Xbox Backwards Compatibility: One Year Later

It's hard to believe, but a year ago Xbox Backwards Compatibility was released to the masses bringing with it a plethora of launch titles and has since grown to a library of over 275 games. That's absolutely crazy considering how long it typically takes modders to create a custom emulator and they've not only released that many games, but have also mastered the emulator.

Emulators take often years to a decade to perfect and at this point with the updates they've made it actually improves the experience of these Xbox 360 games when running on Xbox One. This system has not only brought beloved games forward, but has made them better and given a new generation of gamers the opportunity to enjoy these titles.

While not every title available is something that general players would want, it's great to see Xbox branching out to include a wide range of games. There's everything from top tier AAA titles such as Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect Trilogy and the Gears titles to digital Xbox Live Arcade gems Shadow Complex or most of the SEGA Virtual library. The partnership with EA Access has also been continuing to just give by offering Xbox 360 titles there and if you don't have that yet, you're crazy.
Xbox Backwards Compatibility: One Year Later

General discussion aside it's been incredible to play those old games exactly the same way with online multiplayer, achievements and the like while also getting all the new Xbox One features.

I've been able to once again enjoy the magic of Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies with friends across the timeless maps or hopping onto Call of Duty 3 that featured some of my favorite World War II combat. I'm also really looking forward to giving the Mass Effect series another go since that was recently released this week on N7 day.

Finally I'm most thankful for Skate 3 literally just releasing as while I don't care for it at all, we can now stop seeing people whine about it! Personally, I've been waiting for Shadowrun as that's one of my favorite titles of all time and to hopefully see the Crackdown games eventually. It would also be great to see Fable: Anniversary get brought over and some of the Battlefield titles.

Xbox has done a great job thus far with bringing all these games onto Xbox One not only boosting the library, but giving us the games we've loved and want to continue to enjoy. This first year definitely takes a good starting chunk out of library and despite there being many titles to come it's exciting to see them have a solid almost weekly release schedule.

It's really just a time thing now between waiting for them to sort out licensing and then make sure the games run properly. I obviously have no complaints since it cost us nothing aside from spending money to get titles digital and I find each week a joy as you never know what might show up. I'm a bit curious as to why there's a limited selection of first party games present currently and hopefully they get that full catelogue covered soon.

Xbox Backwards Compatibility: One Year Later
The Xbox Backwards Compatibility program has been amazing in this first year and it's fantastic to see that they do care about the Xbox 360 games that I've loved over the years. I can't wait to see where this eventually ends up as I'd love to see Windows 10 support at some point and also Xbox original games would also be heavenly. I'll also mention to check out the site's Xbox BC hub area as that includes all the title along with a sorting system. It's available on the site or even on the Windows Store with constant updates as I love to track all the releases.

Our Xbox BC Games Hub
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Gamerheadquarters Reviewer Jason Stettner