[Update]: Major Nelson Clarifies 360 Processor Story

[Update]: Microsoft's Major Nelson has clarified the Xbox 360 processor story that's made the rounds, saying that it's old news.

In a tweet, Major Nelson clarifies that the processor in the 250GB hasn't been changed, and that the SoC story is from a year ago. Whoops. Well, all of you new 360 owners don't have to worry that you've bought old goods!

[Original Story]: The Xbox 360 250GB slim models are getting a new processor that the company says will cut down on heat and manufacturing costs, among other benefits.

The System-on Chip (SoC) processor combines the GPU (graphics processor), CPU (main processor), memory, and I/O logic into a single chip.

Microsoft says the chip is five years in the making, and will cut down not only on the processors used and the manufacturing costs associated with this, but also the size of the motherboard, power supply, and offer better heat management. The company says that there will be no compatibility issues with older software.

No word as to when consumers can expect units with the SoC to hit shelves.