Xbox just changed the backward compatibility game and the consequences could be huge. For the first time, a backward compatibility title enhanced for the XBox One X, Final Fantasy XIII, has assets that were not in the original Xbox 360 release. The One X enhanced version of FF13 looks more like a remaster than a straightforward resolution boost. If it can be done for Final Fantasy XIII, it may be possible for other titles as well.
Xbox uses a simple resolution-boosting technique to enhance backward compatibility titles for the One X. Every frame in the original game is laid out in a three by three grid as seen in the image above. The grid is then collapsed into a single frame with triple the resolution of the original Xbox 360 game.
Many Xbox 360-era games rendered at 720p (1280 x 720). Enhancing them for the One X triples the resolution to 3840 x 2160 which is full 4K. Nice how that works out. Final Fantasy XIII rendered at 1024 x 576 on the 360 and the enhanced version comes in at 3072 x 1728 or 64% of full 4K. Needless to say, it looks a lot better.
Increasing resolution using this three-by-three technique is all Xbox did to enhance 360 games for the One X. The game’s code was untouched. That changed with FF13 .
The three-plus hours of full motion video in FF13 was compressed with very poor results when the game was ported from the PS3 to the 360. Xbox replaced the compressed video with something much closer to the original for the One X enhanced version. Digital Foundry tried to show the difference in a video comparison, but the improvements are masked by the compression used by YouTube.
The Digital Foundry commentators remarked that the video is greatly improved and I agree. The newly enhanced version of FF13 looks terrific on a One X. You can get an idea of the magnitude of the improvement by looking at the storage requirements of the original and enhanced versions of the game. FF13 took up a bit less than 15GB on the 360 and it requires more than 30GB on the Xbox One.
Doing more than simply increasing resolution is an exciting development for Xbox’s backward compatibility program because it opens the door for enhanced versions that improve other visual features. These additional changes would involve modifying a game’s code which may be more difficult than the swapping of video files which was probably what happened with the Final Fantasy XIII enhancement. The return for enhancing many 360 games beyond the resolution boost may not be worth the effort. But it may be for some, and if Xbox decides to take the extra step, the backward compatibility program will take a huge leap forward.
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