Microsoft’s E3 showcase was a step in the right direction for the company, compared to their previous few E3’s. The finally unveiled the fabled Project Scorpio, now called the Xbox One X; a premium console with the power of rendering native 4k visuals at higher and more stable frame rates than its competitor, the PS4 Pro.
Second only to the unveiling of the Xbox One X, the second major announcement was the introduction of original Xbox games to the backwards compatibility feature for the Xbox One and now the Xbox One X. In a recent Times interview with Xbox Boss Phil Spencer, he said the Xbox One S and its bigger brother, the Xbox One X, are the ‘definitive’ platform for Xbox 360 and original Xbox games; “Over half our players have played a backward compatible game. We’ve seen things like when Black Ops 2 was released as a backward compatible game, it hit top 10 NPD sales, and this is a game that’s five years old. It’s not true of all games of course. I’m not saying every backward compatible game gets played”
He continued “What I would say, is that on Xbox One S and on Xbox One X, we are applying the performance capability of the hardware to the older games. So without the developer having to touch anything, we’re finding that those games on either Xbox One S or Xbox One X, run at a better frame rate. And frankly due to both TVs today, better black levels and other things, you’re getting a higher fidelity scene.”
The comments come after Sony’s Jim Ryan downplayed the significance of backwards compatibility and basically called it a feature which very few people used . Xbox’s Mike Ybarra then took to Twitter to disagree with Jim by saying that the wanted gamers to be able to play the best games from the past as well as the future.
While the jury is still out on backwards compatibility Phil’s words seem very promising and the future looks bright for the Xbox One X, but only time will tell if fans will give Microsofts premium console the love it deserves.
