Xbox 360 internal HD-DVD drive shocker?

[expletive]

Replacing the Premium would add at least $100 to it's price, and maybe as much as $200. MS would be better off sticking to Core, Premium (HDD+Wireless etc.), and HDDVD (Premium+HDDVD internal). Alternatively just have Core and HDDVD versions but with packs for peripherals. That way users can pick the DVD or more expensive HDDVD versions, and buy packs of HDD and whatnot if they want them, or buy them individually over time.

Agreed, there has been the "360 AV" version rumored for awhile now and that would slot in nicely there (and its rumored to be black to boot).

It would make sense to offer this option as it would give them an alternative for people buying a PS3 for its 'all-in-oneness', they dont have a product that competes 100% in that space.

Again, my only misgivings are the HD-DVD read speed, otherwise i think this is a total no-brainer.

 

[pipo]

Again, my only misgivings are the HD-DVD read speed, otherwise i think this is a total no-brainer.

Of course. And no they won't use it for games - they're not that stupid, and I'm pretty sure they never said they won't do a HDDVD model.

Maybe they said it wasn't planned or something that sounded like they would never do it...

 

[blakjedi]

I'm not sure this is bad thing even if they did eventually develop games for HD-DVD... at the point it becomes internal its not a peripheral anymore... and the bulk of X360s are still to be sold in the future so the HD-DVD userbase be will be larger than than the DVD only base...

Plus I could see them selling the internal HD-DVD for a lot less than the external one... $100-125 range max... and if its an easy swap with the built in DVD drive...

Put GTA IV or Halo 3 on HDDVD and watch it soar....

 

[DuckThor Evil]

They've also stated they'll never release a 360 with an internal HDDVD drive.

Have they?

 

[bystander]

I know this is highly unlikely and probably completely impractical but they could use the hybrid DVD/HD-DVD discs to make games work with both types of drive, without needing to have two types of disc for each game.

 

[Qroach]

That's a very valid point. it's something that can't be done with blu ray, however I doubt they will ever do that.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Umm the whole point for using HD DVD for games would be because the game is too large for DVD right?, surely then it wouldn't fit on that hybrid disc. I can see MS releasing HD DVD sku, but the games will still be on DVD if only for to avoid confusion, but really there are other reasons as well. In time I think all X360's will be shipped with HD DVD drives in them or atleast most of them, this whole thing is really important for HD DVD, but not as important for MS imo.

 

[A176]

external HDDVD for games?

anyone have any idea how fast data will be streamed over that lonely usb cable?

 

[lefizz]

usb2 runs at 480 mbps or 60 megabytes a second easily fast enough for anything.

 

[London Geezer]

usb2 runs at 480 mbps or 60 megabytes a second easily fast enough for anything.

Well, not anything anything, but certainly enough for a 2X HDDVD drive. Won't be enough for long though when these drives start kicking up some serious speed, which will happen soon enough...

 

[assen]

I think they are not designing this to take sides in the HD war, it's too late for that - if they're designing it now, it can't be out earlier than, say, June 2007. It's something to be actually released in case HD-DVD wins, not to help it win.

There was an announcement recently about three-layer HD-DVD/DVD hybrid discs, with arbitrary split (1:2 or 2:1) for DVD and HD-DVD content. This could be useful for cutscenes, if they are as important as some people claim.

 

[scooby_dooby]

This is the last faint noises of HD media impartiality from MS dying a quiet death. So much for giving users choice unlike the big, bad Sony.

If it is indeed only for movies, it would monumentally stupid of MS to not keep selling the much cheaper DVD models. So I'm pretty sure that choice will still exist which is a good thing.

 

[Shark Sandwich]

I think they are not designing this to take sides in the HD war, it's too late for that - if they're designing it now, it can't be out earlier than, say, June 2007. It's something to be actually released in case HD-DVD wins, not to help it win.

A while back on Ars Technica, someone was speculating that MS doesn't have much interest in seeing either format win. They have nothing to gain. They can, however, hurt Sony big time if they can prevent Blu-Ray from catching on, denying Sony return on their huge investment in the PS3. The speculation is that MS wants both formats to fail. They will support HD-DVD just enough to keep both sides from gaining critical mass.

Microsoft would rather see all-digital distribution catch on as the successor to DVD movies. MS certainly does have something to gain from that. Many of us would need new computers with huge hard drives, enough muscle to decode HD movies, and of course Windows MCE Or perhaps. . . an XBox 360?

There was an announcement recently about three-layer HD-DVD/DVD hybrid discs, with arbitrary split (1:2 or 2:1) for DVD and HD-DVD content. This could be useful for cutscenes, if they are as important as some people claim.

Do you mean that they could have higher-quality video cutscenes for the HD-DVD version? I suppose they could put less-compressed video on the HD-DVD version. This seems a little silly, though. If a game can fit on a dual-layer DVD, why add an HD-DVD layer just for slightly better video quality?

 

[scooby_dooby]

Put GTA IV or Halo 3 on HDDVD and watch it soar....

Seems a little more practical and a whole lot cheaper to simply put Halo on 2 discs if they really need the space doesn't it?

Disc space is not really a limiter for linear games anyways, as they should be able to be split up fairly easily over multiple discs. GTA maybe, but this first 3 GTA games were not really that big, smaller than most other games at the time.

 

[expletive]

This is the last faint noises of HD media impartiality from MS dying a quiet death. So much for giving users choice unlike the big, bad Sony.

Ah but they still are giving users a choice because users could, in theory, still buy a DVD version of the 360 to play games. In the PS3 lineup you don't have a choice but to buy in to BR and pay the associated premium.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Ah but they still are giving users a choice because users could, in theory, still buy a DVD version of the 360 to play games. In the PS3 lineup you don't have a choice but to buy in to BR and pay the associated premium.

Ya I don't see how anyone could miss that. The choice is still there cause you can save $200 (guesstimate) if you like.

 

[blakjedi]

Seems a little more practical and a whole lot cheaper to simply put Halo on 2 discs if they really need the space doesn't it?

Disc space is not really a limiter for linear games anyways, as they should be able to be split up fairly easily over multiple discs. GTA maybe, but this first 3 GTA games were not really that big, smaller than most other games at the time.

Not that I understand the DVD\HD-DVD argument from any angle other than a common sense one.... but HALO and/or GTA IV on HD-DVD would increase sales of the drive a great deal. It also would be akin to FFXIII on BLURAY. If MS had had HD-DVD at launch (I know, I know) maybe Square might have been more willing to put FFXIII on their box? Regular people do not care what the media is unless you can show a benefit and the benefit of not swapping discs, seemless gameplay and more of well everything would be noticeable...

More is not necessarily better, but it cant hurt. If in a year GTA IV arrives and is "better/more seamless" on PS3 and the developers accord it to BluRays capacity then what will you say?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Ya I don't see how anyone could miss that. The choice is still there cause you can save $200 (guesstimate) if you like.

As I said early, the choice aspect was choice between formats. MS originally were saying they weren't going to get involved. They are not giving XB360 owners the choice of which format to run on their XB360. What if you want BRD HD movies and Halo3? Why won't MS release a $300 BRD addon as well as a $300 HDDVD addon? Because they don't want you to have that choice. They want you to side with HDDVD.

I think they are not designing this to take sides in the HD war, it's too late for that - if they're designing it now, it can't be out earlier than, say, June 2007. It's something to be actually released in case HD-DVD wins, not to help it win.

I'm pretty sure HDDVD won't win or lose by June next year. This strikes me as a move to counter PS3's large-scale BRD entrenchment as an attempt to help secure the market.

 

[expletive]

Not that I understand the DVD\HD-DVD argument from any angle other than a common sense one.... but HALO and/or GTA IV on HD-DVD would increase sales of the drive a great deal. It also would be akin to FFXIII on BLURAY. If MS had had HD-DVD at launch (I know, I know) maybe Square might have been more willing to put FFXIII on their box? Regular people do not care what the media is unless you can show a benefit and the benefit of not swapping discs, seemless gameplay and more of well everything would be noticeable...

More is not necessarily better, but it cant hurt. If in a year GTA IV arrives and is "better/more seamless" on PS3 and the developers accord it to BluRays capacity then what will you say?

All things being equal I think MS may have preferred to launch with an HD optical drive. Based on all their comments, launching first was intrinsic to their strategy this generation and in terms of timing and tech maturity I dont see any way MS could have launched when they did with HD-DVD.

That said, i'm sure theyve discussed, internally, if there's a way to move towards an HD-DVD drive so that a vast majority of theyre installed base has one. Maybe theyve talked about using AAA titles to drive the existing base to HD-DVD as you state above, i'm sure that would be a strategy if that were the case.

The fact that MS has stated there will never be games on HD-DVD means absolutely nothing. There is no way from a marketing or PR perspective they could safely say anything else at this stage of the game.

 

[Avon_Implosion]

How could this not alienate the whole 360 userbase? By then, the 360's userbase will be well over 10 million..what will all those adopters do? And what about devs? Will they be forced to code their games with both DVD AND HD-DVD in mind? Furthermore, even if MS somehow manages to standardize this, what will it to do the 360's price tag?
No good can come of this :/