To say that the announcement of the November release date for Fallout 4 was huge would be an understatement. Everyone knew the game was going to show up at Bethesda's E3 2015 press conference, as well as the fact that more of the game would be shown off, but the only missing detail was when the post-apocalyptic RPG would finally release - though many were hopeful that it would release sooner, rather than later.

November isn't a long ways off (it's a measly four months away), but it's long enough for people to consider going back to play Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas in an attempt to hold themselves over until Fallout 4. Combine that desire with the fact that the Xbox One is rolling out backwards compatibility, and one question inevitably comes to mind: When will Fallout 3 and New Vegas gain backwards compatibility support?

Currently, the list of Xbox 360 games that Xbox One preview members can return to is limited to a handful of games, meaning Vault Dwellers have to compromise and play the aforementioned games on the Xbox 360. Interestingly enough, however, Microsoft soon went and put up Fallout 4 for pre-order on Xbox.com, which led to the reveal that people who pre-order the game will receive a download code for, you guessed it, Fallout 3.

As exciting as this development is, there's still no idea when the 2008 title will get a second life on the current-gen console. One would think that Bethesda themselves would know, but, alas, even they're clueless about it.

As a Bethesda rep said to Destructoid:

"In terms of timing, we don't know what the time frame is as to when backwards compatibility will happen."

It would seem that only Microsoft knows when Fallout 3 will be added to the list of backwards compatible games - a list that's expected to expand by the time it launches to the public later this year.

All we know about the promotion so far is that the download code will be sent out within 7-10 days after the pre-order is made, and it will be for the base version of the game, not a Game of the Year copy, unfortunately. The same Bethesda rep explained that "it is the intention that the DLC will also be made backwards compatible, but it is not part of the pre-order program."

It is definitely in Microsoft's best interest to make Fallout 3 (and possibly Fallout: New Vegas) Xbox One compatible as soon as possible, if only to capitalize on fans' desire to revisit those games on the newer console. It would be pretty impressive to see this happen before July's end, though.

Fallout 4 is set to release on November 10, 2015 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Now, who here actually managed to get the Pip-Boy edition?

Source: Destructoid