Gamers around the world rejoiced yesterday when Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s President, announced that Sega’s Genesis console games would be available via Revolution’s “virtual console”. Many speculated that Nintendo kept secret a few other key publishers, not wanting to let too many cats out of the bag before E3. Well, those speculations were confirmed this morning in a private meeting between Nintendo representatives and key members of the gaming press.

So what other games will Nintendo be offering for download onto the Revolution? Xbox games. Yup, Nintendo announced in the meeting that Xbox 1 games would be available via the “virtual console”. Not only that, all Xbox 1 games are reportedly going to be downloadable, including the many popular games missing from the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility list, such as Top Spin, Burnout, Project Gotham Racing, and EA Sports Titles.

There is debate about why Microsoft has allowed this to happen. Some people are claiming that it was a loophole in the publishing deals Microsoft made, and that Microsoft can’t legally stop Nintendo. Others are saying Microsoft made a very lucrative deal with Nintendo for exclusive download rights to all previously released Xbox titles, and that Microsoft’s royalties and upfront money will more than cover any loss of customer to the competition.

No matter what the reason behind this remarkable news is, Nintendo’s Revolution is definitely making some waves.

Tags: virtual console, Nintendo Revolution, backwards compatibility