Speaking at a joint event with HD-DVD creator Toshiba in Tokyo, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates reaffirmed Microsoft's commitment to the HD-DVD standard and confirmed that the company is already thinking about future revisions of the Xbox 360 hardware (company may incorporate a HD-DVD drive into the console). The HD-DVD standard currently faces a battle against the competing Blu-Ray next-generation DVD standard, created by Sony reports GamesIndustry.

"The initial shipments of Xbox 360 will be based on today's DVD format," Gates explained. "We are looking at whether future versions of Xbox 360 will incorporate an additional capability of an HD DVD player or something else."

Sony's PlayStation 3 will use Blu-Ray system for both HD movie playback and game storage. Sony and Toshiba have held talks to try and establish a joint format for next-generation DVD, but these collapsed recently after Toshiba refused to accept Blu-Ray - which boasts higher capacity discs but is more expensive to manufacture - as the basis for the joint standard.