HD DVD ADD ON FOR 360 ANNOUNCED

[jebus989]

Microsoft Annocnces Xbox 360 external HD DVD
During his CES keynote speech yesterday Gates announced that MS would be shipping an HD-DVD external add-on box in 2006. Now, the press release does not state if the box will be used to play games in the future, but I doubt it. History has shown that add-ons like the Sega 32x for instance or Sega CD tend to hurt the success of a console. What, you do when your release such a device is to split your user base into two groups. Those who have the add-on and can play the games that require it and the people that do not have add on and cannot play. My guess is they external drive will only be used for Movies and other media that will be released on HD-DVD format. Basically, the Xbox 360 would work like any other HD-DVD player that you could buy of the shelf. I honestly don’t think PS3 having an internal high capacity DVD drive built in (in their case Blu Ray the last I heard) will make any impact in the console wars. Even the biggest RPG’s can fit on one or two DVDs and swapping is very infrequent.

Below is an excerpt from the press release:

Building on Xbox 360 leadership in high-definition experiences, the company announced plans to deliver a new Xbox 360 external HD DVD drive in 2006. The new drive will offer millions of Xbox 360 owners the ability to easily enjoy HD DVD movies and will provide consumers with even more choices for experiencing high-definition content, in either physical or digital form.

[Quoted from the technologists blogspot]

Here is the official press release

[kingyiff]

Sounds cool .. but not cool enough to make me want to buy a 360!

[Snider]

This is not true, Microsoft is not upporting this. IF and its a big IF, the 360 will only support this through 3rd party vendors

[jebus989]

follow the link (it goes to microsoft.com) and read some of the press releases. i just picked out this quote:

Building on Xbox 360 leadership in high-definition experiences, the company announced plans to deliver a new Xbox 360 external HD DVD drive in 2006

'the company' is microsoft.

Also, it was never a big if, xbox360 will not survive in this new generation of gaming without something special to offer. microsoft has been publicly backing toshiba and the HD-DVD for some time.

i was just using the most reliable source of information available to me - official press releases - but note that microsoft will be making high definition games for the console, and that nine out of ten xbox 360 owners have or intend to buy a hdtv - i cannot see microsoft allowing some 'MadCatz' company to cash in on this and neither can they.

thanks for your reply, it's good to discuss these things.

[w00t220]

nice i hope u added it to the news section



cheers

[Kyla666 (zzk2001)]

close to 200$ for a USB type  CD-rom LOL yea that going to sell well