Xbox 360 Slim pictured?

It’s not the first time we’ve heard talk of a possible Xbox 360 Slim, but new pics that purpose to show the innards of a redesigned version of the console have surfaced online.

Kotaku reports that the main change in this supposed redesign is the combining of the CPU and GPU in a single chip, thus reducing the number of components and allowing for a significant size reduction.

Microsoft has revised its Xbox 360 hardware a number of times since the console was first released, reducing the size of key chips, introducing new heat reduction technologies and adding a few new things such as an HDMI port and on-board memory.

Though there’s no reason to believe that the pictures are genuine, there’s good reason for the argument that Microsoft is preparing a redesign.

Firstly, the launch of Natal later this year is very much being treated as an Xbox 360 relaunch by the company internally. Then, of course, there is the niggling issue of the ‘Red Ring of Death‘ – an issue that has blighted the machine ever since its arrival.

Add to that, of course, the fact that the PS3 has already undergone the ‘Slim’ treatment and the DS has experienced four redesigns since it was launched.