While we know that there still is plenty of life left for the Xbox 360, rumors about its upcoming successor (tentatively named Xbox 720) are still sprouting all over the place. Apparently Microsoft recently held a secret developer meeting in London where it briefed game developers on what to expect from the Xbox 720. And it looks like one of the key points about the console that leaked from the meeting is that the next Xbox won’t feature a disc drive anymore.

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The Xbox 720 is rumored to read games off a proprietary SD card format that will allow users to swap and store games. Other than that, all the apps and games that will run on the console will be downloadable or streamed to it. It’s not hard to believe since computers have been slowly shifting away from the traditional physical medium with internet-based app stores and there are rumors about the PlayStation 4 doing the same thing as well. But if it turns out to be true, retail outlets like GameStop will be in trouble, with no more hard copies of games to sell.

What do you think of digital-only games for video game consoles? Is it the right step forward? Or will you miss having boxes to unwrap and colorful manuals to read? The Xbox 720 is rumored to be arriving in 2013, so we should find out more about the console later this year – possibly at E3? Stay tuned for more details.

Filed in . Read more about Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 720.