So you’ve just got a shiny new Xbox One for Christmas? It’s pretty cute, but what if you have an old Xbox 360? Can you play Xbox 360 games on your new Xbox One? Is your player profile saved? Do you need to buy another Xbox Live Gold account or can you use the same one? Can I use an Xbox 360 controller with Xbox One? Can you sign in to the same Xbox Live profile on both consoles? Is there a way to directly link Xbox One to Xbox 360?
I found myself asking all these questions when I visited a friend who just got an Xbox One but didn’t know how it would work with his old Xbox 360. In this article, I’ll try to give you as much detail as possible. as much as possible about how two consoles might or might not work with each other. It took me a while to figure it out, so I’m sure it will be useful for owners of both consoles.
Xbox games
So what are you going to do with all these old Xbox 360 games? Or what if you’ve just bought a new game like Grand Theft Auto V for the Xbox 360? Can you play it on your Xbox One? Well, the answer is yes and no.
The answer is no, because the Xbox One and Xbox 360 games are not compatible. This means that you cannot insert an Xbox 360 game into your Xbox One console and start playing it. This rule is no exception. No old games play on the new console. So why did I agree too?
Well, there is a nifty port on the back of the Xbox One called HDMI Input. You will see Sat / Cab above it because it is designed to connect your cable or satellite box to your Xbox One so you can watch TV on your Xbox. However, you can also connect other devices to this port, including another Xbox 360. In fact, you can even connect your PS3, PS4, or Wii U to your Xbox One!
This is actually a very handy feature and all you have to do is say “Xbox, watch TV,†and it will boot any device connected to that particular port. So if your Xbox 360 is connected to it, you can play the game through your Xbox One. It also saves that valuable HDMI port on your TV or receiver for something else. That’s it with games.
The answer is also yes, because Microsoft said they can support backward compatibility in the future through the cloud. Basically, it’s about streaming games from cloud servers to your Xbox One console. However, they stated that on slow internet connections, this is not so good, and therefore it is not something that will be released in 2014, if at all.
Microsoft account and Xbox Live
The next big issue is your Microsoft account and / or Xbox Live membership. When you sign into your Xbox One with your Microsoft account, pretty much everything is saved. This includes the following:
– Profile including gamertag, friends, achievements and player score.
– Any additional membership like Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Music Pass, and any payment methods you save
– Any family relationships you may have added, such as a child account, will be transferred automatically
– Any privacy settings you have enabled
– Anything purchased through Xbox Music or Xbox Video will be available in the appropriate music or video section
So what’s not left? Basically three things: games, game saves, and apps. Again, when it comes to games and game saves, you can also simply connect your Xbox 360 to your Xbox One and play games with your saved games seamlessly. You should be able to use apps this way as well, but it probably makes sense to reinstall apps on Xbox One as it’s faster and apps are likely being updated specifically for Xbox One.
Another nice thing Microsoft did is let you log into Xbox One and Xbox 360 at the same time. This is nice because it means you can use both consoles at the same time in different parts of the house without any problem. The only limitation is that you can log into one Xbox One and one Xbox 360 console at the same time, but this is not really necessary unless you have more than two Xbox consoles.
Accessories and peripherals
So what about the 5 Xbox 360 controllers you own? Is there anything good from Xbox One? No! Unfortunately, I cannot use them. What about Kinect? No, the Xbox One ships with the new Kinect, and the old one isn’t compatible with the new console.
You also can’t use an Xbox 360 PSU on an Xbox One or any other accessory like a racing wheel or even a wireless headset. Also, even though you can connect a USB drive to the Xbox 360, it’s not yet supported on the Xbox One. This is a pretty big problem for some people because Microsoft is trying to market the Xbox one as a one-stop media center, but not being able to play native videos and music from an external USB drive is pretty unfortunate. It looks like it will be coming soon, but at the time of this writing, it hasn’t been announced.
Of course, the Xbox One is DLNA compatible, and this way you can stream videos and music, but not via USB. What I haven’t tried was connecting the Xbox 360 to the Xbox One via HDMI and then trying to play USB content from the Xbox 360. In theory this should work fine, but I haven’t actually tested it. In addition, you need both consoles, which not all have.
Please note that this is all official information. The Xbox One can be modified in the same way as jailbreaking an iDevice or rooting an Android phone. The guys at CronusMAX have created a third-party USB device that allows you to connect a variety of controllers to your Xbox One, including the Xbox 360 controller.
Conclusion
At this point, you have nothing else to do when the two consoles are together. Some people are really frustrated by some of the Xbox 360 features that were removed on the Xbox One, such as playing music in the background, downloading pictures from your PC, or plugging in a USB device, etc. Fortunately, with the HDMI input option, you You can still use the great features of the Xbox 360 and enjoy all the new super cool games on Xbox One.
If you own an Xbox One and Xbox 360, please let us know what you think of each console and tell us how you use them together. Enjoy!
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