In some exciting news for HD-DVD fans, Scott Browning, one of the most experienced CE retail marketing executives in Australia, has revealed that Microsoft is preparing to launch a new Xbox 360 console featuring a built in HD-DVD drive.

"The fact that movie houses like Paramount are behind the HD-DVD format along with the like of DreamWorks is key. I believe that more content providers will get behind the format and that the likes of Microsoft who are big supporters of the HD DVD format will bring out an Xbox with a built in HD DVD player. This is a given." 

http://www.n4g.com/News-75565.aspx

Well, if this happens, Sony will have to struggle even more than they are ATM...and that's hard. O_o

 Hmm not really,  it would only be a danger for sony if they would make HD-DVD games but that is impossible because their are already 12 million X360's sold without HD-DVD.

I really don't know if this will have a big influence on sales.

 no they would have 12 million really po'ed 360 owners. It would be the worst move Microsoft ever did.

I don't see the point. It raises the price of the 360 and devs still can't use any of the features for gaming.

MS doesn't even care that much about HD-DVD. They want to push downloads, not physical media.

So if they can't use HD-DVD for gaming and it raises the price of the 360, why on Earth would MS include it with a 360? It's possible that they'll create an uber-Elite model, but even that makes little to no sense.

At first I was hyped - but then reality set in. NOOOOOO.

I could see why they'd do it - developers are pushing the envelope on the data storage - BUT ... if you come out with games that utilize the HD-DVD drive, you are forcing 12 million folks to spend an additional $99-150 to upgrade. And Sony will just sit back and laugh.

If they brought it out at like $449 - and offered the HD-DVD drive at $99, I would definitely consider it ...

UPDATE: Or ... they could offer multidisk games on the regular Xbox 360 and HD-DVD games on the enhanced 360.

Hmmmm ... you've piqued my interest, Konnichiwa ...

In less microsoft screws those 12 million which wont happen. I wish the xbox was made by some other company than microsoft because i want an xbox but I hate microsoft.

 Wow that sounds confusing don't you think so?

I think a lot of moms will let their children cry when they come home with a HD-DVD version of a game when their child wanted the Regular one :s;

 oh Microsoft has been known to do stupid things. They originally promised SP5 for Windows 2000 but instead stopped manufacturing and support for the OS.

Not a chance there will be games on hddvd.