As the console wars between the Xbox Series X and PS5 heat up, gamers are turning to a topic that stirs as much passion as hardware specs and game prices: backward compatibility. And Microsoft is trying to fill in some of the blanks for prospective Xbox buyers.

In an official Xbox Wire blog post, Microsoft detailed how the Xbox Series X will work with the library of games it already has for the Xbox One. In a nutshell, this console is a super-anticipated start that will no doubt bring joy to collectors and fans looking to organize their game backlog.

While it was already clear that the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S would have the ability to play a variety of previous generation Xbox titles at launch, Microsoft's Peggy Low affirmed how important it is to "preserve and honor our gaming heritage" and finally elaborated on what that means.

"We also fundamentally believe that not only should all the games of the past be playable without the need to buy them again, they should look, feel, and play better on the next generation Xbox console," Lo said.

To that end, Microsoft has stated that original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games that are part of the Xbox Backward Compatibility Program will look and play best on the new console. In fact, these games will likely look and play better on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S than they did on the original consoles, Lo said, and the games will "natively" on the new systems and "perform the best they were originally designed to

He said that the system will run at "the best performance it was originally designed for.

This means not only maximum resolution and visual quality, but also higher and more stable frame rates. Load times will also be reduced thanks to the Xbox Velocity Architecture.

In addition, the new Xbox series will support a feature called Auto HDR. This is intended to "improve" the visual quality of games without changing the original artistic intent, Lo said. Because it is supported in hardware, there is no performance cost to the CPU, GPU, or memory. There is also no latency associated with this feature.

So what about for gamers: the Xbox Series X not only aims to revitalize older Xbox titles, but it does so in a way that goes beyond just ending up with a new coat of paint on an old game. Players don't have to throw away their collections to head into the future; they can look back at their favorite games and enjoy them while transforming them into their best possible selves.