Microsoft announced a slew of new backward compatible Xbox titles today, and while this will be the last drop we ever get — at least where the Xbox and Xbox 360 are concerned — it still comes as a welcome surprise. One thing I’m not seeing a whole lot of people talk about, however, is FPS Boost: namely, the FPS Boost Microsoft is applying to back compat Xbox 360 games for the first time.
That image above? It is not deception. These very old games did not suddenly get 2021 remasters. Microsoft now has FPS Boost working on Xbox 360 titles, which means you can now play the entirety of the Gears of War franchise at 60 FPS. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas? 60 FPS. The original NIER? 60 FPS.
This is pretty awesome.
Are there some oddities in this list? Sure. The original Dead Space seems to be missing, even though 2 and 3 are present. The same goes for Final Fantasy 13, which was omitted despite two sequels getting the love. And what possessed someone to clear Black College Football Xperience: Doug Williams Ed for the program while Fable 2 couldn’t make the cut? No idea. Doesn’t make sense.
But there’s still room for more boosting to come in the future. Even though the backward compatibility team is done with the Xbox and Xbox 360 generations, FPS Boost lives on. Perhaps we’ll see more games added over time, as that team (the one team that handled both) can now focus solely on upping frame rates for existing BC games.
I’ve written in the past about the potential for back compat Xbox FPS Boost titles. As fate would have it, I even planned today to write about how the program seemed frozen. Microsoft hadn’t added new games in quite a while. Obviously I had to pivot, and I’m very happy Microsoft’s announcement forced me to do so.
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