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Microsoft sets the price for its HD DVD add-on

Microsoft today announced that its HD DVD add-on for the XBOX 360 will be released in the United States in mid-November with a price tag of $199.99. This comes just a week after the announcement that the drive would launch in Japan on November 22 for 19,800 yen ($170 USD).

"[The HD DVD drive] will work with either Core or SKU. It puts [the price] on par with people who want to watch movies. The key part for us is to give consumers choice. We're not gonna lose money on this, but we will give it value," said Microsoft's Scott Henson.

The drive will ship with an XBOX 360 Universal Remote and will come with Peter Jackon's King Kong. The drive should arrive just in time for the Fall system update which is set to add 1080p support for games and movies. Let the games...err, movies begin!

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price
By asabour on 9/27/06, Rating: 0
RE: price
By daniel1113 on 9/27/2006 7:45:52 PM , Rating: 4
The option to purchase an HD-DVD drive rather than paying $200 for a feature that most people will not use: priceless.


RE: price
By tk109 on 9/27/2006 7:55:22 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah it's nice that people aren't forced to pay for it. And plus it's like a year after they paid for their 360's and now it's a nice add on. $200 a year later is not so bad. If you want it you buy it, of not you dont. I think it's a nice add on personally.


RE: price
By Arkham1 on 9/27/2006 8:24:23 PM , Rating: 1
The ability to have 25/50 GB/disc games: Priceless. ;)

Regardless of which format wins or loses as a movie standard, the BR standard for games will still be a distinct advantage. Face it: no one except fanboys and the early-adoptors will care about these technologies for movies for some time to come. I'm a collector and I don't plan on buying another player for a couple years, so either choice is irrelevant in regards to movies.

And you just KNOW they're going to come out with a game-and-a-movie disc.


RE: price
By ViperROhb34 on 9/27/06, Rating: -1
RE: price
By Loc13 on 9/28/2006 9:10:54 AM , Rating: 1
Every PS3 game is released in Blu ray disk. For example, Resistance: Fall of Man takes up 20GB. Can a dual-layer dvd fit that much content? I suppose not.


RE: price
By reboos on 9/27/2006 8:31:44 PM , Rating: 2
Yes they are the same price except the ps3 will have 40 more gb is hd space, wifi & hdmi.


RE: price
By ViperROhb34 on 9/27/2006 8:48:27 PM , Rating: 2
What makes the Xbox more appealing is its entry price.
Its more feasible to go out a buy something that cost Three hundred and be able to upgrade it when you have money... and only if you want to. If I dont want a HD-DVD player.. great.. I dont buy one.. and NEVER spend the money. The Xbox 360 doesnt need a big hardrive.. it can be networked to any Windows PC.. and Windows Vista which many have now as beta lets you network it and watch movies from your pc.. store music.. Id rather use my computer 300 gig hardrive for that then depend on a hardrive in a game console.

Not enough people can go out and drop 500 or 600 at one time to sell the massive numbers Sony needs to sell for PS3 to be a real success.

Sony will sell as many or less units the MS has sold mainly because of price alone. Most people here are looking at features.. reality is.. the everyday working person won't buy something that cost that much.

PS2 started off at only 299.. and is now on 120 dollars.. thats why it continues to sell well..

If I buy a PS3, which is not likely - And I do have the money - and if I could buy one - which there will be too few out there to buy at even the ridiculous price it will be - I'd have to buy what else with it ? No rumble... and how much will accesories be ..


RE: price
By Hemipower on 9/28/2006 1:15:43 AM , Rating: 1
i rather use my computer alone to do all that than have to network to the 360.

the accessories wont be any more than the 360 100 hd and 100 wifi and 60 controller.


RE: price
By Crusader on 9/27/06, Rating: 0
RE: price
By reboos on 9/27/2006 9:12:56 PM , Rating: 1
If HD DVD were ready at the time the xbox 360 I do not doubt for one second MS would of shoved it down your throat as well. Having the HD DVD add-on does nothing to serve you as a consumer, it only serves MS in any direct comparisons with the PS3.


RE: price
By ViperROhb34 on 9/27/2006 10:45:45 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah except the world does work and revolve around
"IF's"

You could say If this and if that all day long..


RE: price
By Hemipower on 9/28/06, Rating: -1
RE: price
By abhaxus on 9/29/2006 10:17:07 PM , Rating: 2
Actually if you ask most videophiles and they will tell you right off that HDMI as a standard has many problems. Component video has plenty of bandwidth for 1080p. The only problem I have with the 360 and HDDVD's performance is that the cables do not look to be very well shielded for those of us in houses with bad wiring and lots of EMI/RF interference.

Sorry to burst your bubble :)


RE: price
By djcameron on 9/27/2006 9:29:01 PM , Rating: 4
So when the $600 PS3 dies and becomes a doorstop, then you get to pay another $600 to replace it. When the $400 X360 dies and becomes a doorstop, you only have to pay $400 to replace it. PS3 is way too expensive for a game console (X360 is just too expensive for a game console).


RE: price
By Hemipower on 9/28/06, Rating: 0
RE: price
By Hydrofirex on 9/28/2006 10:09:11 AM , Rating: 1
I dunno, at that point to me personally the 200 bucks you're freaking out about doesn't seem important.

If my 600 PS breaks that quick I'm not going to sit there and wish I had gotten an Xbox. Besides, if you're going out and spending 600 on a PS3, I really hope you have a big high resolution TV source and a good surround system. Moral of the story: 200 bucks isn't anything at that point.

HfX


RE: price
By GhandiInstinct on 9/28/06, Rating: -1
RE: price
By Kamus on 9/29/2006 5:32:01 AM , Rating: 1
Yeah, Specs are better, but that's not even the real benefit here... if you buy a PS3 you get just that, and if you buy an xbox 360, well.. you get that.
An Xbox 360 won't have a MGS4, a DMC4, a Gran Turismo (anyone who even tries to compare it with forza should have some one kick him in the nuts. It's not even close.)
No FFXIII, no games like shadow of the colossus or Okami, the list goes on an on... THAT's the real benefit of a ps3 over a 360, the _GOOD_ japanese games.
If you don't buy a PS3 the only really popular thing you will miss is halo 3? sign me up for a PS3.

Can't wait for some so called gamer to start defending the 360 cause he "can't stand" japanese games.
Sucks to be you, you are missing out on 50% of the games worth playing, and yeah there's a few american games out there that are really good.. but guess what? those come out for the playstation too, most of the time they won't even see the light of day on a MS console either.

(i say popular, cause i've never really thought much of halo games, PC FPS are WAAAY better than that overrated franchise.)

So... to recap, who the hell cares about the specs at this point? it's pretty obvious what games the japanese developers are bringing to each console.. and MS fanboys (*shrug*) can ignore that fact all the want, but as good as the 360 is, if it doesn't have the games to back it up it's just not gonna ever be a viable option for a lot of true gamers.
360 is an awsome piece of hardware that has few games that are comming out that are even programmed to take advantage of the hardware to a good deal of it's potential, on the 360 we see a LOT of PC ports that were made with inferior hardware in mind.

there seems to be a few exlusive games that are good, they just aren't enough.

So really... all those people claming that sony is dead in the water because of the extremley high price of the PS3.
I ask of you to wake up and smell the coffee, the PS3 has the GAMES that sell consoles comming out, and at first who even cares about the 500 or 600 buck launch price?
Do you people honestly think that even if it costed 1,000 bucks at launch you'd be able to find one? it's gonna be 360 launch all over again, except maybe worse because this is a more recognzied Brand.
So good luck finding one for a year after launch, if you want to buy a PS3 chances are you're gonna have to do what people did with the xbox 360:
Pay over a grand on e-bay untill supply catches up with demand.

And honesty... the PS3 has good games in the works. But even back in the PS2 days it took developers a good 2-3 years to come up with software that lived up to the machines potential, with the PS3 and 360 it's a LOT worse.
There's more possibilities with that new hardware, so there's a LOT more work to be done.
As an example, it took Polophony Digital like 1 month to make a single car for GT4. For the PS3 GTHD premium, the cars have so much more detail that it takes them anywhere from 3 to 6 months to make ONE car. (of course you have to assume that they'll have a much bigger team as the demand for higher quality graphics grows.)

So really, by the time the developers for the PS3 bring out the massive amounts of good games out, the PS3 will cost a lot less, not saying 250. But in 3 years it could go for aobut 300 bucks, and the Wii will still be a gamecube with a controller that people have yet to see if it will be a dealmaker or not.


RE: price
By therealnickdanger on 9/29/2006 2:40:21 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
As an example, it took Polophony Digital like 1 month to make a single car for GT4. For the PS3 GTHD premium, the cars have so much more detail that it takes them anywhere from 3 to 6 months to make ONE car.

Sounds to me like the PS3 is either really hard to develop for or PD lost all their talent... :D Have you even seen the screens for GTHD Premium? It barely looks better than GTHD Classic. Sparse backgrounds, cloned trees, JPEG backdrop... only the cars look good, but that's never been PD's problem.

quote:
anyone who even tries to compare it with forza should have some one kick him in the nuts. It's not even close.

You're right, Forza is the superior sim. I've been a GT fan since the beginning and with the exception of the quantity of cars, Forza blows GT away.

PS3 does have a lot of great games on the way, but I think part of the point is that the Xbox360 has a lot of great games out now, it IS cheaper, and it is ramping up for a HUGE season of system-moving games. The PS3 is launching against that with a small library of exclusives, and more importantly, a very small shipment of consoles.

Odd that you qualify people that don't enjoy Japanese games as not being "true gamers". I suppose that you would have to define what "Japanese games" means to you, but what sort of elitist BS is that? Must I also refer to anime as "on-ee-may" in your presence? LOL

So you mentioned FF, MGS, DMC, and GT. Naturally, Xbox360 owners don't need GT because they have the better-looking, better-playing Forza, but there will be FF games for 360 in the future, past MGS games came to Xbox (so we may see MGS4), and in the latest Game Informer, it was hinted that Capcom may bring DMC4 may to 360 as well. That would certainly follow the recent trend of developers either jumping the PS3 ship altogether or going multi-platform.

I won't dare say this decisively, but I think it is somewhat agreed by the masses that performance of the two consoles will be a wash. The PS3 does have a good degree of power, but whereas, like you said, it will take 2-3 years to get the Max™ Potential®, the Xbox360 will probably enter into its own before that. At least according to development blogs and magazine interviews, both consoles have their quirks, but the Xbox360 is substantially easier to program for with excellent support.

All I know is that the majority of games that I like and play are either on Xbox360 or PC, so that's where I put my dollars.


RE: price
By Hydrofirex on 9/28/2006 10:05:52 AM , Rating: 1
TRUE!

But you know what - this is all just a scam to push next-gen DVD players on us all either way!

HfX


RE: price
By Kyanzes on 10/1/2006 6:38:36 AM , Rating: 2
I'm all in for modularity but then again these boxes are getting more and more PC like :D Heed my word, one day a new xbox will be introduced that'll have a video upgrade option :D and finally MS will invent... the PC :D It's still very nice to be able to decide for yourself wether or not you want to pay for a feature like a HDD DVD upgrade. It's also interesting that, in theory, MS could always move to producing external BLU-RAY drives should that solution become the favorite in the future. PS3s could lose a lot though should HD-DVD become mainstream instead.


this is funny
By gus6464 on 9/28/2006 12:17:27 AM , Rating: 1
I just find it funny that ms has decided to graciously update the xbox360 to 1080p but there is one thing they left out. All 1080p capable hdtvs nowadays will not output that resolution via component. They all require hdmi. Now sure component is capable of outputing 1080p but all manufacturers just allow it through hdmi because of hdcp and because no form of drm can be implemented through component. Now sure you can buy the dvi cable for the 360 and use a dvi to hdmi converter but what happens when the content streamed has hdcp and dvi will just not work. Honestly ill take my $600 blu ray player from sony with real 1080p output via hdmi and not worry about that. I am not flaming or trying to start a flame war as I have an x360 but honestly the hddvd addon is a joke. I guarantee if MS decides to roll out a new xbo360 revision with hddvd built in it will have hdmi out.




RE: this is funny
By Hakuryu on 9/28/2006 12:35:56 AM , Rating: 2
'no form of DRM can be implemented through component'

Correct me if I'm wrong, since I'm not a DRM guru... but my Tuner card in my PC will NOT let me record DVD input coming through component (DVD player->component->tuner card cable) into the card. It says something about copyrighted material and will not record.

You may ask why I even tried this... just to play around with my new tuner card... I know I can plop a DVD in my PC.


RE: this is funny
By agentbb007 on 9/28/2006 1:51:37 AM , Rating: 2
gus6464, you are incorrect:
http://tv.about.com/od/hdtv/a/hdmidvihdcp_2.htm

DVI can support HDCP. So if the studios decide to enable HDCP on their HD DVD's the 360 will certainly be capable of sending this HDCP signal over a DVI cable so your HDCP ready TV will be able to display the full 1080i.


RE: this is funny
By Sunday Ironfoot on 9/28/2006 8:47:24 AM , Rating: 2
360 doesn't have a DVI cable though, only VGA and Compoenent video


RE: this is funny
By MonkeyPaw on 9/28/2006 11:25:39 AM , Rating: 2
Perhaps MS is planning to offer a new connector array in the future as well? They have that giant port in back that allows for multiple output connectors, including a CRT adapter. Perhaps they will begin offering a DVI connector to match? Also, if they decide to make an integrated HD-DVD model, they might impliment HDMI along with it. Considering how HDMI video cards are finally surfacing, it might not be that hard.

The only other question I have is how this drive will connect to the XB360. Are we talking USB cables here?


RE: this is funny
By therealnickdanger on 9/28/2006 12:13:25 PM , Rating: 2
USB 2.0 is how it appears. It relies on the Xbox360 to supply the video and audio output.

Quite frankly, being limited to 1080i via the component cables is still going to supply a better image than standard DVD. Even though 1080p is possible over component, the full resolution of the source 1080p24 content is still in 1080i, it's just interlaced. Is it as clean as a DVI or HDMI signal? No, but will the majority even notice? Probably not. It should be noted (again) that RGB can output 1080p as well. I know that my plasma can accept 1920x1080 via DVI and RGB.

The downside to both the HD-DVD add-on and the PS3 as a whole is the lack of analog audio output to supply DD+. Until DD/DTSHD receivers come out en masse, no one will be able to take advantage of the better audio both formats offer. To sum up: you get what you pay for. If you want the best next-gen DVD experience, don't buy a GAME console!


RE: this is funny
By photoguy99 on 9/28/2006 3:20:36 PM , Rating: 2
I don't think you've got it right.

They can output 1080i/60 via component and many TVs will take that and reassemble it as 1080p/30. So, same thing.

It doesn't really matter if the deinterlacing takes place on the player or on the tv, it just matters if the deinterlacer is good. So if you have a good tv you should be fine.


RE: this is funny
By Kamus on 9/29/2006 5:41:20 AM , Rating: 2
Yep, it's true...

The point is moot though, the xbox360 would have to sacrifice a lot of performance to even have good looking games at 1080p, and to be honest. so would the PS3. i'd MUCH rather have a PS3 Gran Turismo with soft shadows, more realistic lightning, etc. than have it sacrifice stuff like that (such as HDR, etc.) in favor of 1080p, as long as they offer good scaling, i really don't care if it's true 1080p or not, resolution is overrated even in Video, let alone in videogames where higher resolution means sacrificing a lot of eye candy.
Not saying i woudln't love 1080p, i'd just much rather have games that look truly next-gen rather than somewhat better than last-gen with 1080p support.

Apparently MS will support 1080p for movies and it will scale up games... that's good enough for me, cause the only 1080p Capable thing i own is a 24" Sony CRT widescreen monitor that is awsome, and well, it's VGA, 720 looks kinda bad in that monitor not because it's too low of a res, but because the bigger the CRT is and the higher res it can output, it means that lower resolutions on those CRT's will have scanlines, so the pixels will be too far apart on something like 1280x768, and it looks bad.. but at 1080p there's no scanlines, so i'm looking foward to that.


Free movie?
By notoriousformula on 9/27/2006 7:30:27 PM , Rating: 2
OMG OMG OMG




RE: Free movie?
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 9/27/06, Rating: 0
RE: Free movie?
By DarthPierce on 9/27/2006 7:38:31 PM , Rating: 2
Unsurprising that it's a Peter Jackson movie.... seing that he's partnered with MS game studios now....

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/09/27/microsoft_jackso...


RE: Free movie?
By AnotherGuy on 9/27/2006 7:39:36 PM , Rating: 2
dude r u on drugs.... King Kong is a great movie.... sick graphics


RE: Free movie?
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 9/27/2006 7:44:01 PM , Rating: 2
So loonnnnnnnnng and boooooooooring. Sappy story, bla bla bla monkey see monkey do.


RE: Free movie?
By jtesoro on 9/27/2006 7:46:44 PM , Rating: 2
I agree with him actually. I didn't like the movie either. I agree with you too that the graphics are slick. Unfortunately, overall I'd have to give it a thumbs down.

I have the DVDs of the 1933 and 1976 versions of the movies. I gotta watch them soon to see how they stack up!


RE: Free movie?
By MikeO on 9/28/2006 4:30:31 AM , Rating: 2
One of the worst movies I've ever tried to sit through, but after the dinosaur pile-up and wrestling with t-rexes I just couldn't take it anymore.

9 out 10 dollars that went into making that movie was spent on special effects, little attention was paid to anything else. What happened to Peter Jackson? He made Bad Taste for crying out loud!


like this will last
By Armorize on 9/27/2006 9:19:52 PM , Rating: 2
ah the ever fatal "add-on" ok lets see how many "add-ons" have actually survived the test of time.... i can think of one or two, both for nintendo consoles working with gameboys...other then that.... no one else survives them. ::cough:: segacd ::cough:: oh and who remembers the N64 cd.... ya nobody does cause it never came out...lets see...nope nothing... MS is walking into the light ::zap:: oops its a bug light.




RE: like this will last
By NullSubroutine on 9/27/2006 11:52:47 PM , Rating: 2
nintendo was never going to release n64 cd. it was called a dd (disk drive). it was faster than then current cd's but slower than cartridges. held less space than a cd, but more than a cartridge; also they had superior compression technology so they didnt need much for space.

they didnt release it because it didnt really matter as it was more buisness viable to simply just make a new console.


RE: like this will last
By MonkeyPaw on 9/28/2006 11:28:13 AM , Rating: 2
Don't forget the 32X!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_32X

Sorta the beginning of the end, wasn't it?


RE: like this will last
By therealnickdanger on 9/28/2006 12:02:00 PM , Rating: 2
Too bad this is nothing like the other add-ons... This has ZERO to do with games, it is only for HD-DVD watching, nothing else. A next-gen DVD player for $200 is a great deal for those that choose to get it.


Game console is a long term investment
By Loc13 on 9/28/2006 9:34:55 AM , Rating: 2
Don't tell me that in 5 years games will still fit in DVD. MS will have to release games in HDDVD to compete and therefore the HD drive will be required. So will you have a choice at that time? NO. If you look at a console purchase as a long term investment, the premium PS3($600) is a much better deal than the xbox360 with wifi and HD drive ($700) at this moment.





RE: Game console is a long term investment
By edpsx on 9/28/2006 10:01:50 AM , Rating: 2
I just wanted to state to the guy earlier who said he had run games in higher resolution. Just because you run a game in higher resolution doesnt mean its HD. I can take Pac Man and run it at 1920x1080.. but that doesnt make it HD. And I cant wait for PS3 to come out, not because Im going to buy it, just so everyone will STFU about arguing whose console is better. Its just a flame war that will never win like PC and MAC or Linux and Windows. GET OVER IT, and get your game on. Either way we lose and Sony, Nintendo, MS all win.


By Hemipower on 9/28/2006 12:39:16 PM , Rating: 2
im sorry i most not understand the meaning of High Definition. What is a game today like legosw done to it to make it "HD". Do they add some type of secret formula we are not aware of.

Movies in HD are filmed intirely different than movies in 854x480, because they are not cut down and croped to fit that resolution right. They do usually film a movie twice because they want both versions available. sarcasm:

I agree we all lose by paying 60 dollars per game and the big three win.


360 games will be hddvd
By mushi799 on 9/27/2006 9:33:57 PM , Rating: 1
why else would MS be releasing a hd-dvd version of the 360 in 2007?




RE: 360 games will be hddvd
By v3rt1g0 on 9/27/2006 10:06:29 PM , Rating: 2
Utter non-sense. You think they'd abandon the userbase without HD-DVD drives? There is zero reason to even want the extra capacity. Games just aren't that big, nor will they be before the XBox 360 is dead and gone.


RE: 360 games will be hddvd
By Armorize on 9/28/2006 3:42:29 PM , Rating: 1
I dont know what kind of world your living in, but the higher the definition and the better the content for the game, the bigger the game is, for either HDDVD or BluRay its the same game. to make these games at 1080p level its gonna take alotta gigs. No ifs ands or buts about that, period.


$1 = £1
By probedb on 9/28/2006 6:27:16 AM , Rating: 2
...sits back and waits for the announcement that it'll cost £199 in the UK :( ....

Samsung just announced that their Blu-Ray player with an RRP of $1000 will have a UK RRP of.....£1000, hmm, and it can be picked up for $750 so how much money are Samsung making out of us in the UK....rather a lot I imagine.




RE: $1 = £1
By Torched on 9/28/2006 9:19:45 AM , Rating: 2
The price for GB will be 129GBP

Did you read the article? (blog post) Here is the article that should be linked... http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=...


hddvd drive
By Lazarus Dark on 9/27/2006 11:01:21 PM , Rating: 2
so...when can I get one for my comp for <$200?




or you cand just get a Wii
By mforce on 9/28/2006 9:09:57 AM , Rating: 2
You could spend 200 $ on a HD-DVD for your Xbox ( which will be pretty much useless ) or .... you could just buy a Wii for almost the same price . This one is a difficul one for sure :) .
Oh yeah , almost forgot about the 500 $ PS 3 :) but at least that runs Linux and the bluray will be pretty cool in the future .




Stupid Microsoft
By Trisped on 9/28/2006 11:09:33 AM , Rating: 2
If they would get their hands out of my pockets, I might conosider buying it. $200 is way too much. It should be closer to $100, or come with a good movie like the 5th Element.

I don't need the remote, I don't want the movie, I just want the HD DVD drive to complete my 360. Is that too much to ask for? I hope not.




Price
By gchanjam on 9/28/2006 7:10:11 PM , Rating: 2
People keep on complaining about the PS3 being too expensive but the same was said about the original PS, N64, PS2, and Xbox360 but people still bought those in record numbers.

As far as disk capacity goes, games will start to exceend the DVD9 capacity easily seeing as how plenty of PS2 games already go beyond the DVD5 capacity. Plus Sony has plans to include all versions of a game on a single disk so as to avoid regional locks. Finally there's also word of future 360 games being released on HD disks once the HD drive has become more widespread.

Finally I'd have to agree that MS didnt release the HD-DVD drive as a secondary add-on as a convenience to the consumer. If they had tried to add it as a standard to the 360's a year ago either the price would have sky rocketed or they would have had to delay it's release which goes against their key strategy of releasing earlier and cheaper than the PS3.




Capacity Shmacity
By IronGeek on 9/29/2006 1:36:47 AM , Rating: 2
5GB ought to be enough for anybody.




More capacity doesnt mean better games
By jabber on 9/28/2006 6:55:40 AM , Rating: 2
The only real benefit I can see for using disk technology with greater capacity than a dual layer DVD (for the next few years) will be to allow far more boring (or pointless) FMV cut scenes into a game. You know, the type you get at the end of levels and you then never watch again.

I've always thought its a policy that games with loads of FMV in them usually have it in to distract from the fact there isnt much of a game there.

Really handy.

Quality not quantity.




Too Expensive and Tech is Bad
By porkster on 9/28/2006 6:06:51 PM , Rating: 1
Blue Ray and HD are both flops, plus the price is too hig for a technology that shouldn't be much on conventional CD drive mech manufacturing.

Remove DRM and make blanks and the drive cheap, and you ahve the winner.




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