The gaming world is rife with speculation that Microsoft is inking in plans to launch a slimmer and lighter Xbox 360 model.

Register Hardware has already reported that the software giant is thought to have placed orders with chip and motherboard makers to produce components for an updated 360 – dubbed ‘Jasper’.

According to a the latest report, by TGDaily, it’s now claimed that these updated internal components will be complemented by a new, slimline casing. Aside from giving gamers more space underneath or beside the telly, a slimmer and lighter console could be cheaper to produce, less power hungry and, hopefully, quieter.

Sony has been rumoured in the past to be working on a slimline PS3, just as it did with the PS2. A slim PS3 would boast many of the same benefits offered by a slimmed-down Xbox 360.

This latest Xbox 360 rumour should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt, because Microsoft stated earlier this week that it has “no plans to release a new console in 2009”. Although that could just mean that the so-called slimline Xbox 360 will appear later this year.

In any case, if Microsoft really doesn’t have plans today to release a slimmer model, there's nothing to stop the company changing its mind tomorrow.

It might be worth remembering though that Sony once pooh-pooh'd speculation that it was developing a 40GB PS3, a claim that later turned out to be false. Similarly, it also dismissed claims an 80GB PS3 was in the works, right up until the model was launched – even despite the existence of FCC documents to the contrary.