During Bill Gates's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, he revealed that the Xbox 360 would be getting a little sexier in 2006 with the addition of an external HD-DVD drive.
There's been speculation for several months over where Microsoft stood on the higher capacity optical discs while standards were fought over between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, both of which hold many gigabytes more data than the now standard DVD-Rom drives. It was thought by most that Microsoft would be releasing the Xbox 360 with the standard DVD and forgoing the others altogther, although some rumors talked about an add-on later. Turns out the rumors is what everyone should have listened to.
The details of the release were quite vague, stating only that it would happen in 2006 and making no mention of pricing or other details, but it certainly seems that Microsoft has thrown down the hammer in their support of HD-DVD. A question in my mind, with Sony and Blu-Ray on one side and Microsoft with their HD-DVD on the other, is where that leaves Nintendo with their storage media. My guess is that Nintendo will do what it always does: go its own way.
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Hell YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! !im so gonna get this, i knew this was gonna come out to im watchin CES live via the asx file from xbox-scene, he didnt talk about xbox yet but start watching before he does!
o yeah and i always wanted to say this, FIRST
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WOOT! Sega CD Here I come!
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sega cd was for games.
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I wonder if its gonna look like the toliet bowl on the Jaguar CD.
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This is the 360's version of the Sega CD but for HD-Movies... I wonder if they will make an attachment where the HDD goes and then you can connect the HDD to the HD-DVD drive!
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They should make it that you can send in your xbox360 and they will replace the current drive with the hd-dvd drive. Whats the point of having two drives unless your able to utilize both drives at the same time. Like having the regular dvd drive play music and at the same time play games with the hd-dvd.
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no its gonna be for games and movies and its gonna be connected through USB 2.0 since usb 2.0 allows 480mb of speed trasnfer which is more then enough
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I'm sure it's not going to be like the sega OR Jaguar Cd. In my opinion, it will be built into later Xbox 360s. Either that or you will be able to take it into the Geek squad (through a special aggreement with best buy... Satanic freaks.) and be able to have the drive installed without voiding the warranty. Just my opinion.
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The HD-DVD drive is not going to be used from games from the speculation(fai rly decent sources)... But it's going to be used for movies only..
I personally think that they should let HD-DVD developped games.. but is it too late for them to do this?
I mean, will people dish out extra cash just to buy a hd-dvd player and THEN have to buy the games aswell?
I dont think people are going to like this very much.
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Microsoft has already confirmed that if HD-DVD were to be used later on, it would not be for games, movies only.
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BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE, THINK ABOUT US, THE CONSUMERS!!!!!
if sony supports blu ray and most of the other companies support that, do that!
but don't retaliate and force the consumers to be left for a gruelling choice.
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First:
It doesnt matter too much if HD-DvD is widely supported over Blu-Ray, its just the playing of DvDs and we can always buy the winners Player to watch the movies.
Second:
Games can be played via HD-DvD drive, the developer has to say "We need the extra space, lets make it on a HD-DvD" then you can only play the game on an HD-DvD.
Third:
You can put in the new HD-DvD drive if you want. hell if Blu-Ray wins you can have them put in a Blu-Ray drive (not microsoft supported though, but it will work) heck if a Blu-Ray/HD-DvD drive is released you can put THAT in. i think that the first Xbox showed that the hardware is just PC parts and you can put in new IDE hardware without any kind of problems (you could upgrade the Xbox1's harddrive and Discdrive if you wanted too)
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360 - HD-DVD
PS3 - Blu-Ray
Revolution - CARTRIDGES! W00T!!!!!!
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Revolution uses cartidges, eh? NOT. Gamecube had miniDVDs, why on Earth would Nintendo even consider putting Cartidges back into gaming consoles?
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I'm basically going to say this:
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$
It is obvious, is it not? M$ is really going downhill.
I don't take sides in the console wars, but this is just absurd. Xbox should have been delayed a little more until the drive could be included internal.
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What's funny is, while PS3 is getting now news and possibly now delayed till Fall 2006 in Japan (Spring 2007 uS) we already have forward movement by MS to announce support for HD-DVD. So, if you want it, you buy the add on, if you want an all in one unit though, I hope they offer a new model that has it.
I absolutely hope they stick to their statement of not allowing the HD DVD for games. That would be bad.
As for myself, I don't know which standard will win. I don't know if the HD DvD player will be as good as a stand alone player. I don't know if the PS3 BLue Ray plyer will be good. I don't know if companies will offer a player that plays both (Broadcom displayed technology today at CES that will do this). There are just too many questions.
I feel bad for all those thinking they would just wait till spring to buy a PS3 and will now miss out for a year of next gen gaming out of stuborn egos.
Fritzilla
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Microsoft made a bad move of releasing a standard dvd-drive for the x360, they knew 4sure HD-dvd and Blueray would replace dvd and yet they went with it. Now consumers are gonna get confused when u tell them they cant play hd-games on their internal drive!!
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Wait a sec...
If it is only to be used for movies, than why would anyone get this instead of a purpose built HD DVD player??
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cause an addon drive would be a lot cheaper than getting a stand alone player, id prefer a stand alone tho... will have to wait and see the costs, if the stand alones are like £300 like dvd players first were and the addons only like £100 then il go with the addon
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Sony have lost my sale as because iam from the uk probably wont get ps3 until early 2008 knowing sony
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HD DVD just won my vote when I read Harry Potter 4 will be in HD DVD formate =D. Just Kidding.
http://news.com.com/HD+DVD+backers+promise+200+movies/2100-1026_3-6019023.html
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First of all Sony announced the PS3 for May 2006. I'm pretty sure that the PS3 will be in Europe before Christmas. And for us, it makes little sense to get it a lot sooner than that, because HD-TVs here are just too expensive at the moment, never mind those that support 1080p - there aren't any in the shops here at all.
Second, I find this very interesting to see. This means that we might already have at least four configurations of Xbox:
- one without HD or HD-DVD
- one with HD (of varying sizes and speeds from the looks of it), and without HD-DVD
- one with HD-DVD but no HD
- one with HD-DVD and HD
Is this a good thing? It's a nightmare for developers, and it is asking for bugs and inconsistencies . The end result is generally that these features will become greatly underused.
Also, remember how the old Xbox didn't have DVD playback by default? The result: no games support it. Remember how the PS2 came with a HD addon? Only one game supported it.
At best, we'll go back to the days of the Atari ST. I remember having bought the game Gauntlet II. When I bought a double-sided floppy drive, all of a sudden I got some additional opening music. When I doubled my RAM, all of a sudden I had more sound effects during the game.
But the most important point is that consoles should have as few different configurations as possible. That's their strength after all! So I view this with very high scepticism, to be honest.
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Now who the f*** needs an HD-dvd any way? Not me!
I'm not going to buy one unless the games will support it too.
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This actually really pisses me off. Now we have to go out and spend more money on Microsoft for something that they should have done before the released the god for saking 360. XBOX is going turn out jus tike Sega did, going back to software. COME ON BILL, I HAVE ALREADY SPENT MY KIDS COLLEGE MONEY ON THE 360. If the PS3 is cheaper and better then the 360 I am crossing over. I am tired of getting rob.
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dwg3333,
You need to lay off the whiskey buddy... none of your comments make sense. You are acting like unless you get the HD-DVD add-on then the 360 is useless.
We do not have to "go out and spend more money on microsoft" because...
ONCE AGAIN - it is only used for movies. This add-on is more like a peripherial then "must-have installed" device. It is just extra entertainment purposes. There is NO REASON you need this unless of course you want to watch HD-DVD movies when they are released.
Now, try to sobber up so that you can put some common sense into things. This announcement changes NOTHING with the 360 - just an additional feature IF (and only if) the consumer decides they'd like the addition.
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Actually, I Think this does affect the 360 a lot. If it was internal at launch, they could actually have high storage games like a future gta and such. Now it being external, that option for gaming is out.
I'm getting both anyway.
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HD-DVD WILL NOT BE FOR GAMES!!!
Just wanted to get that out there, none of you guys seem to understand. It's simply going to be an extra option for a movie player. You guys have to put yourself in Microsoft's shoes. They have spent tons of money supporting HD-DVD. The Xbox 360 is a cheap way they can propagate the HD-DVD systems into people's homes at a lower manufacturing cost.
It's a fine decision. Kind of like that Gamecube that played DVD's too. Just an option to pimp out your box...
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Reminds me of nintendo in a way
Yaa for GBA, oh wait its not front lit,
Yaa for Front Lit GBA..
Yaa SP, oh wait headphones don't work
Release an adapter
Yaa for Gameboy Micro,
OH wait its Frontlit Backlit looks better
Yaa for Backlit Micro!
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