I think it will hurt the 360 more than help it. Anyone else remember the CD-i? Now THAT really revolutionized the industry.

 So successful it cut them out of the business entirely and now they make neither IBM PC CPUs or OSs.

But every person here complains about how bad Microsoft is, and the fact that the X360 is the most unreliable product since the Yugo.

Now that MS might do something to ensure peak quality, Nintendo fans say it will hurt?

Spectacular logic.

Are you saying the only way to get quality out of the 360 (line?) is through a company that isn't MS?

i personally think this would be huge. even before the 360 launch, i thought this was the plan all along. there were many interviews with J. Allard and the like talking about cell phones and DVD players that are made by many manufacturers, but they all come with their own bells and whistles.

they've established that the 360 can come in many forms. it seems to pave the way for other manufacturers to understand that a game console, doesn't have to be liminted to one manufacturer.

i'm actually hoping this is the announcement. i firmly believe in a one console future because i ultimately think it will be the best thing for games. will Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft do it? or someone else? it's anyone's guess, but this would be a step in the right direction.

The problem is that consoles are already made by other manufacturers. Each component and the assembly is done by different companies anyway, so there would be little benefit from further outsourcing and it would just cause inconsistency (even having both HDD and no HDD SKUs is enough to upset developers) and selective hardware faults both of which are the point of consoles in the first place.

Hadn't 3DO done the same and failed...

There were 2 Panasonic models, a Sanyo model and some other company. It would only confuse the customer.

If Toshiba had some rights to the 360, it would do wonders for the system in Japan.

This would be kind of like vcrs or dvd players. There isn't just one manufacturer, rather there are many, of different levels of price and quality. They play the same movies, but have different read speeds, different prices, different response times between button presses, different sizes, etc. Would be very interesting, to say the least.

As much as this sounds cool, I will pass. I already took the plunge and bought the HD-DVD add-on, and see no real need to buy another 360. However, if it RROD on me again, I will take the hit and give it some thought.

However, it still won't be used for gaming, unlike the PS3, which does use BR for it.

 AIX?

Anyway didn't sega do this with the saturn? Don't think it did anything for them. Microsoft might have a better time of it. I think it makes sense. Make xbox 360 a standard instead of just a console. Microsoft being a software company and not a hardware one if anyone could make it work they could.