HD-DVD Confirmed For Xbox 360

JorgeDeLaCancha writes "Microsoft has recently confirmed plans to bring an external HD-DVD drive to the Xbox 360. This has been previously speculated numerous times, with Bill Gates himself stating 'future versions of Xbox 360 will incorporate an additional capacity of an HD-DVD player.' Do consumers even want another format war?"

Comments

Do consumers even want?

[DoorFrame]

No, of course consumers don't want another format war. However, consumers don't get to directly decide which formats companies choose to put forth. Just because consumers don't want a format war doesn't mean they won't get one.

Of course, they can always end one very rapidly by not buying one format.

HDMI Output?

[calibanDNS]

Will there be an HDMI output cable for the Xbox 360 then? AFAIK, HD DVD requires HDCP which requires HDMI (or a DVI port that supports HDCP). Just curios - anyone have any info on this?

Doesn't the 360 only support component out?

[maynard]

I'm confused.The XBox 360 only outputs component for HD. Either this HD-DVD add-on outputs HDMI (or DVI/HDCP) on its own, or Microsoft is planning a DRM war with the media companies. What's going on?

Plans, Plans, and more Plans (oh and PR)

[DumbSwede]

So we have a plan for an external drive, so I guess the plan for an HD version of XBOX 360 with and internal HD-DVD drive sometime in the future have been dropped. Since it is external I guess they actually will make this device just for the PR to suck some wind out of the sales for PS3 and Blu-Ray.

But if you can slap on an external HD-DVD you could probably slap on an external Blu-Ray. A year from now if Sony and Blu-Ray have won the format war with only Blu-Ray movies readily available, will Bill bite the bullet and also make an external Blu-Ray available? Would Sony let them? Could Sony prevent it legally?

Re:'Cause external add-ons are always market wins

[GeorgeMcBay]

This isn't quite the average console add-on. Usually it doesn't make sense to make them, as you state, since very few people buy them. You get a catch-22 where developers don't support it because there is no market, and no market ever appears because developers don't support it. Well, there will be HD-DVD movies regardless of what Microsoft does with the 360 (because lots of stand-alone players will support it), so the standard chicken & egg problem doesn't apply here. This looks like a fine add-on, IMO.

Also, a lot of posts here (not the parent one specifically) seem to imply that Microsoft are being dicks for going with their own proprietary format (when HD-DVD isn't even a Microsoft-centric technology, though they obviously have reasons to back competition to Sony's Blu-ray). I must assume these people haven't read much about the next DVD format war since, while HD-DVD is a long way from being open, it is not nearly as horribly DRM-infested as Blu-ray is going to be and really is a better choice for the consumer.

Re:Same thing as PS2 Hard drive

[Hes Nikke]

no PS2 games use [the PS2 Hard Drive] (or atleast very very few, FFX is the one exception that I know of)

FFX runs just fine off it's one DVD. (that game is HUGE - i'm working my way through it right now) FFXI otoh requires both an internet connection (i think even broadband) and a hard drive. thus, there is no way to run that game on a slimline PS2 - like mine - without some hardware hacking - something i can't afford to do to my PS2 atm. GTA:SA takes advantage of the HD, but runs just fine (if being able to hear the constant disk access across the room can be considered fine) without an HD. i'm pretty sure there are 4 or 5 other games that do the same... FFXI was the only game to out right require a hard drive though.

Also don't forget that Sega shipped 2 upgrades for the Genisis/Mega Drive that both totally and absolutly flopped - the SegaCD/MegaCD, and the 32X. Nintendo started to get into the act too with the 64DD before they realized that it would kill them like after market upgrades killed sega. Microsoft isn't learning from previous industry mistakes. thats really really bad.

i'm giving 2:1 odds* that the next microsoft console has upgradable RAM.

*sorry, all betting is closed

Re:'Cause external add-ons are always market wins

[Control Group]

Sure, the drive will provide movie-watching functionality, but I question the size of the market that will a) want HD-DVD capability (soon, that is; new formats generally take a little while to catch on while equipment drops in price), b) own a 360 (while this is probably significant overlap with the previous group as technology-lovers, it's still smaller), and c) prefer a game-console add-on to a stand-alone player.

Admittedly, this is partially based on the assumption that a stand-alone player will be more functional than the HD-DVD abilities of the 360. Given the history of consoles and movie playback, I think it's a pretty safe assumption, but maybe MS will nail it this time.

Come to think of it, I wonder how well the DVD playback add-on for the XBox sold? The market for DVD players was already pretty mature when it was released, of course...but at the same time, it only cost $20...