Microsoft: Xbox One backwards compatibility poses number of challenges and opportunities
Microsoft says Xbox One backwards compatibility poses a number of challenges and opportunities.
According to Microsoft, its priority is first party titles for backwards compatibility.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has shared new details about the Xbox One’s highly anticipated backwards compatibility feature in a series of Twitter updates.
The tweets managed to answer a multiple fan questions about the new feature, such as what kind of titles we should expect and how the 360 emulation is being implemented into the Xbox One.
“Racing is the most difficult, some have licensing issues (songs, logos etc) but we can to support BC [Backwards Compatibility] completely,” said Spencer.
“Just met with the BC team yesterday. Discussed DLC, saved games and more games etc. Team is still buzzing from E3″, Spender added.
The prospect of making past DLC and save files available is an exciting and convenient idea for those with large 360 collections. We just need to be assured that there will be a steady stream of older games coming to the system.
Related: Xbox One backwards compatibility guide
Further tweets discussed the emulation of popular first party titles, which, as you’d would expect are eagerly awaited by many.
“We’ll announce more games later but first party will be a big participant in BC so great assumption that it will be supported”, said Spencer.
Phil Spencer made it clear that making the feature available for preview members was more about “getting the emulation right” than providing a large portfolio of games.
This should provide Microsoft with the feedback they need to fine tune the feature prior to launching this winter, but the range of games we will have access to is still unclear.
Titles must be approved by publishers before they can be directly emulated or downloaded to the system (digitally or via disc).
Early performance tests by Digital Foundry for Mass Effect, N++ and Perfect Dark Zero showed that these games were playable, but presented evident performance problems on the Xbox One.
Backwards Compatibility for Xbox One will be available later this year, although no specific date has been announced as of yet.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
