Could the legends be true?  Could Microsoft be on the verge of getting the Xbox 360 hardware platform working without overheating and red ringing?  Rumor has it that the company is poised to announce a new addition to the Xbox 360 line, the Xbox Ultimate.  The Ultimate would be jam-packed with all kinds of new features (according to Stuff, anyways).

If our guesstimate is correct, this PS3-killer will benefit from all manner of killer features, including 1080p HDMI output, built-in Wi-Fi, hi-def audio output, cooler 65nm hardware architecture and a near-silent fan.

Once the Xbox IPTV service is in full swing, we're hoping you'll be able to record TV shows to its beefier 320GB hard disk and watch live TV shows via your broadband provider.  But the piece de resistance? Well, we're wishing for a built-in HD DVD drive.

That's a lot of features.  Will it be overpriced?  Probably.  Will it be worth the cost?  Maybe.  I've come across a few Xbox 360 games that have been tempting, but I've held back from jumping into the platform because of the ongoing hardware issues with the console itself.  As I've said before, if I'm going to get involved with a new hardware platform then I expect it to function properly right out of the box and for many years to come.  If they fix the underlying technical issues with the Xbox hardware for this new Ultimate box, I may be swayed to pick one up (especially with Banjo-Threeie on the horizon).  It's all just rumor at this point, of course, but speculation is always fun.

(via Kotaku)