Xbox 360 – backwardscompatible?

Xbox 360 was presented at the end of last week on MTV and quite a lot of some goody information was released. But one of the most crucial ones remains unanswered: will Xbox 360 be compatible with today’s XboX’s games or not. Appearantly Microsoft itself hasn’t decided yet despite that the console has been presented. It’s not certain why this information has been revealed yet but there are of course several theories behind this and it might be just as simple as a technical incompatibility.

 

The first scenario is of course that the hardware in Xbox 360 isn’t enough to emulate the Xbox games, something you might have a hard time to believe considering the quite impressive specifications. Other and more delicate problems in the varying hardware, and especially the manufacturers of the hardware, between the two consoles are perhaps more likely. It might be that Microsoft will have to pay license fees to Intel and NVIDIA to handle softwar developed for their products. Something that would create unnecessary expences Microsoft most gladly would skip.

Exactly what is behind the delay is uncertain but we pressume Microsoft is quite uncomfortable since many consider the compatibility as very important. Not only the consumers but also the game developers.

Source: Ars Technica