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Dov Moran, CEO of M-Systems, the company which has been contracted by Microsoft to provide flash memory storage for Xbox 2, has told an Israeli newspaper that the next-generation console will not have a hard disc drive.

As widely expected, Microsoft's chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach will take to the stage at the Game Developers Conference to discuss the next Xbox console - but the presentation may not include details of the system's hardware.

Speaking exclusively to Eurogamer.net, Microsoft Europe has today issued a surprise statement that catagorically denies the unveiling of Xbox 2 at the Games Developers Conference next week.

At its GDC conference later today, Microsoft is set to take the wraps off a new development platform called XNA which will be rolled out across all future game platforms, including Xbox consoles and Windows PCs.

Having unveiled its XNA development platform to the press earlier today, the much-hyped keynote address at the Game Developers Conference - originally mooted as the potential launch platform for Xbox 2 - merely served to reinforce the points made in the original announcement, our man in San Jose reports this evening.

Microsoft is to finally unveil the next incarnation of Xbox this summer, according to a senior development souce at GDC.

Texas-based Digital Anvil Studios, bought up by Microsoft Game Studios around three years ago, is currently advertising for an experienced programmer to work on "next generation hardware" according to a job advertisement spotted on Microsoft's website this week, prompting speculation that the developer is working on an Xbox 2 title.

Canadian developer Digital Extremes has released a trailer for its science fiction shooter title Dark Sector, and claimed last Friday that the startlingly detailed footage is not CG nor pre-rendered in any way and actually represents the fruits of its labours on a next-generation console. Or rather, the fruits of its labours on what we expect to see in next-generation consoles - Dark Sector was not developed using PS3 or Xbox 2 development kits, but instead uses components based on the potential specs for both consoles.

A patent recently granted to Microsoft in the US has raised hopes that the Xbox 2 will include a hard disk after all, but it appears that the news is nothing more sinister than the long overdue result of a filing dating back to March 2001.

Internal schedules at Microsoft as recently as last November called for the Xbox 2 to be launched in time for Christmas 2004, sources close to the company have revealed - and the firm is still thought to be considering a launch by mid-2005.

A diagram purporting to be a leaked Microsoft document describing the specification of the Xbox 2 has surfaced on a Chinese bulletin board - but sources close to the console's development say that it is probably a fake.

You can't really accuse J Allard of not thinking big enough.

Microsoft has been using a Californian market research group to conduct studies into the consumer appeal of a hybrid Xbox and PC gaming device, according to CNN/Money's latest Game Over column.

Industry bosses speaking at the Piper Jaffrey conference in New York have sounded notes of cautious optimism about Microsoft's next-generation plans, with EB president Jeff Griffiths saying that the system could win 30 per cent market share.

Japanese developer Game Republic, which is headed up by former Capcom director Yoshiki Okamoto, has presented a project to Microsoft Japan - and hopes to be given a green light to develop the new title shortly.

Sources close to Microsoft's senior Xbox executives have confirmed that the company does not intend to make its next-generation console, which is set to be launched by late 2005, backwards compatible with existing Xbox software.

A document purporting to be the currently planned specification for Microsoft's next-generation console has been leaked onto the Internet, and information in it tallies with what the company has told development partners, gi.biz has learned.

In a break from its usual refusal to comment on rumours, Microsoft has branded stories carried by this and other sites relating to the company's plans for Xbox 2 as "pulp fiction" - but has failed to deny the stories, or to back up its allegations.

The next-generation Xbox will enjoy stronger local software support in the Japanese market, according to Microsoft's Tokyo game development division boss Norman Cheuk, who said that much of the studio's current work is purely positioning.

The Xbox 2 looks likely to be formally announced in September, with Sony's PlayStation 3 announcement this morning helping to heap pressure on Microsoft to finally take the wraps off the successor to its Xbox console.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has expressed his confidence in the company's ability to defeat Sony in the next generation console battle, pointing out that the Xbox has become a major player despite the fact that it continues to lose money.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has told a financial analyst meeting at the firm's Redmond headquarters that there will be "no new Xbox in the next year," prompting new speculation over the release date for the system.

Midway Games CEO David Zucker has taken the rather surprising step of revealing that a seventh Mortal Kombat beat-'em-up is planned for PlayStation 3, Xbox 2 and a third wireless platform.

Senior industry sources, speaking to gamesindustry.biz over the weekend, have indicated that it is extremely likely that Xbox 2 - currently codenamed Xenon - will be unveiled during Bill Gates' keynote address at the International Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 5th, 2005.

Namco is already working on tools to power its next-generation console games, according to Namco CT vice president Yoichi Haraguchi, who said as much in the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu.

Comments made by ATI Technologies' CFO Terry Nickerson at a conference in New York this week have suggested that the company's development work on the graphics unit for Xbox 2 is nearing completion.

Along with encouraging news about the Tomb Raider franchise, Eidos's financially disappointing end of year results, released this morning, gave us a bit of an insight into the publisher's plans for next-generation home and handheld consoles.

The Xbox 2 rumour mill has turned over once again, after a Silicon Valley start-up boasted that a new piece of software emulation technology would allow the next-generation console to play original Xbox games.

A representative of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the company tasked with fabricating the chips being used in Microsoft's next Xbox console, has told the media that the development of the console is proceeding to plan.

Capcom is committed to developing products for all three next generation console platforms, board executive Kazuhiro Abe told Bloomberg Japan this week, despite the company's recent mixed fortunes.