In retrospect I wish Microsoft had made the choice to have [mandatory] hard drives like Sony did with the PS3... They did it with the original Xbox. I'm not sure why they decided to not require a hard drive on the 360. From what I understand they don't move many [Core/Arcade] units... Developers certainly benefit [from a hard drive]," he went on to explain, adding: "if you have a hard drive, the whole game loads faster. Obviously you'll be facing a short install time, but the developer benefits from it and you definitely benefit from it as a player... So I think that was one of the mistakes that Microsoft made with the 360.

Backing up what we heard from Europe earlier today several sources familiar with Microsoft's new Xbox 360 marketing tact have confirmed that the rebranded Xbox 360 Core is indeed legit and will likely be announced here in the U.S. in time for the holidays.

Our sources tell us the Xbox 360 Arcade will sell for the same price as the current, seemingly out-moded Xbox 360 Core but come packed in with a 256MB Memory Card and five free Xbox Live Arcade Games. As with all rumors and unnamed sources, you should take this with a grain of salt, though in this case, I'd say it wouldn't hurt to give the sodium a pass.

European 360s Get New Names New Color