Xbox One’s Killer App This Holiday Season Is the Xbox 360 Library

Some of the best games you'll be playing on your Xbox One over holidays were released last generation.

Microsoft on Monday revealed the first 104 Xbox 360 games that will be playable on the Xbox One using the new system's backwards compatability mode. Xbox One Backwards Compatibility, as the feature is officially named, was announced at E3 last June, and instantly gives the Xbox One a game library that Sony's PS4 would be lucky to match (putting aside PlayStation Now, Sony's service that lets players stream older titles to their PS4 for a fee). The feature launches this Thursday.

Digital Xbox 360 games linked to your Xbox Live account can merely be downloaded and then played on the Xbox One, while disc-based based need to be inserted into the system to trigger the necessary files to download.

The full list of compatible Xbox 360 games:

A Kingdom for Keflings

Lode Runner™

A World of Keflings

LUMINES LIVE!

Alien Hominid HD

Mass Effect™

Assassin's Creed II

Metal Slug 3

Asteroids & Deluxe

Metal Slug XX

Banjo Kazooie®: Nuts & Bolts

Might & Magic Clash of Heroes™

Banjo-Kazooie®

Mirror's Edge™

Banjo-Tooie®

Missile Command

BattleBlock Theater

Monday Night Combat

Bejeweled 2

Monkey Island: Special Edition

Bellator: MMA Onslaught

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition

Beyond Good & Evil HD

Ms. Splosion Man™

Blood of the Werewolf

Mutant Blobs Attack!!!

BloodRayne: Betrayal

N+

Borderlands

NBA JAM: On Fire Edition

Call of Juarez® Gunslinger

NiGHTS into dreams…

Castle Crashers

Operation Flashpoint™: Dragon Rising

CastleStorm

Pac-Man: Championship Edition™

Centipede & Millipede

Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX+

Condemned: Criminal Origins

Perfect Dark

Crazy Taxi™

Perfect Dark Zero

Deadliest Warrior: Legends

Phantom Breaker:Battle Grounds

Defense Grid: The Awakening

Pinball FX™

DiRT 3

Plants vs. Zombies

DiRT Showdown

Prince of Persia

Discs of Tron

Putty Squad

Doom

Rayman 3 HD

Doom II

R-Type Dimensions™

Dungeon Siege III

Sacred Citadel

Earthworm Jim HD

Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co.

Fable II

Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe

Fallout 3

Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World

Feeding Frenzy

Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage

Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown

Shadow Complex

Gears of War

Sonic CD

Gears of War 2

Sonic The Hedgehog

Gears of War 3

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Gears of War: Judgment

Sonic The Hedgehog 3

Golden Axe™

Super Meat Boy

Halo: Spartan Assault

Supreme Commander 2

Hardwood Backgammon®

Tom Clancy's RainbowSix Vegas

Hardwood Hearts®

Tom Clancy's RainbowSix Vegas 2

Hardwood Spades®

South Park: The Stick of Truth™

Heavy Weapon

Torchlight

Hexic HD

Toy Soldiers

Ikaruga

Toy Soldiers: Cold War

Jetpac Refuelled

Tron: Evolution

Joy Ride Turbo

Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon

Just Cause 2

Viva Piñata

Kameo™: Elements of Power

Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game

Wolfenstein 3D

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga

Zuma

Microsoft says that additional games, including Halo Reach and BioShock, will be added beginning in December.

By leveraging the Xbox 360's deep library, it has a better chance of convincing Xbox 360 gamers who haven't yet bought an Xbox One or PS4 that they can still play some of their old favorites without having to keep another console plugged into the TV.