Overnight at MWC in Barcelona there was two interesting tidbits of news related to the Xbox 360. Yes, it is still alive and well and given the game incompatibility between it and the Xbox One, you can expect they will be around for a long time to come. The first bit of news was the announcement of a new Xbox 360 Preview program. This, like the one for the Xbox One, will bring preview (beta) bits to the console. Invited customers will be able to sign up directly from their Xbox 360. Starting this month invitations will be sent out and you can sign up. What this not however is Windows 10. While Microsoft is saying more changes are coming later this year to the 360, there is no indication whatsoever that it will be updated to Windows 10 like the Xbox One will be once it is released. Could that change? Of course, but frankly I don’t see it happening given the emphasis and focus on the Xbox One platform.
Xbox Live Gold – $59.99 – Microsoft Store
The second piece of news involves the Xbox 360 being able to download Xbox One games. As you may know, if you are an Xbox Live Gold customer, twice a month you can download a free title from Xbox directly to your console. This is for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners. To this point Xbox 360 owners could download only games for Xbox 360. Now you can “purchase” these free games each month for the Xbox One.
Here is how it works. Each month as an Xbox 360 owner you can navigate to the Games for Gold section on your console. You can highlight the freebie for Xbox One and go through the purchase process. The purchase is free and it will not download to your 360 console. Remember, it can’t play them. Now you have the game in your library so when you do upgrade to an Xbox One, you will have a library of games available for download to your new console. Yes it is a way fro Microsoft to entice you to upgrade but it is also a pretty good deal as you could end up with a handful of games before you buy your One.
Remember, if you are not an Xbox Live Gold member yet, you can sign up at the Microsoft Store online and get a digital download code to join. It is $59.99
