Xbox 360 Core to become obsolete?

Microsoft has given games developers the green light to use the Xbox 360's internal hard drive. It's a move which could potentially see owners of the Xbox 360 Core console left out in the cold - because it doesn't have any internal storage as standard.

"Feel free to require 30GB for your game," Microsoft apparently told developers. "That's just going to make your potential audience a lot smaller."

With the 120GB Elite iteration of the console already out in the US and arriving on these shores in seven days time, as well as its potential for more upgrades in the future, there are going to be more Xbox's with plenty of storage. Even if games begin requiring as little as 500MB of internal storage space, that will limit the potential for Core console owners to get in on the act.

Of course, Core console owners can always upgrade their storage with the ubiquitous 20GB drive upgrade, or the new 120GB variant.

In the past, Microsoft has told developers that their games must not require internal storage, a stance that now appears to have changed. This is likely to cheese off many people who forked out for the Core console when it first came out.