I ran into this article on smarthouse and thought it was quite interesting:

“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.“

Now that sounds attractive. Now everyone knows that the PS3 has killed the Xbox in terms of sales. Microsoft has now realised they need to be giving people something that will entice them further and if this “insider” tip from Toshiba turns out to be true, it could be very beneficial for a lot of people.

Some of the features that this new console is meant to have are:

• Gaming (obviously)
• Wireless Networking
• 1080p playback
• *Possibly* HDTV tuner
• *Possibly* EPG capability
• *Possibly* a docking port for an mp3 player

Now these features are quite attractive. The article further goes on and talk about how it will have an open chassis system that will allow for the xbox to be slotted in to a HDTV screen over 40inch and also allow, now pause and be ready to be warmed by knowing that they actually considered this in a console, allow users to upgrade hard drives like users can on a pc. It will be a Christmas miracle if they do that.

Now as with everything cool, it’s not coming out yet, but it is projected to come out in late 2008, are at the latest 2009. Hopefully that is enough time to release this, I honestly believe it will make or break whether the Xbox will ever be successful, and if all these features come with it, I will be over the moon.

The full article can be read here.