Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

The Xbox One is getting Cortana and over 100 backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games in November

By

E3 2015 Backwards Compatible Xbox One.
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Disappointed that the Xbox One isn’t getting over-the-air DVR until 2016? Don’t fret — the nascent gaming box is getting two other big upgrades later this year. During a press conference at Gamescom in Germany, Microsoft announced that both Windows 10 and backwards compatibility would arrive on Xbox One consoles in November.

The Windows 10 bound for Xbox One isn’t quite the same operating system that hit millions of PCs early last week. Instead, it’s a firmware akin to the Xbox 360’s 2011 “metro” update — a redesigned skin with a few new bells and whistles.

At E3 in June Microsoft said the new dashboard was focused on “speed” and “performance,” and that much is evident from its stripped-down appearance. Windows 10 on Xbox One pares down the home screen tabs to Home, Community, Watch, Games, Movies & TV, Apps, and Music, and adds a new trending section alongside your activity feed that highlights popular games and events on Xbox. Friend lists, messages, and Party Chat, meanwhile, have been relegated to a slide-away pane accessible by double-tapping the Xbox button on a controller.

Related

Media’s now easier to navigate. The Watch tab unifies content sources — Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, and live TV — to surface high-profile series. And OneGuide, Microsoft’s overlay for live television, now sports picture-in-picture support and a full screen view.

CLlj0TUWwAA9nph
@Mike Ybarra
@Mike Ybarra

The changes aren’t strictly aesthetic. Cortana, Microsoft’s Siri-like digital assistant, is also making the jump to Xbox One. So long as you’ve got a Kinect (Cortana won’t respond to a headset), you’ll be take advantage of its robust voice recognition to chain together commands. A phrase like “Hey Cortana, start a party and invite John,” for example, will invite a friend to a newly created chat session.

Xbox One’s new backwards compatibility feature will also launch in earnest in November. It’s been available to users who opted into the Xbox One Preview Program since June, but it will roll out broadly with “over 100” Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade games over the next few weeks. Microsoft said that, going forward, all Xbox 360 Games with Gold selections will be made “with backwards compatibility in mind,” effectively doubling the free monthly offerings for Xbox One gamers.

Windows 10 update will start rolling out to Preview Program members in September, according to Head of Platform Engineering at Xbox Mike Ybarra.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Kyle Wiggers
Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
One of the best Tomb Raider games is coming to Xbox Game Pass
Lara Croft runs from a crashing plane in Tomb Raider.

Microsoft unveiled the batch of games coming to Xbox Game Pass throughout the first half of May. It's a smaller group of only four games, but all of them are neat additions to Microsoft's subscription service. Here's the full roster of games coming to Xbox Game Pass between May 2 and May 14.

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition -- May 2
Kona II: Brume -- May 7
Little Kitty, Big City -- May 9
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons -- May 14

Read more
Xbox Games Showcase coming this summer alongside mysterious game reveal
Indiana jones buried in the sand.

Microsoft has set the date for its Xbox Games Showcase this June. It's also teasing a Direct that will immediately follow the showcase, but won't say what that's for just yet.

The Xbox Games Showcase will return at 10 a.m. PT on June 9. Like all of its showcases, Microsoft plans to stream this presentation across its YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook, although it will also give away tickets to see the show in person via Xbox FanFest. According to the Xbox Wire post announcing the livestream, this is Microsoft's "first Showcase featuring games from our portfolio of studios across Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios, in addition to titles from our third-party partners."

Read more
Xbox Game Pass gets its first Activision Blizzard game very soon
xbox game pass march games diablo 4 iv

Microsoft unveiled the batch of titles coming to its gaming subscription service throughout the back half of March. Quite a few awesome titles are making their way to the service, but by far, the most notable addition is Diablo IV, the first Activision Blizzard game being made available on Xbox Game Pass.

Diablo IV was released in June 2023, just a few months before Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. It's the latest entry in a long-running isometric RPG series, and it retains the same engaging dungeon design, deep progression systems, and captivating loot loop that makes games in this franchise special. People have been wondering when Activision Blizzard games would arrive on Xbox Game Pass in the months since the acquisition process was completed, and Diablo IV was finally confirmed to be coming to the service on March 28 last month.

Read more