As a way of thanking their many loyal customers for choosing the XBOX360 over the less-available systems during the holiday season, Microsoft has decided to give a gift to each and every owner this new year. A large, gift-wrapped notice that their new Christmas toy is slow, defective, and officially obsolete.

That’s right… XBOX360 Version 2 is in the works and nearing production. Same game system… same games and controllers… but new processor that runs cooler than the original. It’s also rumored that the new version, codenamed Zypher, will have a larger hardrive and built-in HD DVD… most likely to compete with Sony’s PS3.

But the most welcomed new addition is support for true digital HD video. The current XBOX360 only supports outputs of RCA, S-Video, Component, or VGA… all of which are still analog-based forms of video. They provide excellent image quality… but the new version will have native support for HDMI, which combines digital audio and video into the same cable, and is common on most HD TV’s.

One can’t help but wonder if this was Microsoft’s plan all along. Throw out what we can to get a jump on Sony… then fix everything after the Holidays. Screw our existing customer base, they’ll get over it. We’re Microsoft! When we tell them to get over it… they will. Because we’re Microsoft, dammit!

Well, Bill? Enjoy you new extra notch up the “Evil Company” ladder. More to come, I’m sure.