Launching ahead of the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft’s xBox may have gained first mover advantage, but it did so at a cost.

While the Sony console will sport a next generation, high definition DVD drive, Microsoft, which is really yet to fully endorse either Blu Ray or HD DVD, opted for a standard DVD drive in its second generation console.

However, the word from Taiwan is that Microsoft now plans to offer a solution which could help it increase peripheral sales on the new xBox consoles. Microsoft took the decision to take the hard drive out of the console and offer it up as an optional extra and now news reports suggest the company now plans to take a similar line with HD DVD drives.

According to industry sources cited in this story, Microsoft is looking to place OEM orders with optical disc drive manufacturers for an external HD-DVD player to go with the xBox.

However, the company declined to confirm the rumours as did leading manufacturers BenQ, Lite-On and Quanta.

The move could stem defections to Sony’s PS3 which will feature the company’s Blu Ray high def drives which will offer the larger storage capacities required to cater for high level graphics capabilities.