Will Xbox 360 games work on new 720 console?

IF THE rumours of the new chipset for the upcoming Xbox are true, then Xbox 360 games won't work on Microsoft's next gaming console.

Xbox 720 design

RUMORS of the next Xbox's use of an AMD-based chipset have been circulating for months, and now Bloomberg is lending further credence to the claim.

According to the news organization's anonymous sources, the system will utilize a chip based on AMD's Jaguar APU architecture. The article also claims that, because of the move away from Power PC technology to an x86 system, current Xbox 360 discs won't work with Microsoft's next console. This puts the possibility of hardware-based backwards compatibility in jeopardy.

Fan-Made Xbox 720 Render

While the report offers no additional details on the specifics of the hardware, it falls in line with purported specs leaked earlier this year, which claimed the system would utilize a 1.6GHz 8-core AMD CPU. If true, the next Xbox would be comparable to the PlayStation 4, which Sony has confirmed will use an 8-core AMD processor based on the same Jaguar architecture. Whether or not Microsoft's silicon will outpace the PS4 in terms of clocking speed or number of cores, however, remains unknown.

The news follows reports earlier today that Microsoft is planning to reveal its next console at an event on May 21st. With just over a month to go, more pre-announcement leaks seem likely. To catch up on all of the latest next-gen Xbox rumors, check out IGN's wiki guide.

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