Microsoft today announced a hugely welcome news for all XBOX and PC gamers looking to preserve their gaming history: the XBOX backwards compatibility program officially makes its debut on PC and mobile devices. The initiative aims to make the great classics of the past more and more accessible, allowing us to take them with us on any device in the ecosystem of the Redmond house without having to give up the memories and titles that have marked our experiences as players.

The release of this feature begins today through a first phase of early access, inaugurated by four milestones of the first XBOX: we will in fact be able to pick up Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy. These titles are immediately available for purchase and included in all XBOX Game Pass plans. In addition, if we already own a digital license of these games purchased on consoles, access will also automatically extend to PCs and portable devices such as ROG XBOX Ally/X.

In addition to giving us the opportunity to rediscover these works on a new platform, several technical improvements have been integrated aimed at refining the overall experience while maintaining the original gameplay. In fact, we will find customizable graphics options that include upscaling the resolution up to 4x, support for VSync, the choice between full screen and windowed mode, anisotropic filtering and advanced anti-aliasing, as well as new language and audio settings. The evolution of the service also continues on the functionality front: by the end of the year , Achievements are expected to arrive for a selection of titles from the first console on both consoles and PC, and the four games launched today will also receive this update in the coming months.

To start playing right away, simply use the XBOX app on PC or a compatible mobile device. On the system requirements front, the minimum hardware required involves the use of Windows 11, 8GB of RAM and a graphics card such as Nvidia GTX 950, AMD Radeon RX 550 or integrated Intel, flanked by quad-core processors such as Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200. To make the most of the experience with resolutions and details to the fullest, the recommended specifications suggest video cards with at least 8GB of VRAM such as GTX 1070 Ti or Radeon RX 6800, support for DirectX 12 and hexa-core processors such as Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600. An important step that allows us to continue to draw on our favorite catalog wherever we decide to play.