Cesar Menendez over at Microsoft’s Gamerscoreblog clarified that there were no plans to release an Xbox 360 with an internal HD-DVD drive this year. Recently, a number of articles have quoted a Toshiba general manager that such an item would be released before the end of the year. It would appear this is nothing more than wishful thinking on the manager’s part, perhaps in an effort to convince the public that the HD DVD format will win out against Blu-Ray. With the recent discovery that Microsoft has brought yet another DVD-ROM partner online in addition to Samsung and Hitachi, it seems unlikely that they would integrate HD-DVD drives so soon. Microsoft insists that keeping the HD-DVD drive external offers customers more choice in what kind of HD experience they want.