Microsoft has released an Xbox Series X/S backward compatibility video showing how the next-gen consoles can enhance older games by increasing their frame rates.
The technical demo above shows Fallout 4’s frame rate “effectively doubled” from 30 fps to 60 fps onXboxSeries S.
Peggy Lo, compatibility program lead for Xbox, discussed improved frame rates as part of a wider blog post published on Tuesday, which also covered previously announcedXbox Series X/Sbackward compatibility features.
The next-gen consoles will be backward compatible with existingXbox Onegames and accessories, including backward compatibleXbox 360and original Xbox titles, which will“look and play better than ever before”, according toMicrosoft.
This is thanks to features such as Auto HDR, which automatically adds HDR enhancements to games which only shipped with standard dynamic range.
Xbox Series X is also capable of increasing the resolution of selected older games up to 4K and doubling their frame rates from 30 fps to 60 fps or 60 fps to 120 fps, with all the heavy lifting carried out at a system level, meaning no extra work is required by developers.
Backwards compatible titles also see significant reductions in in-game load times.
“Many improvements are the result of the custom designed processor that allows compatible games to play and leverage the increased CPU, GPU and memory from the new consoles,” Lo wrote onXbox Wire. “In addition however, the backward compatibility team has developed new methods for effectively doubling the framerate on select titles.
“While not applicable for many titles due to the game’s original physics or animations, these new techniques the team has developed can push game engines to render more quickly for a buttery smooth experience beyond what the original game might have delivered due to the capabilities of the hardware.”
Further reading
Sonyrevealed a list10 PS4 games which are not playable on PS5last week.
While it said “the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+PS4games are playable onPS5”, it warned that “some functionalities that were available on the PS4 console may not be available on PS5 consoles” and “some PS4 games may exhibit errors or unexpected behavior” when played on the next-gen system.
Some PS4 games will benefit from thePS5 Game Boostfeature, which may make them run with a higher or smoother frame rate.Ghost of Tsushimawill utilise PS5 Game Boostto support frame rates up to 60fps.
