Microsoft has been informing partners that its next Xbox will ship without a disc drive in 2013, reports MCV.

The information - said to be given out under "the strictest NDA" MCV's source has ever encountered - also reveals that the new console will offer compatibility with some form of interchangeable solid-state storage. It's not known if this solid-state media will be proprietary or off the shelf such as SD.

Whilst the source was able to confirm a 2013 launch, details of the system's announcement are less clear. An E3 2012 reveal does, however, remain on the cards, says MCV.

Microsoft offered the following to MCV: "Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend its lifecycle like introducing the world to controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention. Beyond that we do not comment on rumours or speculation."

With the size of games becoming increasingly large the move away from media such as Blu-ray is too soon in my mind. Whilst fast internet connections are becoming more common, many will struggle to download 10 gigabytes of game data, and fair usage remains an issue.

And how will the solid-state media be used, and at what cost to the gamer? PS Vita memory card prices are costly and max out at 32 GB - and its games currently come in at less than 3GB.

One solution could be to download game purchases onto a memory card via an in-store service, then transferred to the console when back at home.