Microsoft lists two points in response to the reports claiming that it has, as of the 14th, entered into final development phases with Toshiba and other HD-DVD backers to release an HD-DVD version of the Xbox 360 some time next year after Spring.
The first point: "Microsoft, in both America and Japan, has not announced anything regarding the possibility of a next generation DVD drive being placed in the Xbox 360 ."
And the second point: "There are currently no plans to release an Xbox 360 equipped with a next generation DVD player ."
The comment followed a report by the Japanese news agency Jiji that Microsoft would ship an HD DVD-equipped 360 some time in 2006.
It's a prospect that has been raised before, not least by two senior Microsoft staffers. Step forward Bill Gates and Yoshihiro Maruyama, the latter head of Xbox operations in Jaapan. In August, Gates said the company was "looking at whether future versions of Xbox 360 will incorporate an additional capacity of an HD-DVD player or something else". Last month, Maruyama said such a move was a "possibility", though probably for movie playback rather than game storage.