How to Play Xbox Games on an XBox 360

Consider this a public service announcement post, since I had some issues with getting my copy of Halo 2 to work, even after doing research online. I have an Xbox 360 E, and they require an internal drive to make original Xbox games compatible. However, the internal drive must be an official Microsoft hard drive, not an off brand.

I had bought a generic one which worked well for storage purposes, but the 360 had an issue with using it as memory for actually running Halo 2. I had bought a hard drive since I had assumed the brand didn’t matter. I kept getting a “you should try to download this game again” error message, even though the game was a disc. The off-brand internal drives look exactly like the Microsoft versions, except the Microsoft version have an “Xbox 360” imprint on one of the sides, like this one. The memory amount didn’t seem to be relevant. Here’s a side by side comparison.

I have the version of Xbox 360 with the corner slot for an internal drive. There’s another version where it kind of attaches to the top of the console. There are Microsoft and generic versions of this kind as well, so I assume you’ll have issues playing Xbox games on the the 360 with these as well.

Not sure why Microsoft/Bungie didn’t release a solid remake of Halo 2 for the 360, and not just Xbox One. They redid the original Halo for the 360, so it makes sense to do the follow up. I’m sure there’s a good reason to be discovered if I did some research.

Anyways, just for eye candy, here’s two videos comparing original vs. remastered gameplay and cinematic cutscenes for Halo 2. I remember getting Halo 2 when it first came out (I even did the “midnight line at Gamestop” thing), and I thought it was the most advanced thing ever. It was, for the time, but the visual difference is pretty astounding.


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