A big few weeks for Xbox One owners – as Halo, Tomb Raider, Fallout, Battlefront and Call of Duty are all released – is set to get even bigger, as the company has now confirmed that the New Xbox One Experience will roll-out to all Xbox One consoles on November 12th.
Representing the first major overhaul of the system’s UI since its release in November 2013, the NXOE sees the dashboard largely ditch the horizontal navigation of its predecessor in favour of a much more vertical experience. It also introduces a much handier guide – accessed from the home screen via a simple tap to the left on the D-pad – through which you can access many of the Xbox One’s social features. Aesthetically, it’s also much closer in look to the Xbox App on Windows 10, as Microsoft continues to amalgamate its offering under the one – albeit very large – umbrella. This will also see Cortana, Windows 10’s Siri-like, brought to the system, bringing additional functionality for those still rocking the Kinect with their console.
Perhaps most importantly of all, it will also mark the debut of the backwards compatibility feature first revealed at this year’s E3, meaning that Xbox One owners will soon have access to around 100 Xbox 360 games to play (assuming you own the disc or previously bought it digitally) on the system. Members of the Preview Programme have had access to around 20 games, and approximately 80 more will arrive on November 12th. There is currently no confirmation of what games will form that initial wave, though Criterion yesterday confirmed that the Xbox 360 version of their open-world driving smash-em-up Burnout Paradise would make its way to the service.
It may not be Back To The Future Day any more, but in two weeks’ time, we’ll all be able to do our own little bit of virtual time travelling.
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