New Xbox won’t be backwards compatible – report

Microsoft’s new Xbox will not be backwards compatible with Xbox 360 games, according to a new report.

Bloomberg says that the upcoming console will be built using an AMD X86 board – a PC standard that houses both the CPU and GPU on a single assembly.

This means that Microsoft is dropping the Power PC architecture of the Xbox 360 and as a result the new machine will not be able to run older games. The same is true for PS4, which will not be backwardly compatible with PS3 titles.

PS4 is also being built using AMD components using a custom ‘system on a chip’ design. A second chip will be tasked with handling downloads and background processing.

Bloomberg also backs up reports of a May event in which Microsoft will reveal its new console. This is currently pencilled in for May 21st, according to reports.

Plans for an April reveal were supposedly altered due to what is described as little competitive pressure from Sony”, which is not expected to reveal any more significant information on PS4 until E3 in June.