Rumored Xbox360 Redesign

[Rob]

A picture from a Chinese forum is possibly evidence of a new Xbox360 motherboard with a few exciting differences to the current mobos. The overall size of the board has been greatly reduced thanks to combining the gpu/cpu. There is also an extra sata port which could hint at more extensive media center abilities. This is currently a rumor with no solid evidence to back it up, but the story and picture have made their way onto Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/17/xbox-360-valhalla-motherboard-leaked-on-chinese-forum/) and Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/5495181/rumor-new-xbox-360-model-slims-down-[update]) so maybe there is something going on.

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/7977/1268648370960.th.jpg (http://img687.imageshack.us/i/1268648370960.jpg/)

I think it makes sense that the entire console will be getting a redesign soon. They have to do something to sex up that aging hardware and get some momentum going when Natal arrives. It's only a matter of time before Microsoft responds to Sony's PS3Slim. What do you think?

[Astonix]

They definitely need something new as they haven't done anything to the design since before PS3 which looks sleek, stylish and like it's worth its money, not just look wise, but capabilities and power. If Microsoft do this right now and offer the right things, they will by far out sell PS3 in my opinion.

[Jason]

Agreed - this could well be the pivotal moment in this generation's console war. The Xbox started strongly and has a much bigger share of the market, but the PS3 is catching up and is only going to get stronger as developers push that extra hardware further - whether Microsoft can turn this round with a redesigned console (hopefully without any major design or technical faults this time... here's hoping!) is an interesting debate - I wonder if maybe the Xbox is reaching saturation point and whether there will really be the demand for a new version of it if everyone who wants one has one already.