Xbox 360 - Backwards Compatible - UPDATED

Several news sites, including Gamespot are reporting that Microsoft confirmed that the Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible with "top-selling" original Xbox games.

While Sony has successfully offered backwards compatibility throughout its Playstation line, Microsoft's plan is a bit more ambitious... as the current Xbox and upcoming Xbox 360 use different processor architectures. The original Xbox was run on an Intel processor while the new Xbox will sport a PowerPC processor.

Readers will remember, however, that Microsoft acquired Virtual PC from Connectix back in February 2003. Xbox titles will likely be emulated by the new console. Virtual PC is still offered for the Mac from Microsoft.

If all true, a "Virtual Xbox" would certainly be a feasible Mac software product in the future -- but perhaps an unlikely one to come from Microsoft.

[UPDATE] Posted at GameIndustry.biz, Microsoft has admitted that backwards compatibility will be obtained only through a recompile of existing software for the Xbox due to hardware changes in both the Intel to IBM processor as well as the change from NVidia to ATI graphics hardware.