Understanding Xbox One Backward Compatibility, Compatible 360 Titles Leaked

Xbox One Backward Compatibility is coming to millions of Xbox One units the world over next week, but more than the excitement of playing dozens of Xbox 360 games on Microsoft’s newest generation console, Xbox One players should be more eager to understand how the backward compatibility feature of Xbox One will really work.

More and more information about the Xbox One backward compatibility feature have rolled out ever since it was announced at E3 2015, and reports from official and non-officials sources have been corroborated by Inquisitr to bring some of the must-knows before the Xbox One backward compatibility feature hits units next week.

Release Information

Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, director of Xbox One programming at Microsoft, confirms to FLitz from Smosh Games this week in a video in his official YouTube channel some of the basics in understanding how the Xbox One backward compatibility feature works. Basically, it’s running Xbox 360 games on your Xbox One and having access to all the features of both consoles. Hyrb clarifies that the Xbox One backward compatibility will be free and will only be available on Xbox One consoles. The feature launches officially come November 12.

How It Works

So, what exactly can you and can you not do with the Xbox One backward compatibility feature? You can do everything you could do on your Xbox 360 and more, since you’re using the Xbox One system, too. This means that if you’ve downloaded an Xbox 360 game digitally before, you won’t have to do that again and it’s automatically synced to your Xbox One. Just pull in your Xbox 360 Gamertag and you’re good to go. Playing Xbox 360 titles using physical copies of the games have been a little vague in terms of what the Xbox One unit does to run the CD until now. If you have a physical copy of an Xbox 360 you want to play on your Xbox One via the backward compatibility feature, simply insert the disk, download the compatibility patch that will allow you to run the Xbox 360 game, and voila! Just like how you use a physical disk on your Xbox 360, you will need to insert the CD on your Xbox One every time you want to play the game.

Access To Xbox 360 Features

To put it simply, everything you can do on your Xbox 360, you can do on your Xbox One via the backward compatibility feature. If you want to continue your save file on your Xbox 360 game, Game Spot says to make sure you save to the cloud, and you can then access the load file on your Xbox One. Do you still have Achievements to complete? Fear not, because all the achievements you’ve already unlocked on the Xbox 360 are already unlocked when you continue playing on your game on the Xbox One. You can then unlock more achievements (and boast about your points).

In terms of DLCs, a previous Inquisitr article found out Microsoft’s answer on the matter.

“We will support both digital and disc-based entitlements for Xbox 360 games running on Xbox One. Right now, Backward Compatibility does not emulate the Xbox 360 store and new Xbox 360 games can be purchased on your Xbox 360 or via Xbox.com.”

This means all game add-ons and DLCs you’ve purchased and downloaded on your previous Xbox 360 unit, you will be able to access using the Xbox One backward compatibility. If you wish to download more DLCs, however, you will need to boot up your Xbox 360 and buy it from there, or via the Xbox marketplace.

And since the Xbox One backward compatibility also basically emulates the Xbox 360, multiplayer content is accessible through the feature.

Another trick Hyrb notes on the video: push down the view and menu button at the same time while playing an Xbox 360 game and you will be able to open the all-familiar Xbox 360 guide, so you have access to Xbox 360 features like party, messages, etc.

List Of Compatible Xbox 360 Games

The list of more than 100+ Xbox 360 games that will participate in the Xbox One backward compatibility feature is not yet due until November 9. However, during the demo of Hyrb in the video, we already spotted some Xbox 360 titles supported by the upcoming feature, and the list includes the following.

• A World of Keflings
• A Kingdom for Keflings
• Banjo-Kazooie
• Another World – 20th Anniversary Edition
• Battle Islands
• Castle Crashers Cabin Defenders by Microsoft Lab
• NHL 14
• Borderlands
• Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
• Mass Effect
• Just Cause 2
• Halo
• Gears of War
• Battleblock Theater
• Forza

There might be more we might have missed, so you might want to check the full video below or wait for the full Xbox 360 compatible list on the official Xbox One backward compatible website on November 9.

[Image screenshot from Major Nelson and FLitz Talk Xbox One Backward Compatibility]