Here we go again – removable hard-drives, anyone?

Given the propensity for the same rumours about Xbox 2 to go around and around, it seems apt that Xbox 360 is believed to be the front-runner in the name stakes.

Since the announcement of the Xbox’s successor, there have been a few persistent rumours flying around forums and the web concerning the finer details. Possibly the most prevalent – will it be backwards-compatible? – has not yet been addressed officially, although it potentially could happen, as previously reported.

The other rumour with legs is in regard to the hard-drive question; namely, will it have one? Speculation has been rife over the preceding months, as various options were considered by the internet population, such as large (1GB+) flash drives, a standard hard-drive, or the fabled xPod – a portable device that could play MP3’s and do other multimedia wizardry away from the main Xbox system, as well as acting as storage for game saves and such. Indeed, this rumour originally surfaced last year, after XNA (Microsoft’s cross-platform middleware solution) boss J Allard allegedly told fellow snowboarders in a bar at a Canadian resort that the next Xbox would come with an iPod style media player. Get it right, and the ‘xPod’ could be just the bait that tempts the doubters into upgrading.

Still, another day, another rumour. As reported by www.gamesindustry.biz, the Xbox 360 may feature a removable hard-drive bay that attaches to the main system “in a really slick way, almost like the hood scoop on a muscle car.” Of course, Microsoft has not commented on such rumours (as they never do, to their credit), but the possibility of being able to add to the basic system does tie-in with another of the rumours that surfaced within the last few months: that the Xbox 360 will ship in more than one configuration. Early stories suggested that there could be three possible specs, GamesIndustry.biz speculates maybe only two. We don’t know for sure, and suggest waiting until something official is announced.

And so it moves on; ignoring arguments that a new console generation is coming too soon (which, let’s face it, it is), the hype machine has been well and truly kicked off by Microsoft since last year, and is beginning to build up some momentum. With only three months to E3 (when it will surely all be revealed), expect more news to emerge until then, and keep ’em peeled at Pro-G for the latest. Interesting times ahead!