Xbox One Backwards Compatibility: You Won’t Use It

<p>Backwards compatibility on the Xbox One doesn’t matter&comma; but you just don’t know it yet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Now don’t get me wrong&comma; I was just as excited as you during this year’s E3 when Microsoft unveiled their plans to support legacy Xbox 360 titles on the Xbox One&period; I thought&comma; &&num;8220&semi;<em>wow this could really tighten the divide between Xbox One and PS4 sales<&sol;em>&period;&&num;8221&semi; I even paused for a moment during the conference to think about all my old favorites that I would play once the feature arrives&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But I won’t be playing my old favorites—at least not for long—and neither will you&period; Backwards compatibility is typically an additional selling feature to persuade gamers to release their grasp from old consoles and purchase next generation hardware&period; The ability to play both old and new titles on a new console is attractive to gamers because it adds value and makes the transition to playing next generation software smoother&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Xbox One has been out for almost two years now&semi; I doubt that many core gamers actually held off on buying the Xbox One just because they didn’t want to part with their library of Xbox 360 games&period; If you really wanted an Xbox One&comma; you would have purchased one by now&comma; especially with all of Microsoft’s efforts to push out cheaper units that come bundled with one or more top-tier titles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;95027" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-95027" style&equals;"width&colon; 1119px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04113124&sol;Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-10&period;05&period;16-AM&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-95027 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04113124&sol;Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-10&period;05&period;16-AM&period;png" alt&equals;"Screen Shot 2015-11-12 at 10&period;05&period;16 AM" width&equals;"1119" height&equals;"478" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-95027" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Xbox One&comma; Microsoft Canada Store&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>As an owner of the Xbox One&comma; backwards compatibility won’t matter to you because there are already plenty of titles in established franchises that you have to play&period; You most certainly have a backlog of games to play&period; And answer me this&colon; When have you ever actually gotten around to beating a game in that backlog&quest; You are not alone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I take my Wii U ownership as a perfect example of the waning utility presented by backwards compatibility&period; Nintendo shipped their tablet-equipped console with backwards compatibly at launch&comma; and did I ever use my Wii U to play through a Wii game&quest; Nope&period; I may have tried out the feature simply because it was available to me&comma; but I never actually decided to dive into the depths of missed Wii games&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Backwards compatibility is one of those features that is unnecessary but nice to have in order to bolster your purchasing decision and satisfy that value-seeking hunger&period; However&comma; you will not use the feature&semi; it is just an appealing offering alongside all the other&comma; more useful functions of the Xbox One&period; My smartphone has tons of features&colon; calculators&comma; maps&comma; stocks&comma; notes&comma; and Siri&period; Will I ever use these features&quest; It&&num;8217&semi;s highly unlikely&period; Do I like having them&quest; Of course&comma; I’m an insatiable techy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kudos to Microsoft for their efforts to provide backwards compatibility during a time when such a feature has been lost to services like PlayStation Now or rebuy offerings like remastered games&period; Backwards compatibility is a welcome feature to the Xbox One&comma; and one that I will try&comma; but the novelty will wear quickly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;95029" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-95029" style&equals;"width&colon; 1587px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04113104&sol;Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-10&period;13&period;05-AM&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-95029 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04113104&sol;Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-10&period;13&period;05-AM&period;png" alt&equals;"Screen Shot 2015-11-12 at 10&period;13&period;05 AM" width&equals;"1587" height&equals;"399" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-95029" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">They call to me &lpar;Xbox One Game Lineup&comma; Microsoft&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>With so many prominent titles released on the Xbox One in just the past few months—<em>Forza 6&comma; Halo 5<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Rise of the Tomb Raider<&sol;em>&comma; and <em>Fallout 4<&sol;em>—the potential to play games from last generation will be lost in the abyss of new titles to play&comma; not to mention my growing backlog from the current console generation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;