The Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 have generated tons of hype so far with hardware and graphics
capabilities well beyond what we've seen so far from previous consoles.
But let's be honest, all of us have games from yesteryear that might not be as graphically
pleasing but they're still incredibly fun. So what's the story with backwards compatibility on these new consoles?
Let's start with the good news. No matter which console you buy, both Sony and Microsoft have put in a lot of time optimizing
older titles for the new hardware. So you should get an experience that's better than simply it functions.
We're first going to specifically talk about the Xbox Series X and S.
Microsoft is promising that its newest consoles will provide an enhanced experience for games
going all the way back to the 2001 vintage original Xbox.
What a time I was a child. Now before you get too excited, not every single old school game will work.
Microsoft has confirmed that the backwards compatible game list is basically the same
as we saw in the Xbox One lineup, which amounts to a few dozen original Xbox titles and over
500 Xbox 360 games and the entire Xbox One library is available as well.
But what about performance improvements? Well, some popular titles like Forza Horizon 4 and Gears 5 are going to be directly optimized
for the new Xbox hardware, though it wasn't exactly realistic for Microsoft to go back
and do this for every game in the back catalog. Instead, the Series X and S are going to use some tricks to make games that Microsoft didn't
spend a ton of time on manual optimizing look better.
One is called Auto HDR, which is just what it sounds like.
The console will use machine learning to apply HDR to any game that didn't initially support
it. Unless Microsoft specifically thinks it doesn't look good on that game and then they will not
do it on that game. Early reviews indicate while it obviously isn't as good as native HDR, it does make aging
titles look better. And another cool thing is that it's implemented in hardware, meaning it won't put extra
strain on the console's GPU or CPU that can otherwise cause slowdowns.
The new Xboxes will also force game engines in certain older games to render at double
the frame rate, meaning some titles will play at 60 FPS instead of 30.
Plus, there will be upscaling that we originally saw on Xbox One X to get older titles to run
at 4K or 1440p on the Series X and S respectively.
Even original Xbox games. If you're concerned about save games, Xbox One's saves will transfer automatically while
360 saves can be uploaded to the cloud.
But you're out of luck with your 18 year old save game from your original Xbox.
Manimold. 18. In all, Microsoft claims it's spent over half a million gameplay hours on testing backwards
compatible games. But what if you're more of a PlayStation kind of person?
Similarly to the Xbox lineup, the PlayStation 5 will leverage the console's more powerful
hardware to enable higher resolutions and frame rates on some older titles in what Sony
calls Game Boost, where the silicon will be clocked to a higher frequency for better performance.
Sony has actually even said that some older games can't handle Game Boost because the
PS5 hardware is so powerful, something PC gamers will actually be familiar with.
But even if your favorite PS4 game does not support Game Boost, the good news is that
nearly all PS4 titles are compatible with the PS5.
Importantly, PSVR titles are supported as well, so you won't need to buy a whole new
headset in order to keep playing virtual reality games.
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the PS5 won't have support for any games for consoles
prior to the PS4, though you will still be able to play a large number of PS3 and PS2
games through PSNow, Sony's game streaming service.
You can also transfer cloud saves automatically, but only with a paid PlayStation Plus subscription,
so keep that in mind if you have a lot of unfinished games on your PS4.
But wait a sec, what about my PS1 games? I was really looking forward to Crash Bandicoot Racing and 4K.
Well, maybe one day. So thanks for watching guys, if you liked this video give it a thumbs up, hit subscribe,
and be sure to hit us up in the comment section with your suggestions for topics we should
cover in the future.