Microsoft Outright Denies Integrated HD DVD in 360

[hoodlum]

http://news.filefront.com/microsoft-...hd-dvd-in-360/

"The keynote tonight from Bill Gates is bound to have some sort of big announcement, but Microsoft has emphatically denied that Microsoft is planning an Xbox 360 with an HD DVD drive built-in, as the Xbox Ultimate rumor would have you believe. Microsoft has denied plans to do such a thing in the past, but with the wave of recent rumors, felt compelled to do so once again.

“We have reiterated multiple times since launching the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player that we have no plans to integrate an HD-DVD player in to the Xbox 360,” a spokesman said. “We feel that offering the drive externally is the best way to give consumers the ultimate choice to create their own high-definition experiences.”"

[polaris]

HD DVD/Toshiba's date at the dance takes off with another girl/Xbox HD downloads.

[JohnnyCanuck]

This has nothing to do with the format war. Microsoft never did it and won't do it because that drives up the cost of the 360 and either erodes an already soft margin or causes a price increase which impacts sales.

You simply cannot source blue laser hardware as inexpensively as red laser.

[HT gearhead]

But the BD camp can't resist throwing that rumour out as fact every chance they get. What part of NO HDDVD DRIVES IN XBOX 360s don't they understand? That ship has sailed, get over it people.

[hugh]

I agree with JohnnyCanuck.

Sales of Console game systems increase as prices come down so why would Microsoft want to do something that would increase the cost of the system and result in reduced sales?

Since the external drive solution is available, what benefit would be had by replacing the DVD with an HD DVD and driving the price of the Xbox 360 up?

[Brewskie19]

Microsoft will continue to support HD-DVD over Blu-Ray even though it is a losing cause, if not to only delay the Blu-Ray win so that they may establish a strong and dominate download service which would in fact render the Blu-Ray factor dead for Xbox 360 owners.

There is no way than can annouce a Blu-Ray add-on player for the Xbox 360 due to the cost and that it would result in the 360 with the player to be more expensive than the PS3 with the intergrated player built in.

Microsoft's strategy to hold up the Blu-Ray win as long as possible to ensure that downloading HD movies (where format does not matter) is the wave of the future.

[james99]

I think most folks were hoping for a different version of the 360, with a drive built in.

This would give the consumer the option of going with the cheaper unit, if they wished or the Super Elite with a built-in drive.

With WBs announcement it wouldn't make sense IMHO to come out with this now, unless MS and Toshiba are able to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

[darrylr]

I personally don't think an HD DVD drive built in to a 360 would make any sense at this point (even before the WB announcement).

[james99]

Brewskie19, I'm sure there's a lot of truth in your words.

[Eluder]

No doubt, I was sceptical about the whole downloadable content, but after seeing some HD MKVs and HD WMVs, I can see that as being the way of the future. It's ridiculous how good these highly compressed videos can look, and be 1/3 to 1/5 the size of HD/BD.

[Romo828]

I figure with the introduction of the Elite, and just recently the 360 Pro with HDMI support, the decision to add the built-in HD DVD would had already been done by now. I doubt we'll see it built in for many reasons already stated above from other posters, specifically "price". It wouls also add anger to already existing customers with the add-ons, but with MSFT, I guess no one really knows.

I just wonder if MSFT had built-in the HD DVD from the beginning whether this format war would be any different, but this discussion may be in a different topic on these forums so I'll stop right here.

[lawman]

... will be redesigned to have a Blu-Ray drive built-in instead of the HD-DVD drive...

Here's why I think its possible.

I read today that Bill did not mention the Ultimate at the 2008 CES - which might be probably due to the recent HD-DVD news. So, now, they're trying to see if there will be a market for ppl to buy a Xbox360 Ultimate with a built-in HD-DVD drive. I highly doubt that with 14.4 million Xbox360 boxes sold, that all these 14.4 million ppl will buy a new Xbox360_Ultimate, let alone a add-on HD-DVD drive. So, the Ultimate is a dud from Day_One. Its a little bit too late with the release of the PS3 console.

Now, if MSFT re-designed the Ultimate to have a BD drive, it might not be all that bad. Yes, they don't get licensing from selling the BD drive, but at least they get ppl buying their Xbox360 game consoles which can be people's new home media center.

What do you guys/gals think? Is there any merit to this idea? I'm just bouncing it off you hidef enthusiasts out there.

[U]

Why not... there are other uses for Blu-Ray than just movies; for games it means much more storage and also high speed data transfer without having to spin the disc at a million RPM (that's partly why the 360 is sooo loud).

[calvin940]

Good god no. Please don't continue this thread..

[lawman]

Its ok, don't cry...here's a hankie...