Microsoft will not build an HD DVD drive into a future Xbox 360 because it doesn't want to "limit the user's experience", an insider at fellow HD DVD backer Toshiba has said.

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Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the next-generation optical disc format, you might think, but there you have it it: buy HD DVD, limit your experience.

The comment comes from an unnamed Toshiba spokesperson by way of Yahoo! News. The commentator also dismissed recent claims that Toshiba is working on machine - possibly even an HD TV - with built-in Xbox 360 functionality.

"It’s got nothing to do with us," the spokesperson said. "But we know Microsoft doesn’t want to include the HD DVD drive so as not to limit the user’s experience."

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