The beta for Xbox Cloud Gaming has been updated with 16 classic games. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can now play the following games on their mobiles devices:
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Banjo-Tooie
- Double Dragon Neon
- Fable II
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Gears of War 2
- Gears of War 3
- Gears of War: Judgment
- Jetpac Refuelled (touch controls enabled)
- Kameo
- Perfect Dark
- Perfect Dark Zero
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- Viva Piñata (touch controls enabled)
- Viva Piñata: TIP (touch controls enabled)
As you can see from the list the focus is on titles which appeared on the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. This is very much intentional as Will Tuttle, Xbox Wire Editor in Chief, explains.
“Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can now tap into a collection of favorites from the past in a whole new way — right on mobile devices, turning them into retro handheld game systems. 16 original Xbox and Xbox 360 games are now available on Android phones and tablets, with more games coming soon. We’ve listened to the feedback, going all the way back to our earliest cloud gaming preview, and making games from previous generations available on mobile devices has been one of the most requested features by the community,” Tuttle writes.
While any decently powered phone or tablet can be “retro handheld game systems”, this has always been through the legally grey area of emulation, or the money burning exercise of re-buying old games that get mobile releases. This route is much simpler especially as so many people have Xbox Game Pass to make use of the features for console and PC.
For those who haven’t thought about Xbox Cloud Gaming in a while this game streaming service is still in beta. While more than a hundred games are available on the platform, it is only available on Android and requires a decent internet connection. A data connection or 5Ghz Wi-Fi with a 10Mbps download speed is recommended but, like many things in life, the more the better. The games available also vary by region and, as stated, you will need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.
