Microsoft has dismissed speculation over the Xbox 2 game console"s backward compatibility with its predecessor.
A story on a UK-based Web site had quoted unnamed sources close to Microsoft"s development team as saying that the Xbox 2--codenamed Xenon--would not be able to play games released for the first-generation Xbox.
Asked to confirm this report, a spokesperson for Microsoft in Asia told CNETAsia: "Recent stories in the press about future Xbox products are nothing more than pulp fiction. Microsoft hasn"t made any announcements regarding the next generation, so it"s far too early to speculate about specifics, including backward compatibility."
But even if the report is accurate, it appears that Microsoft has little to be worried out. A quick straw poll of Xbox owners in Singapore indicates that the deciding factors will be how well the Xenon performs as a game console and the quality of the games released.