xbox next

[AXmichigan]

Next Xbox to skip hard drive? *updated*
>> It was already a rumor before and now there's more talking about it.
From news.com:

Flash memory maker M-Systems announced on Wednesday that it has signed a contract to provide storage products for future versions of the Xbox, bolstering speculation that Microsoft may ditch the game console's hard drive.

M-Systems said in a statement that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft to develop "customized memory units for future Xbox products and services."
Ronit Maor, chief financial officer at Israel-based M-Systems, said the company could not discuss details of the contract. But Maor said the devices under development would be of significantly higher capacity than the 8MB Xbox memory units Microsoft currently sells to save game and user data. "What we're going to offer for the Xbox doesn't currently exist," Maor said.

Jay Srivatsa, a senior analyst at research firm iSuppli, said the Xbox hard drive so far has been used mainly for ancillary functions like saving progress in a game, not to improve the way games work. Sacrificing the hard drive could be a relatively painless way to trim $10 or $20 per unit from production costs. "I can see why they'd attempt to do that--the hard disk usage on the current Xbox has been pretty minimal," he said. "At some point, this has got to be a profitable business for Microsoft. They have to draw some lines; look at what can they take out."

Update: gamepro.com has more info about which type of memory will be used:

According to M-Systems, the memory will be "based on the Smart DiskOnKey platform," sharing the "same firmware and software components."

(February 25 23:28 GMT+1) - (direct link to article)
(Posted by:: XanTium)

i have one word to describe this
but i think i could get banned for life for sayin it 8)