360 to One: an Xbox story
Everyone with even an ounce of common sense knows that the Xbox One is the best gaming machine available at the moment, but it looks like Microsoft want to make it even more awesomer. In amongst all the announcements at E3, Microsoft confirmed that it is remedying one of the biggest problems with this generation of consoles, in fact every generation of console.
Xbox One users will soon be able to play their Xbox 360 without even having to turn the older console on!
In days of yore, with new cartridge sizes and changing formats, it was perhaps more forgivable that games on older consoles couldn’t simply be grandfathered onto the new system, but living the dream in the current digital utopia of online gaming and downloadable content, there is simply no excuse for forcing gamers to shell out more cash for the new console version of games they already own on its predecessor. It’s something Microsoft have finally realised, which is why they will now allow gamers to play their Xbox 360 games on their One…or at least some of them.
Due to start in beta on June 15 for Xbox preview members (which is invitation only apparently), it will be more widely launched in the autumn, presumably in the US but also hopefully in some other major markets like the UK.
Any owners of digital copies of the titles included in the programme will automatically see a “Ready to Install” option on the One version, but it will be slightly more complicated for users who, like me, have most of their 360 games on disc. For disc versions, the gamer simply inserts the disc into the console and it will begin to download the digital version onto the One’s hard-drive, however, even once downloaded, the game disc will still need to be in the drive to actually play the game. Whether digital or disc copy, once the One version is installed, all your previous achievements and scores are carried over.
As if that wasn’t enough, it’s gets even better – this backwards compatibility isn’t just good news for One owners. The new feature will allow gamers to play against each other online irrespective of their console. That’s right! 360 gamers now won’t be left behind if their online gmaing friends upgrade to the One, they can all join together through Xbox Live to get their online gaming jollies.
The list of available games is hardly spectacular, and in fact, I have none of them, but it’s a start and it will hopefully grow as the beta progresses with some more mainstreams/bigger franchise games being added to the mix.
Source: Microsoft Xbox Image source: Microsoft
