The Rumor That Just Won't Die: MS To Announce HD-DVD for Xbox 360 at CES

[Alpha_Spartan]

“The initial shipments of Xbox 360 will be based on today's DVD format,” Gates said at a joint news conference with Toshiba. “We are looking at whether future versions of Xbox 360 will incorporate an additional capability of an HD DVD player or something else.”

Link

This is from TeamHypeBox and Cesar has a history of biting on dubious rumors, so you might want to swallow the whole salt shaker.

Personally, I think this is bunk and that MS isn't this stupid. It goes against MS whole cost-cutting strategy. They're trying to make a profit and won't add anything that will add to the cost of the machine.

 

[seismologist]

This sounds like a real debacle. I could see them swapping out the DVD drive with HD DVD later this year. Makes you wonder if publishers would eventually opt to use the higher storage for games. The early adopters would be left in the cold but in the grand scheme of things there wont be that many people who own first gen 360s.

 

[Qroach]

would eventually opt to use the higher storage for games

No. If they do add HD DVD to 360, it will ONLY be for movie playback.

 

[Nicked]

Microsoft doesn't like losing money....
Software support for HD-DVD with Vista? Not a problem. Subsidising a HD-DVD player that is sure to fail for no good reason? A problem.

Does anyone even want a HD-DVD compatible X360 anymore?

 

[Brimstone]

No. If they do add HD DVD to 360, it will ONLY be for movie playback.

Yeah, it would be for movie playback.

But...I could see them throwing in an extra HD-DVD disc for special limited editions of games. Say Gears of War where you get the game on 2 regular DVD's and one HD-DVD is included so you don't have to swap.

 

[AzBat]

Microsoft doesn't like losing money....
Software support for HD-DVD with Vista? Not a problem. Subsidising a HD-DVD player that is sure to fail for no good reason? A problem.

Does anyone even want a HD-DVD compatible X360 anymore?

Hmm, not really. I'm trying to understand why I wanted one to begin with. All I can come up with is that it was only because Sony had BluRay. I want an Xbox 360 that will hit my $200 price before I get one and without the HD-DVD or BluRay it has the potential to get there quicker.

Tommy McClain

 

[Qroach]

They won't do that. if it's a limited disk version of the game you will get two DVD's.

IMO. 95% of the games released on these consoles won't require more than 8.5 gigs of data unless they contained lots of FMV.

 

[Carl B]

Man this MS HD-DVD stuff gives me motion sickness the way it keeps spinning around...

Before I would have thought this all *highly* unlikely, but now with MS' subsidization efforts looming on the Vista front, I can't rule it out. It seems like it would be a crazy move; higher prices, no guarantee of format success, user base 'have' and 'have-nots'...

But at the same time I don't doubt Toshiba is pulling out all the stops to make this happen, and is probably cutting to the bone on what they are willing to do for Microsoft to get ever increasing levels of official support.

If Microsoft *does* announce HD-DVD drives in 360 I will be shocked. But my eyes will wander immediately over to Toshiba...

 

[Lysander]

Well, I think 360 hd-dvd will happen; dvd drive is the only weak spot of 360 so it is inevitable and it wont be just for movies. That 30 gigs or so of data storage will be going long way to that Allard claim "we are trying best to make devs comfortable". The challenge is how to make it cheap.

 

[Nicked]

Well, I think 360 hd-dvd will happen; dvd drive is the only weak spot of 360 so it is inevitable and it wont be just for movies. That 30 gigs or so of data storage will be going long way to that Allard claim "we are trying best to make devs comfortable". The challenge is how to make it cheap.

Yeah, and I'm sure those ~2million who get the original version are just going to be thrilled. "Want to play Halo3? All you have to do is buy a new Xbox360!".
If they do it, it'll be video only. Which would be a pointless anti-PS3 move (since HD-DVD doesn't have a hope in hell of succeeding).

IMO. 95% of the games released on these consoles won't require more than 8.5 gigs of data unless they contained lots of FMV.

I think 70% of exclusives on PS3 will be on Blu-ray by the end and 85% of multi-platform games will be on DVD.

 

[kyleb]

Never mind the cost, the real chalenge would be adding it on after the fact since the 360 is already out. They could try to do something like Sega CD but that really doesn't seem like a good idea.

 

[expletive]

If its only for movie playback then it doesnt matter. Those who want HD-DVD buy that version (which will be about $50 more), those who dont care will buy the cheaper games-only version. They dont need to retrofit anything.

 

[kyleb]

Sure enough, I was just responding to Lysander and his comment in reguard to games.

 

[expletive]

The challenge is how to make it cheap.

Maybe the HD-DVD drive manufacturers, staring into the abyss, realize that it would make sense for them to put the drives into 360s "at cost" to compete with the PS3 installed base of BR?

 

[mckmas8808]

IMO. 95% of the games released on these consoles won't require more than 8.5 gigs of data unless they contained lots of FMV.

Don't you mean 7.4 Gigs of data. Don't get it twisted.

 

[Hardknock]

When Xbox 360's specs were first leaked early in 2004, there was also a 3 SKU planned leaked aswell. The specs turned out to be right on the money. The 3 Skus went something like:

Xbox 360 Core
Xbox 360 HD(harddrive)
Xbox 360 PC

I'm guessing that 3rd sku will include an HD-DVD drive, but will certainly cost more than the premium unit we have now. It'll just be for the select few that want HD movie content.

 

[scooby_dooby]

this rumour is garbage. they would never announce a HD-DVD version of 360 until the next-gen media format has been decided.

This is the flexibility they've gained by waiting, they can wait until next x-mas, see which direction the market is going, and then adopt either BR or HD-DVD. They have no reason to risk anything on HD-DVD right now, especially when mass awareness of HiDef movies is still 2-3 years away, there's no rush.

If anything they will talk about the 360's abiltity to stream either HD-DVD or BR content from a Vista PC, I don't even expect a hint at a future HD enabled version, as it will only slow adoption of the current hardware.

 

[expletive]

this rumour is garbage. they would never announce a HD-DVD version of 360 until the next-gen media format has been decided.

This is teh felxibility they've gained by waiting, they can wait until next x-mas, see which direction the market is going, and then adopt either BR or HD-DVD. They have no reason to risk anything on HD-DVD right now, especially when mass awareness of HiDef movies is still 2-3 years away, there's no rush.

True, and i think theyd be more than happy if no HD optical format caught on and people went straight to on-demand and digital distribution. (I know a lot of people on the boards disagree that we'e that close to DD but i think SD is right around the corner and HD wont be far behind at all...)

EDIT: And so it begins...

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/9981/Starz-Partners-with-Sony-and-Microsoft-to-launch-VONGO/

 

[Carl B]

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/9981/Starz-Partners-with-Sony-and-Microsoft-to-launch-VONGO/

That agreement is actually even more relevent to Sony than it is to Microsoft, and might factor back into the 'Living Room' thread depending on what gets announced at CES. But it looks like Sony's keeping the 'Connect' name and looking to flesh it out with video rather than start a seperate service on that front.

 

[mckmas8808]

That agreement is actually even more relevent to Sony than it is to Microsoft, and might factor back into the 'Living Room' thread depending on what gets announced at CES. But it looks like Sony's keeping the 'Connect' name and looking to flesh it out with video rather than start a seperate service on that front.

Yeah xbd lets take this over to the Living Room thread.