Like most gamers, I thought that Microsofts adding backwards compatibility to the XB1 would be a neat feature that really brings very little this late in the game in actual benefits for the gamer.  Sure, there will be a certain amount of gamers that will pick up a few titles from the 360 they never got to or a number of people who simply retire the 360 and use their XB1 only.  

  But, I have been watching the news articles that seem to pop up for each title that gets added to the BC list.  Sure, these aren't headlines on the Wall Street Journal or NY Times or CNN.  But, they are news articles adding focus to the XB1.

  BRILLIANT I say.  Now, MS gets continous small and sometimes larger media notices for OLD content on a consistant basis.  And nowadays, that is just the start.  When nostalgia hits for any particular gamer for a title, he/she might tweet or post to facebook talking about how game X or Y can now be played on the XB1.  This keeps conversations going regarding the XB1.  It's all small stuff, but it all adds up. Other gamers will likely want to join in on the multiplayer or the "fun" and go pick up an XB1.  It won't be the only reason to get an XB1, but having a small reason that connects with a gamer might be just enough.

 The thing is, BC isn't a one time thing and all the games are available and we stop talking about it.  It will be a continous thing that people will talk about for the next couple of years as publishers look to mine extra $ out of their old titles and want to put the games in the Xbox store.  Why do a remaster when you can get more money for close to nothing?

I don't think that this will change the sales rankings, as the PS4 has clearly decided that.  But, we may yet see the sales gap stop increasing so much.

"But, we may yet see the sales gap stop increasing so much."

by % or by unit?

The BC you are talking about is different to companies making it so a game works on Xbox One and selling it on the store. BC allows a customer to play the games they already own (hard copies), if a customer was sensible that also means they won't buy the $40 version from the store but the $5 version from the 2nd hand shelf if they don't already own it.

Why do a remaster? Because that is far more profitable than allowing a customer to just play the game already. It's a great feature for consumers but not very profitable for the publishers.

I know that they can play the games that they own...

But, the BC capability will alllow them to direct sell DIGITAL versions to people who have sold their old copies or new people to their old content.

Remasters have a significant cost to produce if done right.  Most games may not really gain much from a remaster.

Obviously to me anyway, the current gap will only increase.  But instead of 2 to 1 now, maybe it will only be 3 to 2.  The increasing gap may be able to be eliminated in the US, but rest of the world all MS can hope to do is to slow down the increasing gap. 

All I can say is--for a couple of days, the PlayStation Vita suddenly had full BC for all of the PSPs digital games. People were jazzed until they found out it was an accident and the games suddenly disappeared.

It was a big deal, then. For me it always was and always will be. As long as a console is BC with games people actually want to play.

I think the bigger deal is the 50+ million XBox 360 owners who haven't yet upgraded to the current gen. If they are choosing between Wii U, PS4 and XB One, the XB One becomes the better choice, since they can sell their XBox 360, and still play their old games.

It's a good thing. It will probably sway a few people here and there who need to sell their old console to get a new one but don't want to sell their games. Everything positive adds to the collective appeal of something you spend that much money to buy.

But will it make any significant difference? Probably not. Most people won't give old games a second thought when buying a console. Their heads will be filled with new and upcoming games. It's human nature. This is especially true when the most important exclusives have already been remastered.

I just want a separate marketplace where they sell 360 games for something like 10-20$ and one where they sell original Xbox games for 5-15$. To me that would be really great. Third parties would win with this imo. Just to think that Cave shmup would be available to buy on X1... because they are hard to fin or just too expensive and Cave doesn't make money off off Ebay. Let them be on X1...

They can. However, I can buy a used copy of Gear of War 2 for £1. Are they going to sell Gears of War 2 from their store for £1?