To even think something like this would be used for games is plain stupid. They are not going to replace the 15 or more million 360s that'll be out in the wild by the time something like this would ever come out.

For movies, it depends. If Toshiba, or some other manufacturer, offers them the drives basically for free in an attempt to push their format (yes, it's in Microsoft's best interest to hand a blow to Sony, but not nearly as much as it is in Toshiba's), then it's plausible they might include it in some of their current models.

Creating a new more expensive model, would be flat out stupid, and for all they're flaws I don't think they're that stupid, sorry. If a 360 comes out that is significantly more expensive than a similar PS3, because of HD-DVD, that would just be prooving Sony's point.

No one read the articles about why Microsoft would do this, did they?

Their actual goal from this (if it was true) wouldn't be a Xbox 360+ HD-DVD system, it'd more of be designed for the Home Media System, not the gaming market.

The reason for this is because of the studies Sony and other entertainment groups have done in Europe, Japan and the US that's shown that one of the reasons people are buying Playstation 3s is because of next-gen media capabilities, not the games.

So Microsoft might do this not to create another Xbox, but just to try to screw Sony out of more BR-DVD players, and try to move a few more units.

If anything, this would happen:

Core stays core
Premium becomes the Elite (120gb HDD)
Elite becomes new elite with bigger (200gb HDD) and HD-DVD drive for the same price as the current Elite (it can happen).

Toshiba actually has been tagged as being the manufacturer of the system, as it'd be their system....Probably improving the X360s reliability even further since they actually have engineers that know how to make systems.

And finally...The reason MS would do this would be to prolong the HD/BRDVD wars another year or two, and hurt Sony further. If the X360 had the HD-DVD on it for one model, that was at a cheaper price (or similar) to the 40gb PS3, the PS3 would lose the advantage factor of having the Blu-Ray for media (which again, is a primary driving force of PS3 sales despite really bad software tier rates).

So MS could do this, make some easy cash, hurt Sony, and not really have an issue if it was known as a media center edition or whatnot.

Even if 2 out of every 5 Xboxes broke (which is what you seem to think is the failure rate), they are still in warranty.

Are you seriously suggesting the 5 million 360s you think have broke were simply put in a dumpster by their buyers and never replaced by Microsoft?

I understand this is a joke, but it's getting really old.

Positioned as a multi-media hub

Smarthouse, an Austrailian technology site, has reported that Microsoft is working on a new Xbox 360 console that will include a built-in HD DVD drive.

Microsoft currently sells an HD DVD player as an attachment for the Xbox 360, but it has not revealed sales figures for the peripheral.

According to the article the new Xbox console will be positioned as an entertainment hub that includes gaming and extensive wireless networking capability as well as 1080p playback. There is also talk of including a dual HD TV tuner and EPG capability and a docking port for an MP3 player.

Toshiba owns the HD DVD patents, and recently entered into an agreement with Sony to jointly manufacture cell processing chips, despite the fact that Sony is the lead backer of the Blu-ray Disc format competing with HD DVD.

A senior Toshiba executive in Singapore told SmartHouse "An Xbox with a built in HD DVD drive is critical. They and we are working on it. It also has to be more than a gaming machine. Microsoft recognise [sic] this. A version of the device may also be sold under the Toshiba brand name."

"The PS3 has been extremely successful for Sony in getting Blu-ray off the ground and for Microsoft, the omission of a built in HD DVD player is set to hurt sales going forward as consumers are aware that the PS3 comes with a Blu-ray player," said Scott Browning, the marketing director of Australian electronics retailer JB HiFi.

According to the article, the new console will be released late in 2008 or at the January 2009 CES show in Las Vegas.

Let's say the 360 does finally come with games on HD-DVD. Assuming by that time, mastering costs are low enough, Microsoft could just offer a dual deal. Not dual sided discs, but an HD-DVD disc in the same package as any multi-disc game (with single DVD games being left as they are). So if you had a game compatible HD-DVD drive, you could use that, and if you didn't, you would just work with one disc.

So if you just stuck with the DVD drive, you would change discs in every region of GTA 5, or you wouldn't have to bother if you bought the HD-DVD gaming drive.

This is of course just a hypothetical thing Microsoft could do to ad HD-DVD games, without screwing the early adopter.

EDIT: And it's my 1,000th post WOO-HOO (because I don't know what "w00t!" meanst)!

I think this is great news, it will increase HD DVD sales, but Im sticking with blu-ray. Spiderman 3!!!

There goes Dodece again, trying logic and reasoning.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news.  Your first attempt in the post went zinging by and the fanboy bullets kept flying.  Good luck getting anyone to actually read your well thought out, reasonable posts.

Yes, I did. I made a succinct reply earlier in the thread but RocketPig never responded.

HI I was just doing a little research on this topic and I found this:

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Gaming/Console/P4G5C3U2?page=1

"Microsoft, according to insiders at Toshiba owner of the HD DVD patents, claim that Microsoft is working on a brand new Xbox that will incorporate not only a new HD DVD drive but a large hard drive and new entertainment software that is a spin off from its struggling media centre offering. "

Not a bad idea for those that one a 360/hddvd in one.