The Microsoft-Toshiba HD-DVD Alliance Changes Xbox 360

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Microsoft-Toshiba-HD-DVD-Alliance-Changes-Xbox-360-3902.shtml' target='_blank'>http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Microsoft-Toshiba-HD-DVD-Alliance-Changes-Xbox-360-3902.shtml</a><br /><br /></div><i>"According to the statements made by Bill Gates in Japan, Xbox 360, the new gaming console will include HD-DVD drives. Considering that such a decision would postpone the launching date, Microsoft will equip the initial models with classic DVD drives, and only after the new HD-DVD are ready, the Xbox will incorporate them."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/The-Microsoft-Toshiba-HD-DVD-Alliance-Changes-Xbox-360-2.jpg" /> <br /><br />Whoa! The big question being asked everywhere now is whether news of such a planned upgrade will sabotage sales of the Xbox 360 at launch. Personally I don't think it will have a measurable impact. Most of the consumers planning to buy the Xbox 360 at launch are gamers, not movie or music buffs. This seems to be a direct response to Sony's announcement that the PS3 will include a BluRay drive.

[sojourner753]

I have to admit, I love a good fight. As gaming consoles go I think things could still be neck and neck for the two formats.

But my question is, what will DVD OEMs do with the knowledge that Microsoft has stepped up and endorsed one of the formats?

Was Sony's Blueray decision a calculated risk? Or did they not anticipate Microsofts reaction. Perhaps they forgot that Microsoft is a direct competitor in the Game console space.

[Felix Torres]

Hmm...
If true this does change the nature of the game for the first year.
Not too much, but a bit...

On the gaming side, no effect.
The games on both the 360 and PS/3 are coming out on red laser disks anyway. And that's assuming SONY actually goes ahead with BluRay drives, which they "curiously" backtracked from on the night of the big E3 announcement...
(Big media event: BluRay in PS3!!! Loud and clear to all media outlets.)
(No media-allowed Evening event with financial analysts: "uh, BluRay, well, actually it depends on drive availability and price. If they're too expensive we'll go with plain dvd...")

This may be an invitation to SONY, which faces a most un-fun christmas sales season (they're in the red and cutting costs like crazy to get back to even by the end of the FY) to go ahead and ship expensive blu-ray drives in the PS3...
"Go ahead and drive up your manufacturing costs just as *we* start dropping ours..." :twisted:

It helps when your opponent shoots themselves in the foot...

Now, on the *media* side of the house, that is going to be tricky...

Cause the folks most likely to buy the 360 as a media box will have the most incentive to *wait* for the rev A. release (in the spring?) instead of going with the red-laser original release...

So this will reduce total early sales but at the same time *improve* the game attach rate which gets so much attention from the media and analysts...

Basically it makes the 05 sales *gamer* sales primarily.
Not that it would stop folks looking for a media center extender or those with big dvd collections...

So, some effect but not critical.
Expect lots of whining, though.

After all; its a Microsoft decision. :?

[Jason Dunn]

If I were running the Xbox show, I would have waited until Q1-Q2 2006, just as Sony was starting to make noise about their device to kick off a new version of the Xbox 360 with an HD-DVD drive, and work in conjunction with whatever studios are releasing a trickle of content...

[mcsouth]

If I were running the Xbox show, I would have waited until Q1-Q2 2006, just as Sony was starting to make noise about their device to kick off a new version of the Xbox 360 with an HD-DVD drive, and work in conjunction with whatever studios are releasing a trickle of content...

Agreed. I think that they could have waited until just before the PS3 started shipping to announce the new updated version, perhaps at a slightly higher price point ($349 v. $299), and used it to steal some of Sony's thunder. As it is, now I'm in a quandary - I was planning to try and pick up one of the first units on launch day (even though all of the local gaming stores have all of their initial stock presold! 8O ), but now maybe I will try to sit back and wait a bit to see what transpires. I fell firmly into the "Xbox360 as media center extender" category, more so than gamer, so I'm thinking it may be worth waiting for a bit.....

[Jason Eaton]

Wow, that doesn't seem right, or well thought out.

I mean one of the large benefits from a platform like this is that you don't need to know anything about the box. If you buy something for the specifically for the 'xbox/playstation2/game cube' it will work on the ''xbox/playstation2/game cube'.

What happens if a game *does* come out on a HD DVD? Does the box read '...will only work on Xbox models that are between the serial range of xxxx to yyyyy?'

While the components in a game system may change (do to better manufacturing, cheaper costs, smaller and restyled package, etc) they will all fundamentall work the same. This idea of later models incorporating the drive breaks that.

This is very much PC like and less home appliance like, what are they thinking?

[Jeremy Charette]

It won't affect gamers. See Felix' post above:

The games on both the 360 and PS/3 are coming out on red laser disks anyway.