- Four original Xbox titles just arrived on PC
- The games are all available to buy or via any Xbox Game Pass plan
- They're part of a new Xbox backward compatibility on PC program
Microsoft just launched a new Xbox backward compatibility on PC program that makes it possible to officially play a selection of original Xbox games on Windows for the very first time.
As detailed in a new Xbox Wire post, the program is geared towards both traditional laptops and desktops in addition to handheld PCs such as the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X and currently includes four games: Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy. These can be purchased individually or accessed with any Xbox Game Pass plan (yes, even the budget-oriented Essential tier).
All of these titles have never been officially released on PC before. They were, however, already available on Xbox consoles via backward compatibility and if you have previously purchased a license on Xbox One or Xbox Series X and Series S it will now carry over to PC.
They're not just basic ports either. There are new graphics features like up to 4x resolution upscaling, vsync, anisotropic filtering, and enhanced anti-aliasing. A new achievement system is also in the works and will be added to these four titles some time in the coming months.
The release of these games is presumably just the beginning, and I'm hoping that we will see more and more original Xbox exclusives come over to PC. It not only gives consumers a convenient way to experience classic games on a new platform, but also forms an important part of digital preservation by keeping these releases readily accessible on modern hardware.
It's also a big win for PC gamers, who previously would have had to shell out for dedicated Xbox console hardware in order to play these releases.
If you're interested in checking any of them out, you can see the minimum and recommended system requirements below to make sure your machine is up to scratch.
Minimum system requirements:
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 950 or AMD Radeon RX 550 or Intel UHD 770 or Intel Arc A310
- CPU: Min 4 Cores Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor
- RAM: 8GB
- OS: Windows 11
Recommended system requirements:
- GPU: Radeon RX 68005 or Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti or Intel Arc A770
- CPU: 6 cores and 12 threads Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme
- DirectX Version: DirectX12 API, Hardware Feature Level 11
- GPU VRAM: 8GB
- OS: Windows 11
Also make sure that your operating system and drivers are up to date.
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