Microsoft confirms USB HD DVD for Xbox 360

If you've been following this story even a little bit over the last few months, you probably won't exactly be shocked to hear that Microsoft is going to roll out a USB HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360. But if you're tracking the ongoing format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, you should check out Microsoft's announcement anyhow. What's unusual about this release is that you won't find any rhetoric about HD DVD being superior to Blu-ray -- or even a ghost of Bill Gates' earlier comments that the latter format was "anti-consumer." Instead, Microsoft calls the quality of the two formats "a wash in terms of video quality," and declares that the main difference between the two is pricing. We assume that means the 360's HD DVD drive will be a bargain. Unfortunately, that's one detail Microsoft has skipped, preferring to "save that good news for another day." Like maybe the day after the PS3 -- which will have a Blu-ray drive built in -- gets its official price?

[Via Joystiq]

[JT @ May 8th 2006 12:19PM]

I wouldn't worry about a dual format drive. Sony's proprietary format will be failing(just like all of their other formats) by the time they would've been affordable anyway, so you'll just have to worry about HD-DVD.

[ty @ May 8th 2006 12:20PM]

I still thinking having two optical drives (with redundant compatibility) is absurd for a console. 360 should have come with an hd-dvd drive from the get-go.

[Tommy Mang @ May 8th 2006 12:24PM]

@ ty

I think MS could not built in the HD-DVD drive because HD specs were not complete...

Think this is a very good alternative, especially if the price is not too high. $100-150 would be nice ;-)

[Jacob @ May 8th 2006 12:32PM]

Sony's "proprietary" format? Blu-Ray is a GROUP of a couple of dozen companies, it's just led by Sony.

[ferrell @ May 8th 2006 12:33PM]

Blu-Ray is the CLEAR winner here. Ubiquity will be the cause for Blu-Ray's success. Imagine the landscape 3 years from now. 10 million+ PS3s, each with a Blu-Ray drive sitting in homes around the world. On the other side, you may have a few hundred thousand (if they're lucky) external HD-DVD drives attached to XBOX360. Despite what Microsoft thinks (or hopes), add-on accessories NEVER work. The 32X did not succeed. The SegaCD did not succeed.

[arn @ May 8th 2006 12:33PM]

maybe, they are going to offer it for free?

if sony can sell a system for $400 and blueray (guessing on the price)

then why can't microsoft sell a system for $400 and then just stuff the drive in later. the only extra would come from making the drive external and then the distribution.

that would be the PS3's killer

[will chen @ May 8th 2006 12:35PM]

i think this is a great move by microsoft... since HD-DVD isnt essential in game-play, including it in the system from the get-go would alienate customers that can't justify a higher price or those who just can't afford it.

This way, they've introduced a new format, albiet, not essential to gameplay without pulling a sony.

[Alex @ May 8th 2006 12:35PM]

If Microsoft's other add-ons are anything to go by then think of a reasonable pirce and add 50%. Prob around $175

PS3 will be $399 in the US and $463 (�249) in UK

[OlivierB @ May 8th 2006 12:38PM]

Here's the scoop, HD-DVD drives are already built in every XBOX 360 out there, a software update will enable it in the following weeks.

Take that Sony!

More seriously, I can see MSFT keeping core and premium packs but not as we know them: Core would be with DVD player, Premium would be the same but with an HD-DVD instead.

In any case these are consoles and MSFT has full control over games, which means that they will never allow for games to ship on HD-DVDs, all games will be strictly DVD to be compatible with all consoles, but Premium pack will play HD-DVDs out of the box.

[JSM @ May 8th 2006 12:43PM]

Intersting - they are sending the hd-dvd signal over usb - while it may not be decoded (like a file on your hd-dvr) it would have to be decrypted, as the XBox doesn't have the identification/decryption circuitry on board. All other HD-DVD and BD players will only send the digital data out over encrypted HDMI, something that we had all been led to believe was a requirement of the specs (ie. for now they could send analog over component but for all digital tranmission encryption was required.) Not sure if the HD-DVD folks made this compromise in an attempt combat the BD-ps3 advantage, but it seems like a huge security hole for making perfect digital copies.

[JT @ May 8th 2006 12:45PM]

#5 - Betamax wasn't an Sony only thing either, and look how that turned out. I'm not saying Blu-ray is doomed to fail, I just think Sony puts more stock in their name then they should. It's going to take a lot more than the PS3 to make Blu-ray a success.

[Josh Warner @ May 8th 2006 12:47PM]

The HD-DVD drive is probably not that expensive. If you've followed the blogs after the release of the HD-A1, people found that there was a 2.5 GHz P4-M, and a gig of ram in that thing - for $500.

The 360 already has better hardware than that (possible exception: RAM but the 360's is a lot faster) so all that should be needed is the disk drive. The drive should be pretty cheap in comparison - most of the cost is tied up in decoding hardware.

To make this really interesting, the drive should come out for less than $100. Suddenly, you can have a HD-DVD player for $400 (Core 360+HD DVD) and $1000 for a bluray player starts to seem really excessive.

[ty @ May 8th 2006 12:48PM]

For those of you who think this is a good idea.

Remember the Dreamcast, which shipped without a DVD drive just when DVDs where launching. Now imagine if they released a DVD-movie-only-drive for that! Does that make sense? It would have only emphasized that Dreamcast was NOT next-gen. Ditto for xbox360.

[will chen @ May 8th 2006 1:02PM]

so the flaw i see in sony's plan in including BD (correct me if i'm wrong):

The only real reason that they need BD is to watch movies... Games dont usually take up an entire DVD - let alone a BD. They only benefits will that cut-scenes will be higher quality. But then again, the quality of cut-scenes can be just as high on XBOX 360 only theres less room to work with (even though its more than enough). Though im sure that it can be argued that ps3 has better graphics (we'll assume they're the same for the sake of argument).

So in effect, Sony is forcing (as in giving customres no other option) than to buy a BD player that will probably only be used by movies (helping sony adapt a new format) but will be used sparingly by games.

While i understand that Sony is marketing the ps3 as a entertainment system rather than a simple gaming console, they, in effect, have alienated the gamers who purely use their ps3's to game.

[Jacob @ May 8th 2006 1:11PM]

15: Actually, more than a few devs complained about Microsoft dropping HD-DVD from the 360. Not simply for the cut in storage capacity, but for the fact that HD-DVD (and Blu-Ray) streams data faster than vanilla DVD. (Handy for large, open environments where you need to load data in real-time.)

A few devs would have liked to make up for this by storing data on the HDD for quick-fetch, but Microsoft nixed that idea when they decided on a "Value Pack" without an HDD.

(Plus, with games going HD, there's gonna be much higher-res textures and more complex environments, pushing a need for more storage capacity.)

[Rick @ May 8th 2006 1:12PM]

Blunder-Ray will fail. End of story.

[John @ May 8th 2006 1:15PM]

Forget about paying extra on-top of the already $400 X-Box 360 for an external HD set-up. If the PS 3 retails for $399, with Blue Ray, and that emulator built -in as expected. It will blow that Microsoft effort away, as did the PS 2 in its day. And further more will kick-start the Blu-Ray revolution!! ;)

[St.clair @ May 8th 2006 1:18PM]

Num 6
All you did was point out the folly of buidling the blueray into the ps3. There will be 10 mill ps3s connected to 1 mill HDTVs if your lucky. Most of the people who will buy the ps3 can't watch blueray movies because either they don't have a HDTV or there HDTV doesn't support HDMI/DVI-HDCP. So wouldn't it make more sense to make it optional as by the time HDTV's reach critical mass they will be off to the the ps4,etc?
Honestly I think this will blow up in sonys face unless somehow they find a way to seriously cut down the production costs of the ps3. But i guess we will find out some of that info this week.

[Mike @ May 8th 2006 1:19PM]

I agree with John 100% ;)

Viva la Blu-Ray!!!

[Carlo @ May 8th 2006 1:37PM]

Please stop associating Blue-ray to Betamax. Beta was the better format quality wise and it is still used today by most of the professional world. Most networks require commercials or shows to be supplied on Beta or Digital Beta Tape, unless it is HD then it needs to be supplied on D5. Just because the majority of the consumers were, and are misinformed by High School Students working at Bestbuy, one product does better than another. People need to educate themselves. It sickens me when I see a HD monitor showing a 4x3 picture that has been distorted to 16x9, and the owner claims it to be HD.

[Tommy Mang @ May 8th 2006 1:38PM]

Why do some here say that the PS3 will be sold for $399. Since when is that official? Did I miss something?

[Dennis @ May 8th 2006 1:39PM]

My guess is that the HD-DVD can run through the XBox without HDCP because the data will be processed via a software add-on. I don't think the extra data capacity of either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray will make a difference in games any time soon. XBox Live multiplayer games, for instance, are limited by bandwidth / server issues more than data. It's more about HD movies and possibly user-created archives on high-capacity discs. We'll see.

In any case, as an XBox 360 owner with a 1080p HDTV, I'll pick one of these up as long as it costs up to $250, half the price of a standalone HD-DVD player. Otherwise, I'll wait for the prices to come down and the movie releases to accumulate.

[Jeff Mendoza @ May 8th 2006 1:49PM]

Since this HD DVD is USB where will we be able to plug in our wireless usb adapters? There is only 1 USB port.

[Russ @ May 8th 2006 1:58PM]

At any point are NEW 360's coming with integrated HD-DVD drives?

[DC @ May 8th 2006 2:08PM]

"If the PS 3 retails for $399, with Blue Ray, and that emulator built -in as expected..."

That's a pretty big IF you posited, considering that all of the announced standalone Blu-Ray players have been priced much, MUCH higher than $399.

[Carlo @ May 8th 2006 2:18PM]

"17. Blunder-Ray will fail. End of story."
Since when did you become know it all in this market sector?
Wait and see Oh "Guru Of HD-DVD Fantasyland"

[Phil @ May 8th 2006 2:22PM]

As long as this device is only used for movie viewing, what does it matter how many are sold (other than to MS's bottom line)? If these drives are not required for gameplay it is nothing more than a convenience addon I can see them selling fairly well. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with 360s that would rather pay a small amount (relatively) for a HD-DVD addon and only have the one item connected to the TV than purchase a $500 player. (I'm not one of them) Plus this way, they are not spending the money to include these in the box when there is the possibility that HD-DVD may not prevail in the end of the format war. If they can get the price down on BD, who know what will happen!

to ferrell,

The Sega CD was not a failure. It may not have sold as many as the Genesis it fed off of, but it sold enough and had enough games to be considered a Moderate success. (I won't argue the same for the 32x)

[Natiahs @ May 8th 2006 2:48PM]

I expect the Blu Ray drive in PS3 will be as crippled as the 360 HD-DVD drive. No TrueHD audio, no 1080p, limited interactivity features. But as long as the add-on is $199, I'm there. Any less is gravy.

Natiahs

[Jon @ May 8th 2006 2:59PM]

This can't be compared to the Sega CD. This add on is only for movies not Games. This add on more compare to like the DVD-Remote add on of the original Xbox. Not the Sega CD or what have you. Those systems needed the CD for Gameplay. The Xbox 360 does not.

Another fair comparison would be the Hard Drive. You don't need the Hard Drive for the 360 to play games. It's just an add on that effects nothing if the user has it or not...even less effedts than the HD being absent.

[Regelos @ May 8th 2006 2:59PM]

What everyone is forgetting here is that people who buy this want to be on the cutting edge. and are willing to shell out for it. I personally bought the x360's wireless adapter for uniformity and I want to buy the HD-DVD but they are making it difficult in that one of the 2 will now have to be plugged into the front.

[Eric @ May 8th 2006 3:03PM]

This add on is useless, plain and simple. Maybe Sony is forcing a blu ray player on you if you buy it, but in any event, in order to play PS3 games, a blu ray player is what you'll have. If you got it, use it.
I don't see enough interest in HD yet to motivate most with a 360 to buy this add on.

I've heard so many people I know so far (people with nicely deep pockets) tell me "DVD is good enough." After I wipe the look of shock and confusion off my face after hearing them say that every time...I realize that HD will take A LOT longer than DVD's to catch on.
My point is with Sony you are stuck with a High Def player (which can be seen as good or bad). With Microsoft, you have to be motivated enough to go out and buy another add-on---YOU have to make the decision to buy one. MOST consumers will not, but those who post here on Engadget will see the merit in spending more money for HD.

[adm @ May 8th 2006 3:04PM]

i dunno phil, "sewer shark" may have been a hit, but beyond that, SegaCD didn't have much goin for it...
Remember when component video was new? Like, foreign? All these weird colored cables? Now it's standard. 1080p will be the next standard, and unless HD-DVD gets its s*** together, Blu-Ray will win by default once prices settle down. Yea, there's the whole compatibility with 1080p input, blah blah, but the people that want the best will get the best, and that'll be BR.

[REP @ May 8th 2006 3:08PM]

Wow I can't wait! The SONY PS3 will have Blue Ray! If they sell it for $149.99 it will just kick a$$ over the Xbox 1.5. Oh gee I can't hardly wait. Your going down Microsoft. Blue-Ray is so incredibly superior!! *LAUGHING* *SARCASM*

He who laughs last, laughs best - that will be me when I see Sony who is in complete disarray completely foul up the company big time. All the Sony fanboys crying just does something to turn me on.

[Patrick @ May 8th 2006 3:17PM]

@ Regelos, can't you just get a usb hub?

[ToPS3OrNotToPS3 @ May 8th 2006 3:35PM]

We have to wait one more week until E3 is over, then all you scared 360 owners can start thinking about buying a PS3. Can any one of you honestly imagine the PS3 failing? People said the same exact stuff when Microsoft took on the PS2 and Sony dominated, 100 million units worldwide. If the 360 was so wonderful you'd be playing it and not worry about stupid posts like these. Lastly, if HD isn't that big of a deal for the consumer then I would definently be worried about Nintendo becuase their system will be cheap and take video games into a whole new direction.

[Joe @ May 8th 2006 3:50PM]

Think about it...

who has the leverage? Sony? maybe for media, they own Sony movies, Sony BMG but MS is a giant monster if they wanted to they could full on buy out SCEA. And who knows after next year Sony just might do that.

Sony is in the red, now more then ever, and after many setbacks the company is placing all their beats on a one trick pony.

MS right now doesn?t care if HD-DVD or Blue-RAY wins because they us DVD as the primary media for data. Either way MS wins, its only Sony who is in a last ditch effort to corner there market and attempt to retain there market share.
Sony not MS is in the position to lose. If MS loses out (not that it will) but they could write off the $200 million dollar lost. they have a cash inflow of close to a billion dollars a month.

if MS say for sake of market penetration
sell the HD-DVD add on for ~$99-$150(tops)
Then rolls out a 100GB HD for say $150 and drops the 20GB down to $75. what does Sony have to counter this

A internal blue ray player forces increase in overall system cost. plus locks them into a very narrow window for success, they are banking on Blue-Ray disc winning, not only for movies but as media for there games, how much MORE will the Ps3 games cost if they have to been on Blueray disc, its only logical to assume the $14-20 add on to normal disc costs, on top of the $10-15 increase from production costs. so you take your base price of $50 per game add the production "next-gen" tax of 10 and then bump it into blue-ray disc your looking at $75 a game plus tax. now i doubt Sony is stupid enough to market there games against MS at $62 vs $75 so Sony will HAVE to take a lost of the games until Blue-ray Production is perfected.
Add to this a internal hard drive which isn?t removal able. This factors limit sony ability to marginalize the cost of the units. because they can subside the cost of the unit with add on's like MS will(IE the camera,the HD-DVD,new HD wifi connector).

Josh is correct MS goal is not to defeat Blueray in a toe-to-toe battle, but to rather make them look so out of touch with crazy prices that hey I can jump in to the HD era and still have money left over for that HDtv.

Even if PS3 drops for $399 then your looking at the $400 lost per unit, on top of lost they will take for per game disc. This they do this they better hope the Nintendo DS disappears because the PSP will be Sony?s only money maker and that?s after its 9 year cycle. If the PS3 life cycle is 10 years like the PS2, then sony plans on taking a lost on this unit for alteast 4 years. $400 per year times units sold( you know the 6 million figure)that looks like a $96,000,000,000 lost even if they put 6 million of them in homes per year(which they would love) now 96 million might be there interest Billy Gates gets a month on that 36 billion wad in his back pocket but when your Sony and your post a $578 million dollar lost for this Q1/06 alone that 96million looks desperately needed.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=9071

if sony markets PS3 at say $499 to cut down on the profit lost, then you pay $500 for HD. either way they are screwed, the problem is that Sony expected so much more from UMD to absorb the cost of the Blue-Ray/Cell fiasco that now they scrambling to re work there models to somehow turn a profit with both the PS3 and the PSP.


where as MS will be at a point in there cycle to offer the 360w/HD at $299 and drop the non/HD to anything they want. then they drop a expansions HD and a HD-DVD drive if either is under $200. you get everything Sony is trying to sell in one box. but you control what and when you buy it. you drop $300 then if you want next month you pay another $150 and get your HD on.

#jacob "Plus, with games going HD, there's gonna be much higher-res textures and more complex environments, pushing a need for more storage capacity."

the only problem is that sony "next gen" HD drive is only 2x, so there no magic increase possible, and if blue ray wins in any capacity, it will still be a 2x drive, that?s only 72 Mbps, granted its more then DVD 22 Mbps, but if you textures all of a seen become so larger(2-5mb each for that 4th dimensional 1080P size) it will take longer to load, add that into sony's giant bottleneck between the RAM and Cell and you have a nice long load time in between for you 4D Emotion Engine Mk2.

the problem is Sony's Fanboys aren?t letting reality and basic computer engineer knowledge lead there decisions they bought into the bullshit ken has been blabby about for over two years.


YES OURS IS BETTER BECASUE I SAID IT IS. YOU NEED THIS PILL. BUY THIS PILL.

[B1gC72 @ May 8th 2006 4:06PM]

I think M$FT is screwing themselves over. they keep making everything as add-ons which makes it harder 4 developers. all they are doing is setting themselves up to be blown out by Sony again halfway through the lifecycle since PS3 is built 4 the future. I thought M$FT saw they were onto something with the built in HDD on the origional Xbox but i guess not. Now it looks like Sony is learning from its mistakes by putting everything in the first time to be ready for the future.

The HD-DVD drive is gonna be standard in the 360 eventually anyway (remember the Xbox's with the Samsung drives that could play burned CD's?). they shoulda just put it in from the get go.

I think M$FT misunderstood why Sony included the Blu-ray drive and thats why they are going to release this doomed external drive (*cough* 32X, Sega CD, 64 DD *cough*). Its not ALL about the movies, its about Sony looking towards the future. The 360 will be fine with only DVD until either HD-DVD or Blu-ray is established as the winning format. By that time, with the rate that technology moves, 8GB disc just wont be big enough to hold everthing necessary to allow it to keep up with PS3. While with Blu-ray's 25+GB, PS3 is ready for any new breakthrough technology that needs to be included on the disc. M$FT shot themselves in the foot with this one. Prepare for another ass-whooping Xbox. I think it might even come in last with all the good hype surrounding the Wii.

So im saying, GO PS3 and Wii!!! and M$FT.....give it up.

(p.s. yea im a PS fanboy if u couldnt tell but i speak the truth)

[ToPS3OrNotToPS3 @ May 8th 2006 4:26PM]

Think about it Joe...First of all computer engineers should stick to engineering and not business matters. I don't doubt your endless knowledge in the world of computer geeks, I do though doubt your basic understanding of economic principles. Sony's net worth is over $45 billion. If Sony was looking at that $96 million loss(which is yet to be determined) it would be considered an investment, which may initially be a loss, but eventually will pay off once production costs lower and games sales pick up. If your worried about losses just check out NASDAQ. Microsoft's market value fell $32 billion in one day last week. These companies are talking billions not million of dollars. I know this might be difficult for you and your anti-social computer friends to understand. If you want to learn more you can pick up the wall street journal at your local mini-mart.

I'm not saying Microsoft is going to get driven out of the video game market, I'm saying that Sony will be number one followed by a battle between Wii and 360.

When it is all said and done I'd be willing to bet that Sony sells more PS3's in Japan than Microsoft sells 360's in the US.

[Alex @ May 8th 2006 4:42PM]

@22

Its called insider knowledge pal, quite a few people already know but have been held to confidentiality agreements, just wait a few mins for the Sony Keynote and all will be revealed, PS3 $399

[Chris @ May 8th 2006 4:44PM]

I think the best gaming system that came out for it's time was definitely the Nintendo Game cube...the graphics were out of this world. A little dissapointed with upper management that a "magic the gathering" game got excluded....Agreed?

[ToPS3OrNotToPS3 @ May 8th 2006 4:49PM]

Alex #37 is a dumb if not dumber than my friend Josh on #34. Sony will not talk price at E3. Insider information? Are you in some sort of hollywood movie? Chris #38, I couldn't agree more, LONG LIVE MAGIC THE GATHERING!!

[Rick @ May 8th 2006 5:16PM]

33. We have to wait one more week until E3 is over, then all you scared 360 owners can start thinking about buying a PS3. Can any one of you honestly imagine the PS3 failing? People said the same exact stuff when Microsoft took on the PS2 and Sony dominated, 100 million units worldwide. If the 360 was so wonderful you'd be playing it and not worry about stupid posts like these. Lastly, if HD isn't that big of a deal for the consumer then I would definently be worried about Nintendo becuase their system will be cheap and take video games into a whole new direction.

Posted at 3:35PM on May 8th 2006 by ToPS3OrNotToPS3 0 stars

Not a MS Fanboy. I read this post because I hate the arrogant attitude of the f*c*ing typical Sony fanboy. I mean the article is talking about Microsoft afterall, why do you need to chime in about Sony P3 B.S. And then like every Sony fanboy does, the ending comment has something to say about how wonderful Nintendo Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii is. Sounds to me like you're the scared one if you feel so afraid of MS. Why don't you go back to playing your PS2 or wacking off....you certainly won't be getting laid anytime soon.

[Chris @ May 8th 2006 5:26PM]

(With a back of the mouth lisp)...are you honestly going to say that game cube isn't better than ps3 or xbox360 Rick? I think what I am going to do is have you whack me off while playing game cube....then, when I finish, I'm going to lose my load all over my grandmas overated 360, then have some clam chowder your mom serves me up just as I finish the final lap on Mario Kart....then it's her turn.

[Joe @ May 8th 2006 5:27PM]

Think about it Joe...First of all computer engineers should stick to engineering and not business matters. I don't doubt your endless knowledge in the world of computer geeks, I do though doubt your basic understanding of economic principles.

I?ll leave that one alone for now.

Sony's net worth is over $45 billion.
Yes Sony might be worth 45 billion, but first that?s stock value not cash resveres. On top of SCEA the division in American is only worth
15 billion with that being said it is very easy for MS to buy up, in fact SCEA was performing so badly that Sony had to do it, themselves.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zd1up/is_200402/ai_ziff118423

"If Sony was looking at that $96 million loss(which is yet to be determined) it would be considered an investment, which may initially be a loss, but eventually will pay off once production costs lower and games sales pick up."

Granted 96 million isn?t a lot, but if you bother to read the article you see that, that?s its not that lost their worried about. Its the 96 million per year for the first few years of life cycle top of a $870.6 million dollar lost already before any units hit the selves.
So
Lets say 100 mill a year total lost (consider the craptastic performance of UMD)
Then a nice 10 % reduction rate which is nice (and unlikely) and then add a billion dollars overhead just to get out of the red.

96 mil -2007
86 mil 2008
77 mill 2009
64 mill 2010

Now since SCEA is part of Sony themselves the fact that UMD failed means that What?
Sony doesn?t have the money to bail out SCEA, because there other operating companies like Sony BMG posted lost of another 66 million for this year. Sony doesn?t have the CASH to bail out there companies unlike MS would already bailed out Xbox for 200 million alone this year.

So somewhere around 2018 Sony will see a profit on its PS3. great numbers truly economic sense. Enron would be proud.

And where did I get the 6 million unit number? From Sony!
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=12540



"If your worried about losses just check out NASDAQ. Microsoft's market value fell $32 billion in one day last week. These companies are talking billions not million of dollars."

Yea and google stock dropped one day what GM is worth, your point is what they operate on the billion dollar scale, yes you?re right, but who has the most billions? Sony yea maybe in 1986 when MS started but since about 1996 I don?t think so.

"I know this might be difficult for you and your anti-social computer friends to understand. If you want to learn more you can pick up the wall street journal at your local mini-mart."

Maybe ill just walk to the mail box and get it from my drive way. As I have read the journal and as many technical magazines as I can get may hands on since I was 14.

"I'm not saying Microsoft is going to get driven out of the video game market, I'm saying that Sony will be number one followed by a battle between Wii and 360."

Yes Sony will remain numerous uno in Japan which will help them a lot, combined with PSP sales there it will keep them afloat. but at what price, sony doesn?t have the cash to back it?s self up, it?s funds are all in stock, and if you?re a economics major, then you should know all you need is perception of failure to send that spinning out of control.
Which is what happened to UMD, and what will happened to Blue-Ray, and then the PS3, my point isn?t the PS3 is shit, its not it will be a excellent console, and hopefully good enough to force MS to complete rather then become a simple monopoly(which would be worse case scenario)

"When it is all said and done I'd be willing to bet that Sony sells more PS3's in Japan than Microsoft sells 360's in the US."

Yes well that pretty safe beat, considering the ps3 100 million unit head start in japan.
But I do think over the course of the next 5 years MS will more then eat up sony market share
Something like this 45% MS/ 20% WII / 35% PS3

The about of rabid Sony fanboys who still think PS3 is ?far superior? to the 360,
When the curtain falls and they see the games, then maybe some of them will change there tune. But some of them have truly bought into the PS3 hype it?s just like the PS2/XBOX when XBOX came out I had people swear up and down that PS2 was better, better graphics yadda yadda yadda, but you know what eventual all those fanboys bought Xbox?s.

The problem isn?t Which one is better, because, hey I just bought a PS2 so I could get some of the god damn PS2 exclusives(front mission 4), but that doesn?t stop Sony from bleeding money all over the place something they can?t afford. Either way it comes down to who has to most cash (cash to pay developers, cash to buy exclusive licenses, and cash to rollout new R&D) not who stock is worth the most. All of which MS has over Sony.

Sony can bail themselve?s out but they need a lot of things to go right for them, and more I see the more and more it looks like its not happened, why else would the delay the PS3?

Because if the released it in Spring then it would have been a $600 dollar lost per unit, they are simply buying time and hope blue ray takes off.

[nintendofanboy56 @ May 8th 2006 7:28PM]

silly n00bs
nintendo wii will best all!!!

[S.A. @ May 8th 2006 7:35PM]

The name of the formats will be the decider here. HD-DVD will win the war simply because it has a name that allows the average person to know what it is.

[Jacob @ May 8th 2006 8:34PM]

Joe: "the only problem is that sony "next gen" HD drive is only 2x, so there no magic increase possible, and if blue ray wins in any capacity, it will still be a 2x drive, that?s only 72 Mbps, granted its more then DVD 22 Mbps..."

...which is what the Xbox 360 still has.

(I'm not a PS3 fanboy, but people who ignore or cast-aside facts annoy me.)

[Dennis @ May 9th 2006 4:49AM]

Prediction:
1. Many of us will buy at least one gaming system in part to play HD movies in either format.

2. Many of us will buy both the XBox 360 with HD-DVD add on and the PS3, with the justification that we will be able to play HD movies in both formats.

3. We're going to start seeing bonus content, movies shipping with games or game demos, etc. Once you make the commitment to getting the hardware out there, you reap the benefits only if you pack the consumer opportunities onto the massive discs you don't need for content delivery. Am I being too cynical?

Anyway, to skeptics about the potential success of an add-on optical drive: the HD-DVD drive add-on will only work if it is much cheaper than a standalone HD-DVD player. We're excited about saving a few hundred dollars here, based on a few rumors.

Maybe I'll forget about this HD-DVD vs. BR thing, buy one of those Disney boxes, and live out the rest of my life watching only Disney movies.

[Kevin @ May 9th 2006 10:50AM]

TO ALL OF YOU WHINING ABOUT THE FACT THAT IT WILL TAKE UP A USB PORT: USE A HUB
Port 1: Wireless
Port 2: HD-DVD Drive
Port 3:USB Hub for mass storage, controllers, what have you, ETC.

[Joe @ May 9th 2006 12:26PM]

yes but his point is that that BD is better becasue of the seek times. if you have 1080p graphics(which it wont) you need alot more then 72mbps stream to load up those textures,

where as the 360 can get more faster from a 16x 22mbps
becasue it's just thought out better.

if you want me to get techincal i can..