[spawner]

Full backwards compatibility in doubt

While Microsoft has said that Xbox 360 will be capable of playing 'top' titles for the original Xbox, the next-gen machine may not be fully backwards compatible, it has emerged.

"At launch, Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible with the top Xbox games," wrote Xbox Live boss Larry Hryb on his blog recently.

However, Hryb doesn't go as far as to say that all Xbox games will work on Xbox 360, saying only that this is Microsoft's "goal".

"Our goal is to have every Xbox game work on Xbox 360. You will not need to purchase a new 'version' - your original games will work on Xbox 360."

The problem seems to be that Xbox 360 will run an Xbox emulator as opposed to running Xbox games off embedded hardware, which means that some games could catch out the emulator - and hence wouldn't work.

We'll bring you further details and clarification on this as soon as we have it

gamesradar.com