Microsoft has released an entirely new Xbox 360 development kit, with hardware containing twice as much memory as the original.
The additional RAM will enable developers to run videogame assets along side debugging and optimisation tools. This new kit will be available alongside the older version and is intended for triple-A game development.
"It's been a longstanding issue that as you're working on your game you can't load all of the resources that would be there when you're running, because you need to reserve some space for all of the debugging tools and those kinds of things," Microsoft's Boyd Multerer told Gamasutra.
"This is going to open up a whole new range of tools for the software portion of the XDK program."
Earlier yesterday Sony announced some changes to the pricing for its PlayStation 3 development kit, cutting it from USD 10,250 to USD 2000.