CES: External HD DVD drive for Xbox 360
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jan 4th 2006 at 11:05PM }
In mid-December Microsoft
stated,
"Microsoft, in both America and Japan, has not announced anything regarding the possibility of a next generation
DVD drive being placed in the Xbox 360." It's true they never lied; the HD DVD drive won't be inside the
Xbox 360, it will be an external drive. During the CES Keynote, Microsoft's Peter Moore announced the device:
"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."It is notable that he specified "movies" and not gaming. If they offered two tiers of games, DVD9 and HD DVD, it would alienate the consumers who do not own the external drive and aggravate developers whose next-gen development budgets will be stretched as it is, without multiple console variations. This external drive is Microsoft's response to Sony's relentless Blu-Ray marketing, an effort to remove this contention from the next-gen purchasing decision. Will a low priced, next-generation DVD player really help sell consoles? Microsoft still has to ensure that HD DVD wins the console war! Clearly there are plenty more battles left in this war.
[Updated to reflect that this portion of the keynote was delivered by Peter Moore and not Bill Gates]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ross Miller @ Jan 4th 2006 11:04PM
Hmm...it looks like the Dreamcast 2.0 is getting its Sega CD, after all.
So the Xbox 360 will now be a cheap HD-DVD player, much like the PS3 intends on being a cheap Blu-Ray player - how catty.
And this marks the third optional piece of equipment for the Xbox 360 - the hard drive, the HD-DVD player, and the (not-so-optional) faceplate.
It'll be interesting to see how they market the drive. They could try a slow transition much like PC gaming - release games as both multi-disc DVD's and one HD-DVD, slowly "weening" the average gamer off of his simplistic, premium Xbox 360 bundle.
I'm waiting until they also release the WiFi adaptor and then rerelease the console as one super delux, ultra-premium, megazoid Xbox 360....the Microsoft Xbox 361. It's one better! Beat that PlayStation ...THREEE
darryl @ Jan 4th 2006 11:54PM
Hehehe... That's freaking hilarious. I'm sorry, but an "add-on" DVD player for HD movies is just retarded. Yeah, that'll work well in my entertainment cabinet, and I'm sure it'll be so pleasing to the eye.
Microsoft shouts while on the verge of tears and stomping their feet, "Me too, me too!"
portorikan @ Jan 5th 2006 1:30AM
Such a player really isn't needed if you stream your HD content from your Media Center PC. That's mostly for folks who aren't comfortable with streaming or don't have a network set up.
bd @ Jan 5th 2006 2:16AM
"3. Such a player really isn't needed if you stream your HD content from your Media Center PC."
Excellent! Now I'll buy an expensive media center with a $1000+ HD-DVD player for streaming High Definition video directly to my 360 so I can stream the content from my 360 to my TV, instead of watching it on the computer monitor (or even directly to my TV)! You know, just so my 360 doesn't feel like a total cripple! *weep*
"That's mostly for folks who aren't comfortable with streaming or don't have a network set up."
Exactly...
I can't wait to hear the kids yelling "WOW! The new HD-DVD player for my 360 mom! buy it!". Knowing Microsoft's marketing, it could happen.
Seriously though, if this is an attempt to resuscitate HD-DVD, it's too late. With no games to back it up, and most movie studios releasing their content on Blu-ray, and earlier, it's too late already. What Microsoft should do, is do as they did with their crappy Xboxes, although instead of replacing the power source (oh wait; maybe that would work too), refurbish the 360 Xboxes so that they all include an HD-DVD drive for both games and movies; if they did that with 14 million consoles, why wouldn't be able to do it with less consoles? It's never too late; or they could wait till they have 14 million consoles again, but no more. By then, it should be cheaper, so Microsoft wouldn't need to worry as much as they did for costs.
The ZeroCorpse @ Jan 5th 2006 3:00AM
Well, if Sony's Blu-Ray choices are all too expensive (and looking at the price of Blu-Ray players at CES), an Xbox 360 owner might see some value in a $100 add-on drive to watch HD content.
I don't care if fanboys don't like the 360 because they disagree with the marketing or the choice of media. I've had a ball playing DOA4 this week, and before that I enjoyed Condemned, Need For Speed Most Wanted, Geometry Wars, Zuma, Hexic, Call of Duty 2, Gauntlet, and downloaded demos of Madden and, most recently, Fight Night. On top of that, Halo 2 looks great in widescreen 720p on my HDTV, and being able to stream my iPod while playing games is a definite improvement over anything the PS2 offered me in terms of soundtracks.
But hey, you can act all nasty about the 360 if you want. I understand it's only sour grapes because you don't have one, can't afford one, or are simply peeved that Sony won't be dropping the PS3 on America until late fall, 2006.
Oh, yeah... And those reports that developers hate the PS3's dev kits might be a little bit of a bummer.
Oh, and the fact that Sony isn't showing anything new regarding PS3 at CES- no real games, no working prototypes, no new footage, no accessories- might be a bit worrisome.
And the fact that the PS3 isn't going to have a centralized internet experience, and will instead rely on gaming companies to set up their own servers and police them might be a bit of a downer for the multiplayer crowd.
Oh, and those reports that PS3 dev kits are melting might be a bad sign.
But despite all that, when (if?) the PS3 arrives, I'll be one of the early adopters. I'm a gamer. I like games. I play them if they're good. I don't care who makes the console.
Unless it's the sucktastic NGage. That thing was just crap.
Perron @ Jan 5th 2006 4:56AM
LMAO thats a laugh, who in the hell would want to have an EXTERNAL HD-DVD player as addon right next to the xbox.
William @ Jan 5th 2006 9:39AM
Um, that's really lame.
An add-on, and it can't even by used for games. Just for a dead-in-the-water video format.
Very exciting news in 360 land. I guess I'll go back to Geometry Wars. I think someone said that Tetris 360 is going to come out soon?
SuicideNinja @ Jan 5th 2006 11:31AM
HD is nice, but over-rated. I love how the Sony fanboys are acting like bluray will make some big ridiculous difference. Nope. The PS3 is still the least exciting system of the 3 new consoles.
Microsoft is only releasing the drive to stifle some of Sony's crap hype. Just in case people are stupid and decide HD needs to "take off". Likely it will be an extremely slow transition, as DVDs are satisfactory to many.
Most likely, this drive will be USB, AND you will be able to connect it to your computer (whether Microsoft provides a method or not). So it will be worth more than a "360 add-on".
Sony's formats always suck (sans the Minidisc). UMDs for example. Talk about a worthless format...the movies are less than DVD quality, especially on that cheap shadowing PSP screen. And they cost twice as much as a DVD!
Shamster @ Jan 5th 2006 12:49PM
While a lot of you over here will disagree, the fight over the next gen DVD format is pretty important for the format creators. Microsoft's support for the HD-DVD camp comes from the following 2 reasons mainly: DVD-interactivity software and managed copying. The first reason is obvious. Microsoft wants to cement it's own interactive format and not promote (Sun's) Java. The second is more interesting. Last year has been an extremely successful year for the Media Center Edition of Windows and extrapolating along the same lines we are going to be seeing a lot more media center hype and adoption. As far as the HD story goes it's cruicial for Microsoft to allow for the best HD experiences on these. Hence the announcement of the HD digital cable receivers for the media center PCs and now the HD-DVD which allows people to make "managed" copies (essentially a legal rip) of the HD-DVD onto their hard drive. As far as the managed copying goes, I am completely siding with Microsoft on this. I would love to be able to rip all my HD-DVDs onto my hard drive and put the disc away and not worry about getting them damaged or having disc reading errors when watching a movie.
On the XBox front, it is pretty important for Microsoft to have a high-def movie player to compete with the PS3. Until we know what the price of the PS3 is, I don't think I can comment either way on whether the external HD-DVD is a value add for the 360 or not. However, I do know that this is a smart move. This will allow Microsoft to create upto 4 possible bundles for the 360 later; Basic, Basic + HD-DVD, Premium, Premium + HD-DVD. I'm sure the pricing will be along the same lines of the premium bundle. i.e. you will get a lot more along with the drive. The beauty of this will be that the consumer will be able to pick and choose what he/she likes.
As far as games using the HD-DVD is concerned, I think Microsoft is doing the right thing by sticking to having the HD-DVD only used for movies. It would suck for a 360 user to be not able to play a game because it's only available in HD-DVD.
I'm no fanboy, but I will tell this. I'm a little uncomfortable with the copyprotection schemes that could show up in BluRay. After what happened with the copy protected CDs and how SONY reacted to it, I just find it hard to trust SONY to give us a reliable and trustworthy DVD format. That being said, I'm not going to let that stop me from getting my PS3 on day 1 if possible.
recklessgemini @ Jan 5th 2006 5:06PM
(EDIT: NO FLAMING PLEASE)
About the HD-DVD add-on, I sure as hell wouldn't get it for my 360.
Embassy @ Jan 5th 2006 8:46PM
i find it SOO hilarious how back in may and allt he way up to launch...every MS hater was talkin about how how no having an HD drive wud cripple the system and was a stupid move...but now MS ANNOUNCES one and they are like " this is soo stupid" .." omg HD DVD Teh suxz" blah blah...fact is...no one knows WHICH ( if any) of the HD formats will be successful...let these 2 companies fight it out..thats wat they do for a living anyway...
eric @ Jan 5th 2006 9:48PM
This really messes up Sonys plans for Worl.. Blu-Ray domination
vaylen @ Jan 9th 2006 7:58PM
Yea, I can't wait to get a 360 with an HD-DVD attachment. Soon I'll be able to watch high-def movies on my HDTV in 1080 glorious lines of resolution. Movies like Ice Age (and Ice Age 2), Sin City, The Incredibles, Spiderman 2, The Chronic(what?)-cles of Naria, Star Wars (Episodes 4-6 especially), Pirates of the Carribean (1 and soon 2),X-Men 1 and 2 (and soon, 3), and upcoming films like the Da Vinci Code. It's gonna be sooooo cool! I'm gonna have everyone over and it's... what? What do you mean I won't be able to watch them? Why? Only on Blu-ray!??!? WTF?!?! Oh... Only Paramount, WB and Universal are doing HD-DVD? Well, they make good movies, I bet those Blu-ray guys are gonna be pretty jealous... what? They do Blu-ray movies too? Oh... So are there any good movies you can watch on HD-DVD but not Blu-ray? No? Well @#&$@%. Bill Gates, you are a moron!
UniBroW @ Jan 17th 2006 11:05PM
I fear the worst for hd-dvd. What microsoft should have done is include the hd-dvd drive in the 360 from the beginning. I think the biggest thing sony has going for them in terms of releasing blu-ray is that ps3 will have a blu-ray drive in it from the get go. People are going to buy ps3's, in gives them market penetration. If the 360 had included hd-dvd, people would have hd-dvd players in their house right now whether or not they felt the need to upgrade to hd-dvd.
God of Gambler @ Jan 26th 2006 2:18PM
In the history of video game, NEVER!EVER! do any type of add-on FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! 360 will die a miserable death @ the hand of Sony and Nintendo...so so sad that M$ has to end it this way.