SlashGear

Although the original Xbox has superseded by the 360, it’s still in demand for general hacking and media extender duties.  Lurking under the TV, though, its ominous black bulk does nothing for your living room aesthetics; that’s why modder Coca627 broke out the Dremel and crafted a far smaller custom case for his Xbox, with a 60-percent reduction in volume over the original.  He’s calling it the Xbox Slim.

More photos, plus a video demo of the Xbox Slim, after the cut

Out went the standard optical drive and in goes a slimline DVD/CD-R intended for laptops.  There’s also a 60GB 2.5-inch hard-drive for local storage and the receiver for a Logitech wireless controller.  New Iceberg4 Pro Chip Cooling fans reduce not only noise but bulk.

Software-wise, the XBMC media center dashboard project provides much of the new functionality, plus there are SNES, Sega Megadrive and NeoGeo emulators for classic gaming.  In fact the one big omission, of course, is Xbox 360 gaming.  No word on how much the project cost, but considering you can pick up an original Xbox including controllers and a number of games for well under $100 on eBay, it could come in for much less than the price of a new 360.

[via technabob]