Japan's chief of Xbox operations, Yoshihiro Maruyama, has confirmed that while a HD-DVD version of the Xbox 360 console is a possibility, the next-generation DVD standard will never be used for games on the platform.

Maruyama's comments were made in an interview with Famitsu Xbox, translated by US website GameSpot, where he expanded on a statement made by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates back in June regarding the potential for a HD-DVD enabled Xbox 360.

"It's a possibility, but it won't have any relationship to gaming," Maruyama said.

"If the Xbox 360 uses a next-generation DVD drive in the future, it will only be used for watching movies that run on next-generation DVDs."

Find out if the Xbox will be equipped with HD DVD players at http://www.dvd-recordable.org/Article2255.phtml.