A site that is new to me, Xbox Family, has posted a news flash on games that will require the hard drive. I am not sure how to take this, as they list no source on the issue. All links I could find reporting on the subject link back to the XboxFamily.com site as the source. They have an image of an icon that says "HARD DISK DRIVE REQUIRED" .. however that image has been available since the release of "Football Manager 2006," a game that did in fact require a hard drive to play (see this Ars article from Feb 8, 2006 with the image). However, that was a UK release, so for the states, we were in later months blessed with Final Fantasy XI, which also required the hard drive.

Next to add more fuel to all this, was the very recent Call of Duty 4 concept box art, that did have an icon that said "Storage Required," however, Infinity Ward confirmed that storage will not be required. It does beg the question though, why would they have that image available in the first place, as it is different that the image that was used on Football manager (header image to this post shows the Football Manager box art icon on the left and the Call of Duty 4 concept box art icon on the right for comparisons).

Finally, people saying that the Core system SKU being axed by Best Buy, thus being axed completely, would also add a ton more fuel to this fire, but Microsoft has addressed this issue with the reply to the question of the Core being dropped, "No. Xbox 360 Core remains an important member of the Xbox 360 family."

So is all this rumor or fact? Well on one hand, the fact is Football Manager 2006, then Final Fantasy XI already showed that games can come out on the 360 that require a hard drive. On the other hand, Microsoft has said that they would not make games that required the hard drive.... but, this has already happened with two games, so that could also mean them saying the Core not being dropped is a dirty rotten lie as well. There is no doubt Microsoft knows the benefits of having a required hard drive with the system, but for now, the only fact is all this buzz is over rumors.
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