Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive Launches in November for $200 USD

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/27/360-hd-dvd-add-on-coming-to-us-europe-in-mid-november-for-200/' target='_blank'>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/27/360-hd-dvd-add-on-coming-to-us-europe-in-mid-november-for-200/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Microsoft has confirmed today that the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive will arrive mid-November for the US and Europe. The price will be $199.99 in the US, €199.99 in Europe and £129.99 in the United Kingdom. The European prices beat Game Industry.biz's predictions from earlier this month. The HD DVD drive will be bundled with Peter Jackon's King Kong and the Xbox 360 Universal Remote."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/x360hddvdbundle.jpg" /> <br /><br />This is great news! Just $200, and it comes with the remote and King Kong in HD. Way to go Microsoft! Good thing I didn't buy an HD DVD player at launch. :wink:

[Jason Dunn]

Hot damn! That's awesome, I'm SO going to snap one up in November! Uh...assuming they're released in Canada at that time. :D

[Tim Williamson]

Any idea when they'll have a built-in HD-DVD drive? And a black 360?! :D

I'll buy one then.

[Macguy59]

I guess you guys better hope that format ends up the defacto standard :wink:

[Jason Dunn]

I guess you guys better hope that format ends up the defacto standard :wink:

Well, yes and no. I'll be able to get HD-DVDs from Zip.ca, but I also believe HD-DVD is going to win the format war so I'll likely buy a couple of HD-DVD discs for fun. ;-)

[Felix Torres]

I guess you guys better hope that format ends up the defacto standard :wink:

Not necessarily...

With multi-format disks a possibility for 07, the format war stops being a hindrance to content. At that point, every disk you buy will remain playable regardless of how the market share splits over time.

In that scenario, the type of layer you get becomes more of a feature thing (what kind of menus do you want, how many layers of DRM-crap you're willing to put up with) and a low price player becomes a preferred choice since it minimizes the hardware investment while you wait for the market to shake out.

And, of course, in such a market HD-DVD would have a strong upper hand; lower player cost and less DRM sounds pretty good to me.