For more than a year now, you have been able to play Xbox 360 games on an Xbox One or Xbox One S (reviewed here). Not all of your old library of games are playable, but there are well over 300 titles currently available. Xbox is also adding to this list regularly as new titles are checked and cleared for release.But do you have to do anything different to get it to work? Exactly how will Xbox 360 games play on an Xbox One? And can you buy Xbox 360 games on an Xbox One? Here's our handy guide to the feature.Microsoft first announced that it would be adding backwards compatibility to its current generation console during E3 2015, and the initial wave of 104 games arrived in November that year.The Xbox One is able to play Xbox 360 games through emulation software that makes the console think it's a last generation machine for the purposes of playing older games.When a supported Xbox 360 game is started on the machine, the Xbox One opens the emulator and, in all regards, the game works as if it was running on an Xbox 360.
The 360's opening screen appears first then the game will load.All other aspects and features that would normally be available on an Xbox 360 are be available on the Xbox One too, including the hub (which can be opened through a simultaneous press of the menu and view buttons on the Xbox One controller). In addition, all new features of the Xbox One work, including the ability to take screen grabs and record and share video of gameplay.Although Sony opted for a paid route to play PS3 games on a PS4, through the PlayStation Now cloud gaming platform, Microsoft decided to offer its backwards compatibility for free as part of the November update at the end of 2015.If you own a supported game already, you do not have to pay anything to play it on Xbox One.Obviously, it costs to purchase new Xbox 360 games that work on the machine.Xbox One backwards compatibility works with digital content as well as disc games. In fact, if you enter a supported disc into your Xbox One, the machine will download the game from Xbox Live first - although you will need the disc to be in the machine each time you play.
If you own a digital copy of a supported game it appears in your games list ready for download. Check your Games and Apps hub to see if any are listed among the games yet to be installed.Since the March 2016 update compatible Xbox 360 games have been listed for purchase on the Xbox One game store. If you are an Xbox Live Gold member, you now also see free Xbox 360 games to download each month alongside Xbox One titles as part of the Games for Gold scheme.That means you get two free Xbox One games and two free Xbox One games a month.Prices for the Xbox 360 games on the online store vary, but start at around £3.If you originally set your Xbox 360 to save games to the cloud you will be able to download the save files to the Xbox One version and carry on. The cloud files are permanently associated with your gamertag so the Xbox One should do this automatically.If you only saved your in-game progress locally, to the hard drive, you will need to restart your Xbox 360 and save them to the cloud instead.
If you no longer have your Xbox 360, sadly you won't be able to access the files.There are now more than 300 Xbox 360 titles available as part of the backwards compatibility scheme.The company's plan is to eventually support every game it feasibly can bar a few that cannot be made compatible due to requiring additional accessories to run. These include games like the original Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, plus any that worked with the original Kinect. Even if you have the Xbox One Kinect, it will not be compatible with previous Xbox 360 Kinect games.Here's a full list of the Xbox 360 games that are currently available with backwards compatibility for Xbox One (as of 23 February 2017):Alongside the galaxy of features within Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we’re pleased to report that PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 players will also be receiving some free DLC content with the exclusive Droids Character Pack coming right at launch on 28th June, featuring a host of Droids from across the Star Wars galaxy.
The Droids have always been some of my favourite characters in Star Wars films. Even though they’re machines, they still seem to have more personality and charm than a lot of humans do! Which is why it’s really exciting to be able to give players a pack that features these awesome characters. To show you what I mean, we’re here to reveal our latest vignette detailing this exciting content, have a look… As you can see from the video, these Droids are a cool bunch and should be familiar to many Star Wars fans. For starters, we have R5-D4 (or “Red”), a lesser-known but important astromech droid to join your galactic quest. For the super fans, this is the droid that Luke Skywalker purchased in the original Star Wars film instead of R2-D2 until a malfunctioning motivator set into motion all of the events we now know to have shaped the Star Wars galaxy! Alongside R5, we have IG-88, the chrome bounty hunter droid fans will remember from Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back who carries with him a unique heavy blaster rifle, capable of tracking down his foes.
Continuing the theme of combat droids, players will get to use Battle Droids from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, including the Captain Battle Droid, Super Battle Droid and the agile Captain Commando Droid. These three can certainly provide plenty of supporting fire to help you through LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Backing up all of these Battle Droids is their cyborg Supreme Commander – General Grievous. Equipped with his iconic lightsabres and a host of combat manoeuvres, he’s every bit as fearsome a foe as what you’ve seen in cinemas and on television – definitely one of my all-time favourite characters. Being able to run around with him in LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a real treat! For those wishing to take a less combat-oriented approach through the galaxy, the ME-8D9 and W1-LE protocol droids offer more civilised methods to deal with conflicts, able to talk their way through situations. Fans might recognise ME-8D9 from Maz Kanata’ castle in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and W1-LE, Lando Calrissian’s personal droid featured in Star Wars: Rebels, the animated series.