You may have noticed that general news has been nonexistent in recent weeks for video games. Even tireless developers need a little holiday break. Things haven’t quite changed yet, but with CES looming on the near horizon the speculations have begun in earnest. What will the electronics companies bring to the table this year? Will we finally get to see new features for Surface? And will the Xbox 360 be getting an integrated Toshiba HD-DVD drive?

That last bit of rumor comes from Seattle Times’ columnist Brier Dudley and his lengthy guestimation of what keynote speaker Bill Gates will touch upon in his swan song CES address. Microsoft is not commenting on the idea officially, but Dudley seems to think that now would be a good time to announce such an initiative. Most likely because Gates’ 2008 CES Keynote Address is his last (at least for awhile) as he steps away from Microsoft and focuses on his charities.

At this point in the life of the 360 there’s no point in such a drastic move. Developers wouldn’t utilize the advantage of more space on a disc because there are millions of current 360 owners who would be left out. Dudley cites rumors of Microsoft licensing the Xbox 360 gaming platform to outside companies. Rather than a revamp, as he suggests, I’d be more inclined to believe the maneuver would be one step on the path to a fully functional home entertainment system.

Instead of Toshiba making an external HD-DVD player, Tivo making a DVR, Scientific Atlanta making a cable box, these items would be smashed together in one super box. If Microsoft wants a part of that action then they’ll have to license the Xbox game platform. It may be too early to announce a new product, but Gates could certainly hint at his vision of the future.

I’ll be looking forward to the CES Keynote address just to satisfy my curiosity. But the main reason, as always, is that Bill Gates is a super star in the tech world. As for what we’ll hear on Xbox, expect some major announcements of things that could be coming in the future. Until CES gets underway anything else we hear is just a guess.

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