Over the past couple of days, via the Xbox 360 System Update Preview Program, Microsoft has signed up hundreds of beta testers with the lure of a free copy of Halo Reach to try out a new disc format for Xbox 360. Currently, a dual later DVD hosts 7.95GB of data, but only 6.8GB of that space is used for game data, with 1GB taken up by a video partition and anti-piracy measures. Digital Foundry reports that this new format will see the 1GB partition ditched so it can be used to host more game data. This could also give way to new anti-piracy measures, or it could be that Microsoft will ditch security totally; though this seems quite unlikely.

With the Xbox 360 so widely hacked, and the life cycle of the console still estimated to be another four years, we’d hazard a guess that - if the rumour is true - this change will be more about anti-piracy then it is about giving developers an extra 1GB of space to play with. It's believed that the new disc format technology will land sometime in the Autumn to coincide with the next major Xbox Live update. Microsoft is currently keeping tight-lipped on the matter.

Source: Eurogamer