All good things must come to an end, and if you've been one of the many Xbox 360 owners who has been enjoying the somewhat small line-up of Original Xbox games that Microsoft has made available on their downloadable service, that time draws near. Reports are coming in that the company has "finished" its portfolio of titles from their original console, and will be replacing the service with its recently-announced downloadable full retail Xbox 360 games. As the original Xbox console ceased production to make way for its successor, so will its line-up of software to make way for its successor's software.
While many may mark this transition as part of the evolutionary process/transition from retail-to-download delivery systems, given Sony's recent admission that not all of their back catalog of PSP software may be compatible with the next iteration of the hardware, it does give pause to just what the consumer sacrifices in the way of progress. The Xbox 360 console was not 100% backwards compatible with Original Xbox software, and Sony has already demonstrated they were willing to break console generation connections when they removed the feature from current models of the PlayStation 3 hardware.
Will full digital-distribution mean the end of building libraries of software that can be played indefinitely? As all major publishers consider this relationship between hardware and software compatibility, it may behoove others to consider the implications. Nintendo's DSi hardware - which removed its Gameboy Advance slot - also removed some titles and accessories from playing, while the PSP-Go model indicates that console manufacturers may not consider the consumer's initital investment in software a priority. Perhaps this may cause the consumer to reconsider that investment at all.
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