First up was "NFL 2K5":
It's a pity they don't just give the player a "no warranty, may not work" message, and let the game attempt to run anyway. Maybe there are legal reasons. In any event, I moved on to the next title, which was "Splinter Cell":
Clearly this "update" is the entire game, and then some: I doubt "Splinter Cell" was 3.5 GB in the first place, but what do I know. The download completed, whereupon I had an icon on my dashboard. I selected it, and was greeted by an emulated version of the original Xbox system startup animation. Nice touch.
The grainy-by-modern-standards intro FMV played, with its early-2000's 'tude. From the game's menu, I selected the "Download Levels" option:
I guess the Windows 98 PC sitting under Bob's desk which served up these files back in the day finally got its plug kicked out of the power strip. Oh well! Let's start the actual game then and get into the first level:
Holy cow! "Breathing new life into an old game" doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm a poor judge of framerate, but it appeared to be sixty frames per second. The resolution looked like a native 4K 4:3-equivalent, with some kind of modern anti-aliasing applied to it as well. And the so-called "auto HDR" was incredible: I had no idea it would work as well as it does.
I captured a couple of screenshots straight from the unit itself, click on them for the full 2160p versions:
Next up was the one I'd been anticipating the most-- except that I couldn't find my copy of it, despite tearing my house apart: "Morrowind: Game of the Year"!
I am aware that "OpenMW" is the best way to play the game today-- but seeing an emulated version upscaled and with HDR, in the manner illustrated above, and with zero load times, would be a treat in a whole different way. If I do find the copy, expect a follow-up blog post.
I've been downplaying this backwards compatibility feature of the Series X, but now having experienced it, it seems like somewhat of an "ace in the hole" for Microsoft.