Xbox 360 free games will be backward compatible on Xbox One beginning in November

Beginning in November, all Xbox 360 titles offered in the free Games With Gold service will be playable on Xbox One. That's good, as the coming month's lineup otherwise looks thin.

Dirt 3, a well received but four-year old rally racing game, and Dungeon Siege 3, a middling RPG also from 2011, anchor the older console's offerings. Dirt 3 will be available Nov. 1 to Nov. 15, and Dungeon Siege 3 will follow from Nov. 16 to Nov. 30.

On Xbox One, players get the indie puzzler Pneuma: Breath of Life (launched in February) all month and then the indie "multiplayer swords-and-silliness action game" Knight Squad from Nov. 16 to Dec. 15.

Backward compatibility with Xbox 360 arrives on Nov. 12 alongside the console's new user interface. Microsoft has said that more than 100 Xbox 360 titles will be playable on Xbox One when the feature arrives. A full list may be seen here.

As November is traditionally video gaming's biggest month for new launches, some softening of the free offerings on the consoles' services is to be expected then. On the whole, the free games services offered with subscriptions to PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold have returned reasonable value.

One analysis said PlayStation delivered more than $1,300 in free games (at suggested retail prices) in 2014, and our examination showed about $584 worth were given out by Games With Gold in the same year.