One might wonder about Microsoft’s strong commitment to backwards compatibility. The company announced backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One at no additional cost whatsoever but this year, it went ahead and added original Xbox titles to the backwards compatible roster as well.

Sure, it’s good business for Microsoft but according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer while speaking to Wired, there’s more to it than that. Spencer believes that backwards compatibility is about preserving games and allowing new players to see how the medium has progressed throughout the year.

“I see games as an art form. Console games can get lost when hardware generations go away. It can become more challenging to play the games of our past. There’s something to be learned from experiencing what I played as a kid. There’s good business there for the content owners, but as players, it’s nice to be able to understand how our artform has progressed.”

Which is pretty noble, especially considering how large the roster for backwards compatible Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One is currently. The list will be slightly smaller for original Xbox titles though and Microsoft has yet to provide a comprehensive list of the same.

How important is backwards compatibility when the Xbox One’s release lineup is kind of bare? That remains to be seen especially in light of the Nintendo Switch’s stellar launch year and the PS4’s solid library.

Fans at Microsoft’s E3 2017 presser were quite pleased to hear that original Xbox titles – that is, the very Xbox’s games – would be backwards compatible on the Xbox One later this year. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge was quoted as one such title that was coming but the library may not be nearly as extensive as the Xbox 360’s backwards compatible library.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer told Giant Bomb at E3 2017 that in getting the original Xbox’s games to work on Xbox One proved more challenging than Xbox 360. There’s also the issue with rights and he basically said that in terms of selection, “It won’t be as big as Xbox 360, I’ll tell people that.”

What Xbox games eventually do support backwards compatibility on the Xbox one remains to be seen. Currently, there are some 390 Xbox 360 titles that are supported on the Xbox One.

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

Microsoft made its fair share of headlines at E3 2017 by announcing the Xbox One X but plenty of attention was generated by Xbox backwards compatibility as well. That’s the original Xbox with games like Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. Speaking to PC Gamer, Xbox boss Phil Spencer was asked about whether Xbox backwards compatibility could come to PC at some point.

After answering, “Yes,” Spencer followed this up by stating, “I want people to be able to play games! [Emulation] is hard. [Xbox] 360 specifically is a PowerPC chip, emulated to x86, which is difficult. It’s a little bit easier when you have a fixed spec, when you think about Xbox, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X. And you think of the variable specs of the PC space, so you’re taking a fixed-spec PowerPC emulator and then moving it over to run on PC, so there’s a lot of work there.

“The original Xbox, OG Xbox, is a little bit easier, because that was an x86 chip it was running on. Obviously when we think about UWP and the ability for games to run across console and PC, we’re getting closer. I want developers to be able to build portable applications, which is why we’ve been focusing on UWP for games and even apps that want to run on multiple devices. So I think we’ve got work to go do there, but I think it’s in our future.”

Interestingly, Spencer is also interested in getting Xbox Game Pass – the $10 monthly subscription that allows players to experience over 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games – to PC as well. “I’ve said I want to bring Game Pass to the PC. The team doesn’t love it when I pre-announce things, but I definitely want to bring Game Pass to PC. It’s a business model that I think could be good for creators, and when business models work for creators, it usually means good content will come for gamers.

“I like that. We don’t have the deep catalog of games on PC that we do on console, so I’ve had some pushback from the marketing team that, well it wouldn’t necessarily be the best feature right now, because we won’t have enough games, but I just want to start. So I’m putting a lot of pressure on the team to go get enough content lined up to do something on the PC, and then make sure we have a long-term commitment to build.”

What are your thoughts on all this? Let us know in the comments.

Phantom Dust isn’t the only blast from the past available to Xbox One owners. Microsoft’s Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Super Sale is now live, offering over 275 Xbox 360 titles that are backwards compatible on the Xbox One.

Many of these games have received discounts by as much as 75 percent. They include Red Dead Redemption for $12, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for $20, Grand Theft Auto 4 for $10, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for $5, Gears of War 3 for $5 and so on. Major Nelson’s blog has all the details.

It should be noted that the Super Sale is running concurrently with the regular discounts and deals on Xbox One. Such offerings include Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst for $6.60, Destiny: The Collection for $39 and Final Fantasy 15 for $36.

Which games interest you from the Xbox 360 era though, especially given the selection on hand? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information on Microsoft as we approach E3 2017.

Xbox 360 and Xbox One players enjoying the miracle of backwards compatibility take note – tomorrow, Xbox Live services for both will be offline for maintenance.

Maintenance will start at 8 AM GMT/9 AM BST/1 AM PDT/4 AM EDT on April 27th and will last for 2 hours. You’ll be unable to play Xbox 360 titles on the Xbox One during this time and if you’re already in a game, prepare to be disconnected. The same issues will affect those on Xbox 360.

Microsoft has been expanding on its backwards compatible Xbox 360 titles since the service came into being – Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 recently saw a surge in player activity once it came to Xbox One. One has to wonder how that backwards compatibility will carry over onto Project Scorpio when it releases in Holiday 2017.

Stay tuned for more information on the same when Microsoft reveals it at E3 2017 on June 11th during its presentation.

While we still don’t know what the price of Microsoft’s Project Scorpio console is going to be, we do know one major feature gamers had to be hoping was coming. One Microsoft exec confirmed that the new console, whenever it does hit the market, will have the same kind of backwards compatibility the Xbox One console carries.

Director of Program Management for Xbox Mike Ybarra confirmed the backwards compatibility on Twitter when he posted, “360 Backwards compatibility will of course work on Scorpio.” The no-nonsense response was to a user who had asked Ybarra whether they would be able to play the Xbox 360 version of Red Dead Redemption on Scorpio.

While it might seem like a bit of a no-brainer at this point, it’s always nice to see that Microsoft is sticking with something that has worked for them. The ability to get Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One has certainly been a selling point since the current generation console landed

Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been one of the most requested Xbox 360 games for backwards compatibility on the Xbox One. Activision has been awfully accommodating with the titles – the first Black Ops and World at War are backwards compatible – but Black Ops 2 is surprisingly absent till now.

What are Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s thoughts on Black Ops 2 eventually going backwards compatible? Commenting more on the overall direction of the program, Spencer said on Twitter that, “I like the progress on [backwards compatibility]. We’d like to have all and work on [third-party] games is always a partnership with publisher.”

Hey, if Red Dead Redemption could be resurrected for backwards compatibility support then it’s totally possible that Black Ops 2 will follow. In the meantime, two new Call of Duty titles are out in November – Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One has helped a number of classics like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Red Dead Redemption reach a number of new players this generation. However, not every backwards compatible title has performed so well in terms of frame rate (like Halo: Reach when it first arrived for the Xbox One).

However, some users have noted improved performance with the latest system update. On Reddit, users who faced issues with Forza Horizon have reported improved performance overall with the new update.

Mike Ybarra, Director of Program Management for Xbox, further confirmed on Twitter that the latest update helped improve V-sync and reduced overall input lag for games. “We fixed a few bugs and the latest update addressed those.”

So if you’ve been afraid to really revisit those classic Xbox 360 titles due to performance woes, then the latest update should make things better. Have you noticed improved performance with Xbox 360 games on Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below.

Call of Duty 2 released back in 2005 as a launch title for Xbox 360, and received very high scores from almost every outlet. Microsoft has updated its list of Xbox One backwards compatibility titles to include the franchise’s first console game. Infinity Ward’s title was the series’ second instalment, with a memorable storyline and an entertaining online multiplayer mode.

This is a good timing to add such a title to Xbox One backwards compatibility list, with the studio’s upcoming iteration of the franchise, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, just a few months away. However, I really doubt Infinity Ward is going to make a campaign like Call of Duty 2’s again.

It’s simply one of the best in the shooting genre, and the fact that a game as old as that is still on my desktop is incredible. Let’s see how Infinite Warfare does when it releases on November 4 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

The Xbox 360 version of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption is now backwards compatible on the Xbox One. If you have the game on a physical disc or bought it from the Xbox Store (with the download being 7 GB), then you can play it on your Xbox One right away. You may need to restart your system fully to see the download or install it from disc.

It should be noted that Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare and the Game of the Year Edition are all backwards compatible on the Xbox One. Interestingly enough, a lot of the multiplayer DLC is being offered for free. This includes Myths and Mavericks, Liars and Cheats, and Legends and Killers.

Red Dead Redemption released in 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and has been highly requested for backwards compatibility since the feature was first announced for Xbox One. A PC port still seems unlikely but at least Xbox One owners can experience the awesome narrative and open world.