4 ms·

Yes they did :). This was their most recent announcement [1]. It is currently available only for the preview members but when it is finally released, it will be

by nivla 11y ago

Yes they did :). This was their most recent announcement [1]. It is currently available only for the preview members but when it is finally released, it will be available to everyone for free as an update. The idea is to emulate 360's architecture in XOne and let users play not only their digital but also their disc based games. [1] https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/639636383368376320 https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/639636383368376320

jomtung 11y ago
I have the preview and they are still porting a majority of the games over. Only a select few 360 games can be played on the Xbox one.
- adamrezich 11y ago
  It's not that they're porting over games individually, it's that they have to get express permission from the publisher of each individual game. Something about the terms of the contract between the publishers and Microsoft being such that a user is only able to play the game on that specific platform (Xbox 360) unless the publisher says otherwise. One could somewhat cynically look at this and say that this is because publishers love to rerelease games for the new platforms; already we've seen a bunch of rereleases and "HD Editions" (even though last generation was also HD) for the PS4 and Xbox One.
  - dogma1138 11y ago
    Hmm sorry but they are porting games, once you insert the disk your Xbox One will download a huge chunk of data of the internet were talking 5GB+ for each game. Microsoft also isn't hiding it: "The digital titles that you own and are part of the Back Compat game catalog will automatically show up in the “Ready to Install” section on your Xbox One. For disc-based games that are a part of the Back Compat game catalog, simply insert the disc and the console will begin downloading the game to your hard drive. After the game has finished downloading, you will still need to keep the game disc in the drive to play." http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/backward-compatibility http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/backward-compatibility Sure they might be downloading the 360 version and then doing the emulation but it's much much more likely that they've actually simply ported the game.
    - voltagex_ 11y ago
      If they have ported the game they've also ported a large part of the 360 dashboard - chat and the guide button look pretty much identical. The early info coming out around E3 seemed to suggest full system emulation.
      - dogma1138 11y ago
        Why then do you have to download every game even if you have the disk?
        jayrox 11y ago
        Because it comes with the emulator, compatibility modules and anything else specifically the game may need to be able to run in the emulator.
        dogma1138 11y ago
        That's weird because the 360 emulation played it from the disk just fine ;) It downloads the entire game for each disk game you put in, seems to me that the could've found a more efficient way to actually do that since you know both the 360 and the XboxOne support installing games from disk so they got the ability to create a disk image. If all they needed to download is an emulator and a compatibility config file that would've been a much smaller download package..
    - jayrox 11y ago
      they are not porting. microsoft has explicitly said they are emulating. "We have to do packaging and validation work on each title to make it available through Xbox One backward compatibility," explains a Microsoft spokesperson. Xbox One Backward Compatibility is an Xbox 360 emulator that runs on Xbox One and is used to play Xbox 360 games," says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/15/8785955/microsoft-xbox-one-xbox-360-emulator-software http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/15/8785955/microsoft-xbox-one...
  - bitmapbrother 11y ago
    This is incorrect. Although, they do need to get permission from the original publisher, they are porting the games. How can you tell? Just have a look at the filename of the file downloaded. It has x64 attached to it.
    - jayrox 11y ago
      this is incorrect. according to microsoft they are running emulation. Behind the scenes, Microsoft has built a full Xbox 360 emulator for its Xbox One console. "Xbox One Backward Compatibility is an Xbox 360 emulator that runs on Xbox One and is used to play Xbox 360 games," says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/15/8785955/microsoft-xbox-one-xbox-360-emulator-software http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/15/8785955/microsoft-xbox-one... the package they are sending when you insert the disc is a container that contains the xbox emulator, any media assets, the game and compatibility stuff that is needed.
      - nitrogen 11y ago
        You keep quoting that same Verge quote of a spokesman. Do you have a more technical or independent source? Spokespeople are rarely accurate on a technical level.
        izacus 11y ago
        Do you have any source that they're actually recompiling everything? For example running original Xbox games on Xbox 360 also required a download of a binary which was an emulation / compatibility wrapper around the binary on the DVD that shimmed out and hotpatched code so the games worked properly.
        nitrogen 11y ago
        The download sizes reported by other commenters seem to suggest a bit more than simple shims.
tarpherder 11y ago
Nobody will go on record saying this. But it's not a straight emulator. Some of the other suggestions in this thread suggest others know whats up as well.

by nivla 11y ago

jomtung 11y ago

I have the preview and they are still porting a majority of the games over. Only a select few 360 games can be played on the Xbox one.

adamrezich 11y ago
It's not that they're porting over games individually, it's that they have to get express permission from the publisher of each individual game. Something about the terms of the contract between the publishers and Microsoft being such that a user is only able to play the game on that specific platform (Xbox 360) unless the publisher says otherwise. One could somewhat cynically look at this and say that this is because publishers love to rerelease games for the new platforms; already we've seen a bunch of rereleases and "HD Editions" (even though last generation was also HD) for the PS4 and Xbox One.
- dogma1138 11y ago
  Hmm sorry but they are porting games, once you insert the disk your Xbox One will download a huge chunk of data of the internet were talking 5GB+ for each game. Microsoft also isn't hiding it: "The digital titles that you own and are part of the Back Compat game catalog will automatically show up in the “Ready to Install” section on your Xbox One. For disc-based games that are a part of the Back Compat game catalog, simply insert the disc and the console will begin downloading the game to your hard drive. After the game has finished downloading, you will still need to keep the game disc in the drive to play." http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/backward-compatibility http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/backward-compatibility Sure they might be downloading the 360 version and then doing the emulation but it's much much more likely that they've actually simply ported the game.
  - voltagex_ 11y ago
    If they have ported the game they've also ported a large part of the 360 dashboard - chat and the guide button look pretty much identical. The early info coming out around E3 seemed to suggest full system emulation.
    - dogma1138 11y ago
      Why then do you have to download every game even if you have the disk?
      - jayrox 11y ago
        Because it comes with the emulator, compatibility modules and anything else specifically the game may need to be able to run in the emulator.
        dogma1138 11y ago
        That's weird because the 360 emulation played it from the disk just fine ;) It downloads the entire game for each disk game you put in, seems to me that the could've found a more efficient way to actually do that since you know both the 360 and the XboxOne support installing games from disk so they got the ability to create a disk image. If all they needed to download is an emulator and a compatibility config file that would've been a much smaller download package..
  - jayrox 11y ago
    they are not porting. microsoft has explicitly said they are emulating. "We have to do packaging and validation work on each title to make it available through Xbox One backward compatibility," explains a Microsoft spokesperson. Xbox One Backward Compatibility is an Xbox 360 emulator that runs on Xbox One and is used to play Xbox 360 games," says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/15/8785955/microsoft-xbox-one-xbox-360-emulator-software http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/15/8785955/microsoft-xbox-one...
- bitmapbrother 11y ago
  This is incorrect. Although, they do need to get permission from the original publisher, they are porting the games. How can you tell? Just have a look at the filename of the file downloaded. It has x64 attached to it.
  - jayrox 11y ago
    this is incorrect. according to microsoft they are running emulation. Behind the scenes, Microsoft has built a full Xbox 360 emulator for its Xbox One console. "Xbox One Backward Compatibility is an Xbox 360 emulator that runs on Xbox One and is used to play Xbox 360 games," says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/15/8785955/microsoft-xbox-one-xbox-360-emulator-software http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/15/8785955/microsoft-xbox-one... the package they are sending when you insert the disc is a container that contains the xbox emulator, any media assets, the game and compatibility stuff that is needed.
    - nitrogen 11y ago
      You keep quoting that same Verge quote of a spokesman. Do you have a more technical or independent source? Spokespeople are rarely accurate on a technical level.
      - izacus 11y ago
        Do you have any source that they're actually recompiling everything? For example running original Xbox games on Xbox 360 also required a download of a binary which was an emulation / compatibility wrapper around the binary on the DVD that shimmed out and hotpatched code so the games worked properly.
        nitrogen 11y ago
        The download sizes reported by other commenters seem to suggest a bit more than simple shims.

tarpherder 11y ago

Nobody will go on record saying this. But it's not a straight emulator. Some of the other suggestions in this thread suggest others know whats up as well.