As picked up by Kotaku, and as demonstrated by YouTuber the Modern Vintage Gamer, it's quite brilliantly possible to play the same game, online, across four different generations of Xbox consoles. Which is amazing, actually. And we're so, so here for it.
Of the two Big New Consoles of 2020 - discounting the PC Engine Mini and the Evercade, as I have to or else folk shout at me - my initial preference was for the Xbox Series X, entirely due to its better backwards compatibility. I have loads of boxed Xbox 360 games, and Xbox One games too, and I want to be able to play those discs in whatever new console I pick up. The PlayStation 5 doesn't allow me to play PS3 discs, so, right now, my thinking is to go Series X next year, when I can afford to. Assuming that ever happens, LMAO.
And Modern Vintage Gamer shows off just how amazing the Xbox family's backwards compatibility is in a video, below (or on YouTube). The game in question is Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, by FASA Studio. It was released for the original Xbox console in 2003, as an exclusive (FASA being a Microsoft studio), and it still works on the Xbox 360, the Xbox One and the Xbox Series S (and presumably the X, too). Pretty impressive.
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More impressively, using the Xbox's System Link, it's actually possible for four people to play the game together, across the four very different, generations-divided consoles, simultaneously. The offline-only System Link pre-dates Xbox Live by a year, having rolled out alongside the OG Xbox in late 2001 - so for it to work with a console released a month ago is, well, amazing, right? File under: things you love to see.
Obviously, now we're keen to see what other old Xbox games work this way. So if you've got the set-up to try something like this for yourself, why not let us know via the usual channels. And if you're on the fence yourself about the Xbox Series X, check out our thoughts on Microsoft's "most powerful console in the world", below.
Topics: Xbox, Xbox Series X