Yesterday, an XboxHacker.com forum poster threw a picture of the internal components of a Japanese Xbox 360 Arcade that included a new Jasper motherboard complete with 512MB of internal storage.  As many gamers know, the 360 Arcade consoles normally arrive with only half that amount of storage space.  Today, Microsoft put an end to speculation about the new model by confirming that the image is real, and that Microsoft has doubled the storage on the Arcade models.

Of course, like any other data storage method, the 512 MB spqce will not all be usable by gamers.  Speaking to Eurogamer, a MS rep stated that "The Xbox 360 system software uses some of the included 512MB memory,” meaning that games will probably be left with about 450-490MB of usable space.

So does this new model herald the announcement of new features?  Nope, it just is what it is.  As Microsoft stated, "We want to offer consumers a bit more memory at the same low price so they can enjoy more experiences on Xbox LIVE."  Sounds good.  It’s nice when a company sneaks in an upgraded feature like this and doesn’t tell anyone about it.  Of course, I’ve literally NEVER used the 256MB I have available to me already, so I doubt it would make much difference to me.

[image source]