Way back June of last year, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates hinted of an HD-DVD enabled Xbox 360, and Japan's Chief of Xbox Operations Yoshihiro Maruyama was quoted as saying that it is indeed a possibility, "but it won't have any relationship to gaming." Either Microsoft had a momentary lapse in memory or that there was simply a change of plans.

One member of Neogaf has posted this in the forums, but would only say that his source is from a subscription only publication only, hence, he can't divulge the source of the quote.

"Microsoft hasn’t determined whether to do Xbox 360 games in blue-laser HD DVD, but has ruled it out for “this holiday” when it ships its HD DVD drive for movie playback through the Xbox 360, said Dave Luehmann, gen. mgr.- Microsoft Game Studios. “Speed of loading” is Microsoft’s big concern about HD DVD games on the Xbox 360, Luehmann said. Xbox 360 games on red-laser DVD9 can run at 12X speeds at data transfer rates that aren’t a problem, but the same can’t necessarily be said of HD DVD game content, and Microsoft wants to be confident of pleasing users, he said. He wasn’t more specific about delivery timing of the HD DVD drive. Microsoft hasn’t released pricing on the drive, but “will do so shortly,” he said. He vowed it would be offered at a “great and affordable” price, repeating statements of other Microsoft executives that the drive would be the “cheapest” HD DVD player available."

Some are going on faith that Microsoft can't change the media it's shipping games on halfway through the life cycle of a console, leaving owners of the DVD version unable to play HD-DVD games. While some are advocates for change, egging on DVD extras and possible top-selling game add-ons. But one thing binding all the gamers together is the price concern.

It sure does bring Sega 32X to mind doesn't it?

It's been a week now since the first batch of Team Underdog's modchip has been released. Although it has been received with lukewarm enthusiasm by the gaming community, many citing the chips possess mediocre quality. In Team Underdog's defense, they have this to say:

One more very important fact we found out is that for the Hitachi DJ drives you can even lower the value of the trimpot to 2.6KOhms for perfect media recognition and without harming the laser.

We see a few irrelevant people complaining about the manufacturing of our chips. Just let us tell you that most of the people don't care whats under the rubber because the final result is even better than expected. In order to get the chips out to the public we needed to choose that kind of manufacturing for the first batch. The forthcoming batches will be machinemade which will of course make us able to deliver much better quantities and the few complainers will be satisfied, too. ;-)

People who still have problems patching the SS to the correct address will receive some help from the upcoming SS-Merger v1.7.

As you've read, there are a lot of points raised in their recent statement. First is how you can set your POT calibration to as low as 2.6KOhms. Some may not agree with this one, since generally, rule of thumb is around 3.1 to 3.2, but maybe daredevils will go out there and prove if you really can.

Second, is that since there have been "a few irrelevant people complaining" about the manufacturing of the chips (I personally think it isn't a good idea referring to them as irrelevant), they are releasing a second batch which are now machinemade, to alleviate the quality of the product, as well as to increase quantity.

The backlash of that, I think, is that the first "irrelevant few" that ordered would start to think that they got the raw end of the deal. But maybe if Team Underdog will have a swap scheme, why not? Third, is the future addition of the SS-Merger v1.7, for those still having some difficulty patching the SS to the correct address.

POT stands for potentiometer, an apparatus that measures the potential (or voltage) which has a user-adjustable resistance. Usually, this is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding contact in the center. Basically, it tells the laser how bright to shine to resolve issues of the drive not reading media.

The potentiometers or pots are located in the laser head's side if you want to try and adjust them. Just be careful in adjusting them though, because it's known to kill some lasers. Most gamers suggest not going below 3.0 when adjusting your pots.

Download and follow this step by step guide on how to tweak your pot made by Moda from Xbox-scene. A lot of people swear on the effectivity of this tutorial.

Download: [XBox 360 POT Calibration V1.0 by Moda]