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Home / News / Backwards compatibility gets a boost with the next Xbox One update

Backwards compatibility gets a boost with the next Xbox One update

Party chat gets a lot bigger too

It’s about to get a lot easier to buy back all the Xbox 360 games you missed out on the first time around and play them on the Xbox One.

The upcoming March firmware update will list previous gen games separately from Xbox Live and Xbox One titles, making them easier to find.

You’ll actually be able to buy them through the dashboard, too; no more hoarding that old console just for the store, or jumping on a PC to splash the cash.

Xbox Live head honcho Major Nelson detailed the update on his blog, saying that gamers had played more than 30 million hours of Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One since backwards compatibility arrived last year.

The update will really put the party into party chat, too; it’s upping the number of users per chat to 16.

You’ll also be able to include your Party chat in any Twitch broadcasts. Players have to opt in to having their voice broadcast; if they opt out, they’ll still be able to chat in the party, but their audio won’t be heard on the stream.

It works across platforms, too, so you’ll be able to include Windows 10 gamers as well as Xbox One players.

Other minor tweaks include being able to output party chat to your headset and TV speakers at the same time, and change the length of game DVR recordings from the 30 second default to 15 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes or 5 minutes.

Basically, you’ve got no excuse for not having that last second goal or 360 noscope headshot recorded.

The March update will be coming to Xbox One preview members first – it’s available to download right now. For everyone else, a wider rollout expected towards the end of the month.

Profile image of Tom Morgan-Freelander Tom Morgan-Freelander Deputy Editor

About

A tech addict from about the age of three (seriously, he's got the VHS tapes to prove it), Tom's been writing about gadgets, games and everything in between for the past decade, with a slight diversion into the world of automotive in between. As Deputy Editor, Tom keeps the website ticking along, jam-packed with the hottest gadget news and reviews.  When he's not on the road attending launch events, you can usually find him scouring the web for the latest news, to feed Stuff readers' insatiable appetite for tech.

Areas of expertise

Smartphones/tablets/computing, cameras, home cinema, automotive, virtual reality, gaming