November 11^th, 2004 (12:04pm) - The Inquirer, a technology website, is reporting that a "hush hush" presentation given by Microsoft to analysts and market researchers in the UK revealed the existence of three variations of the Xbox 2 to be released within the the next two years.

Rumor has it that the first two versions of the Xbox 2 would be available when the platform launches next fall. These two versions include a bare bones "games only" version and another which includes a built-in hard drive that will allow for features that may possibly include backwards compatibility with Xbox game titles, jukebox functions and possibly even TIVO-style video recording.

The third version of the Xbox 2 is rumored to be a Xbox 2/PC hybrid that will see a release in fall 2006. This hybrid will run on a media-focused version of Windows, run standard PC software and games, and include a CD burner, as well as a wireless keyboard and mouse.

However, one has to question whether or not this Xbox 2/PC hybrid, or the two other versions of the console, will even see the light of day because for all we know, this news could very well be a myth. (Supposedly those who attended the presentation signed a non-disclosure aggreement). Additionally, the Xbox 2 is said to be based on PowerPC G5 processors, which cannot run the Windows OS or most PC games. However, it is possible that, if true, Microsoft could utilize a specialized version of their Virtual PC software, which allows Mac users to run Windows and Windows related programs.

Hopefully our questions about the Xbox 2 will be answered in Bill Gates’ keynote address at CES in January.