Over the weekend one of the most eagerly anticipated backwards compatibility titles for Xbox One, Red Dead Redemption, was released onto Xbox Live.
Sort of.
The download link for Rockstar's seminal 2010 Western appeared on the profiles of folk following the game (users can now tag any game for the console and 'Follow' it to get direct updates) although neither Microsoft or Rockstar have announced the game's official release.
The download though was only working for gamers who had purchased Red Dead Redemption digitally - the disc-based backwards compatibility is still blocked - while Microsoft support has taken to Twitter to warn Xbox users that "playing a game before it's been authorized to play on the service is against the Code of Conduct."
However Microsoft also hasn't mentioned whether there would be any penalties for those digital outlaws following the dodgy workaround.
Nixed
The big M also seems to have nixed the the game as of now though, with some gamers reporting that it's no longer booting unless you play offline, and even then it's not possible to save your progress. And given that it's such a sprawling Western world that's kind of vital.
Right now then it's not really worth incurring the wrath of Microsoft following the download workaround.
Given that all the Xbox Live imagery and store front pages are in place for Red Dead Redemption it's not going to be long before the official release rolls along and we can legitimately indulge in all our cowboy fantasies without fearing reprisal.
You can catch the full list of backwards compatible games right here and vote for what you want to see next on the Xbox One wishlist.
Last week, some Xbox One users found a way to download Valve's zombie shooter Left 4 Dead 2, suggesting it might also be imminent for backwards compatibility.
However, Microsoft patched up the leak pretty quickly, and declined to comment when we asked about a possible release.
