One of the biggest points of having a system that is backwards compatible with older games is so that you can still play your older games on your new system right? When I bought my Playstation 2, one of the biggest selling points was that I was going to be able to play my Playstation games on it and I could eliminate the need of having one more device hooked up to my television.

According to this article from GamesIndustry.biz it seems like current generation Xbox games will have to be “recompiled” for Xbox 360. So does that mean somebody who owns an Xbox now will have to purchase the old games again if they want to play them on Xbox 360?

Following earlier indications that the Xbox 360 will only be backwards compatible with some Xbox games, Microsoft has admitted that existing software will need to be recompiled before it can be run on the new console.

The problem, it says, is down to hardware incompatibility - since the current Xbox uses an Intel processor, but the 360 will use IBM’s PowerPC architecture, while NVIDIA’s graphics solution is being replaced with an ATI one.

As many commentators have pointed out over the last few months, this means backwards compatibility problems. The solution Microsoft has reached is apparently to recompiled current-gen Xbox games so that they can be played on the 360. First on the list, it says, are the best-selling Halo titles.

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