This is an actual game changer.
Welcome to JOE’s weekly TechXplanation, where we take the most about talked about pieces of tech/apps and give you the knowledge.
This week we take a look at a big announcement from Microsoft and their gaming console, the Xbox One.
So what is it?
They’ve announced backwards capability for the Xbox One. What? Microsoft and Sony make the two most popular gaming consoles, in the Xbox and the Playstation.
Both have evolved over the years and the biggest complaint from users is that the new updated versions of the consoles cannot accomodate the games from previous generation releases.
For example, if you had an Xbox 360 with games and then went out and bought the new Xbox One, you would not be able to play the 360 games on the new console.
Yesterday’s announcement by Microsoft is that now the XBox One has backwards compatibility. This means that older games from the 360 era can now be played on the XBox One.
Why is it in the news?
It’s in the news because this is what gamers everywhere have been hoping for. Everyone has their favourite games, but nothing was more frustrating than not being able to play them on the latest console release.
This will ensure that Xbox customers will remain loyal to Microsoft as they will have a much bigger catalogue of games to play with.
Why should I be using it?
Obviously, if you have an Xbox One, you will be using it from Christmas time onwards. You are doubling the size of your gaming library. No longer will you have to dust down the old console just to play an old game.
Gamers who already had bought 360 games digitally through Xbox Live can simply re-download them onto their Xbox One without paying anything extra.
If they own the game as a physical disc, they can also download the game to their console’s hard drive and the system will check for the disc before launching the game.
Cost?
Zilch, zero, nada, nothing. It’s free.
What’s the alternative?
There is no alternative to backward compatibility in the games console business. The good thing about this announcement though is that Sony will be under pressure to bring in a similar feature for their Playstation console.
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