.

[killer_goat]

He didn't mention ps4

[Orionsangel]

That's what the person was implying. It was a fanboy statement. A jab at Xbox One.

[Death]

Let's be honest, the Xbox One and PS4 are closer to a mid range gaming PC. That's pretty impressive when the cost of a console is much less than a higher end PC GPU alone.

[shabz666]

I like backwards compatibility. But that frame rate situation on Xbox one isn't great. Especially when 360 games didn't drop frames. There's some issue with vsync on their emulation software. Idk. Hard to be mad about witcher 2. Since it's free now.

[Orionsangel]

I've been weary of this whole emulated 360 games on Xbox One from the start. It seems desperate on Microsoft's part and a bit halfassed.

[Death]

You should probably try it before commenting on it. B/C has worked very well for those of us using it. It's a free feature that includes free games like this. If you can twist this into a negative, chances are you are seeing what you want to see and not what it actually there. To me that sounds desperate.

[Orionsangel]

I have because I own an Xbox One and 360 games. I'm not saying that all the games don't work well. Some do, but I'm also seeing slow down in many titles like Gears 2,Gears Judgement, Halo Reach to name a few. I'm not the only one saying this either...

http://www.theverge.com/201...

[christocolus]

Did u even watch the video before posting that? The game runs quite well on the xbox one. Maintains a steady 30fps most of the time and besides the guy above is correct. Why not try it out before calling the service desperate and halfassed? MS have done a terrific job getting 360 titles to run on xbox one and the games you mentioned can easily be patched to improve performance. They just released a patch for Halo reach and I'm sure they'll do same for the other few titles with performance issues.

[Orionsangel]

I did try and for me it had issues and all 30 of my friends. You're wrong Chris.