It’s never as much fun to write an article to report on things that aren’t going to happen, but in this case we think this is something that should happen and we still expect it to, despite Microsoft’s denials.

What we do know is that Microsoft had an HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 which they put a stop to producing. We also know that rumors keep cropping up that Microsoft is going to work something out with Sony to bring a Blu-ray player to the 360, and Microsoft continues to squash them.

Blockbuster has been rumored to have been secretly working on some new technology in the works that would allow streaming video content from an online rental service direct to consumers televisions, and could be available as soon as the next few weeks. No information has been given on the exact technology or price but the service could again bring the home video renting giant back up to par and possibly ahead in technology, compared to other rival video renting services from Netflix and Apple.

Netflix would be directly affected by this new service by Blockbuster and has recently upgraded their service to provide unlimited streaming to some subscribers, however it streams to their computer and not necessarily to the living room of most consumers. In order to work their way into more entertainment centers, Netflix is also looking into providing streaming video rentals through Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console.

The folks over at T3 did a pretty nice job with a mock up of a Wii Phone last year at about this time and this year they’re creating another stir. They’ve posted images today of what they envision as a lighter, slimmer Sony Playstation 3 which is reportedly heading for shelves as soon as this fall.

Sony does have a history of slimming things down just like they did last year with the slimmer PSP but it seems like an unlikely move from a company that’s trying to cut costs and increase the market for their latest game console, but maybe with Blu-ray pulling ahead they feel they have it made? T3 also is speculating that this new slimmer model would have the rumored 160GB hard drive in it as well, and of course a slim Blu-ray player.

The first rumor of a new Zune in development came our way in June and then last week a photo suggesting that a second version Zune was soon to be a reality surfaced. Now comes the biggest bit of gossip yet about the reality of Zune 2 courtesy of Zune Scene: their inside source tells them that Zune 2 will go on sale starting October 16. Isn’t that less than one month away? Hey Microsoft, you better wake up and announce this thing officially or …

Doing our fair share of feeding the rumor mill today, a pricing sheet has been circling the blogosphere which lists Zune accessories appended by “V2″ (version 2), leading many to believe a second version of the Zune media player is in the works.

We did see a recent price cut of the existing Zune player which is a common practice to make room for the next model, which for us makes a Zune 2 rumor that much more plausible. (And of course the poor-quality photo always makes us feel like it’s a planned rumor.)

According to ZuneScene they have an inside source at Microsoft who has confirmed that there is a new Zune coming our way with a code name of “Draco”. The new Zune will not be marketed under this name which in our opinion helps keep this rumor flexible, but they do have some specs.

According to the leak, the Draco Zune will come with flash memory of 4GB or 8GB, will have video playback and Wi-Fi connectivity and is expected to be available for the coming holiday season. …

Rumors continue about the possibility of the Nintendo Wii getting a hard drive, despite Nintendo denying any such claims.

The latest crop of speculation was roused by talks of new Neo Geo game titles coming to the Wii game console which require as much as 330MB of space on the mere 512MB of space available with the console. ComputerandVideoGames.com is also talking of rumors that Nintendo may make an announcement of said hardware to increase the Wii storage capacity at the next E3 …