Major Nelson organised an online chat with J Allard over the weekend. The transcript of the chat can be found here on his blog. J answered some key questions, such as support for backwards compatibility:
J Allard (Expert): Another one from mail: What about backward compatibility in the core system?
J Allard (Expert): because we didn’t abstract storage in the first generation xbox back compat will require a hard drive. the good news is that the core system owners can upgrade if they deside to update at a later date.
The decision to have the two versions (XBox 360 Core System and XBox 360) is explained:
in summary we tried to optimize launch around three critical audiences
[1] – the game developer – by offering them a no compromises platform with great hardware, tools and the leading online service with live.
[2]- the hard core gamer – by putting together a configuration with everything you would want at a compelling price.
[3] the entry level gamer – that wanted to get into next generation gaming and was excited by the media capabilities and wanted an entry level option
There was no further information on a launch date, but he made it clear they are working flat out.
J’s comment on backwards compatibility requiring the presence of the hard drive seems confined to the fact that since the original XBox had a HD, then games designed for the original XBox will assume it’s there, and therefore won’t work without the HD present. Whether the HD also plays a role in terms of updated versions of popular games re-compiled and optimised for the XBox 360 is not mentioned, and may be nothing more than speculation.