Xbox One Consoles Ready to Play Xbox 360 Games by the Holidays
Microsoft announced it will be reprogramming Xbox One consoles with backwards compatibility enabling them to play Xbox 360 games by the end of the year.
Microsoft revealed information during their E3 press conference it will be installing full backwards compatibility on Xbox One consoles to play Xbox 360 games by the holiday season.
According to Xbox Head, Phil Spencer, Microsoft will be inviting select Xbox One owners to take part in beta testing for early access to backwards compatibility on the multinational technology company's home console.
Xbox One owners will soon be able to play old Xbox 360 titles on their current gen consoles, whether using old retail discs or games acquired via digital download.
In the press conference, Microsoft stressed they won't be charging Xbox One console owners to play Xbox 360 titles they already own, Cinemablend writes.
According to Spencer, console owners have been asking for backwards compatibility for quite some time, a request which proved difficult to accomplish with Microsoft attempting to mesh Xbox One's x86 architecture with Xbox 360's PowerPC.
However, it persevered in moving forward, and at one point presented gamers with an emulation solution which wasn't as successful as expected.
While Microsoft hasn't gone into detail about the process involved in the technology behind the compatibility, the company did mention it will now be easier for publishers and developers to enable backwards compatibility on Xbox One consoles.
There will be 22 basic titles initially available for the beta testing preview members, and Microsoft has promised it will provide over 100 more titles in the fall, with hundreds more expected to be added in the next few months.
The Redmond, Washington-based company has also announced its plan to release a new dashboard update with a new design and Cortana integration for Xbox One consoles towards the end of the year.