Microsoft threw a little pool-side party today in downtown Hollywood after their
press event let out. We were naturally in attendance, and took a chance to fool around a bit with the
Xbox 360's new peripherals -- well, the ones they let us touch, anyway. We were a little surprised they held out on us with the 360 HDMI cable we've all been waiting for, but in the same vein of high definition the first thing we wanted to see was their big add-on of choice for 2006: the
360 HD DVD drive. (You'll have to forgive the pictures, we had to sneak these ones since they wanted us to use only their press shots.) Click on for more.
Steel yourself for a shock, but the HD DVD drive was actually looking like it was just going to be a regular 5.25-inch HD DVD drive slapped in a 360-styled external enclosure. Now that you've collected yourself after that bit of hysteria, we can tell you the (non-functional) drive itself had only a power plug (which looked to be of the variety that runs to the wall, no adapter required), a mini USB host port for connecting to the 360, two full USB ports for the device to otherwise act as a USB hub, and a spot for your 360 WiFi adapter to latch on the back since it could possibly be displaced by the use of the rear USB port to get this thing running on the console.
Will you be able to buy their drive at a huge loss? If MS releases with a $200 or less MSRP to make the core pack compete with Sony's lowest-end PlayStation 3, you could. But will you be able to plug it into a computer and have a functioning HD DVD drive (either via USB or by tearing it down)? Will Microsoft introduce an integrated HD DVD drive into future "premium" 360 consoles? There are just way too many questions to be answered with this one people, but what we do know is that in one form or another this thing exists, and we can't wait to get our hands on the real deal.
posted May 9th 2006 10:22PM
You engadget guys are a bunch of rebels, snappin your riske illeagal pics :-)
Nice Pics ;)
didnt really expect much more than this
And where are the "press shots" by the way?
And it's risqué, BTW.
So does this addon attach to the console in any way, or is it just supposed to stand to the side, connected by a USB cable?
if it connects via USB, will it be able to connect to the PlayStation 3?
i just so don't understand why they couldn't include this in the release. maybe it wasn't ready, but i just would feel so dumb having a dvd drive plugged into, and sitting on top of, another dvd drive. oh well. this IS microsoft, new reigning king of dongles and add-ons.
Will one be able to use the HD-DVD drive with a PC? THat would be cool.
haha #5 .. thats what ive been feeling all this time about the add-on: two optical drives for a console with redundant compatibilities.
Not only that, but, its got its own power supply rather than going through USB. I guess the existing supply was already overtaxxed as is. No need to put another power draw. So, make room on that power bar.
It looks to be a standard external HDDVD drive with an xbox theme casing. So, perhaps its possibel to attach any generic drive to it an play back HDDVD. Now, if they surprised us and gave a HDDVD burner. That would be interesting. But, thats not gonna happen. And its not gonna be $100 either.
I wonder if you can play your DVD9 games off the add-on drive. Or, what happens if you attach a USB BD drive to it. Will it read the BD disc?
lord dont you get it... the box takes it by USB that doesnt mean the xbox360 wont get a HDMI included witht he package... you dont plug a USB to u're tv you plug whatever cable is connected to your xbox into your TV... so it will be USB2.0 to your xbox360 and then from your xbox360 to the tv they will probably finally sell or even include a hdmi cable with it
It wasn't even plugged into a 360? It was just sitting on top of another HD-DVD player?
Was it even a working drive or just a model they threw together at the last minute?
I figure I'll ask this here, since it might be related. Is there something I'm missing about the current XBox 360 DVD playback? So far I've found it to be really lackluster as a DVD player..... it seems to have almost no options, and doesn't even seem to be able to do simple things like remember the position it was in if you turn it off and then turn it back on again while watching a DVD. Will this HD-DVD drive bring more advanced (or at least core) DVD playback? Or are there ways to get more advanced DVD playback out of the XBox 360 that I haven't found yet? Honestly so far the lack of DVD memory has been the most frustrating thing to me.
Oh yeah, the other DVD problem I've had with the XBox 360 has been in dealing with aspect ratios. It seems to want to stretch all content out to widescreen (I'm playing back on an HDTV), even 4:3 content like TV shows on DVD. I haven't seen any options in the DVD playback menus for controlling this. Am I missing something there as well, or is it not an option (the only way I've been able to get around it is to have my TV shrink the aspect ratio to 4:3)?
I always thought game console attachments (Sega CD, Sega 32X, etc) were a last-ditch effort to survive with next-gen systems...it's pretty sad when your hardware needs an upgrade after less than a year.
#10 BRENT
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Good one brent.
I'm an XBOX and XBOX 360 owner. After I beat Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, I popped Counterstrike (xbox) in it and I play that nowadays. My XBOX 360 has not justified its price to me if I'm allready ready to shell out $600 for a PS3.
i enjoyed the sega cd.
so are they going to make a blueray drive to plug-in next year for the x mas season.
does this mean 360 games could start coming on hd-dvd (to allow for more content) or will it only allow hd-dvd movie play back ?
If only movie playback what's the benefit to buying this attachment?
in that scenario the benefit would be to fend off sony's claim as to being the only console with a next-gen optical format and thus be a true multimedia device as opposed to only a game machine. also, ms's logic is, if a 360 + hd-dvd drive costs the same or less than a standalone hd-dvd player, even if the drive only plays movies and not games, would be a tempting buy for the consumer.
All of the xbox 360 releases have been rather melancholy, when it was actually released it was too expensive for anyone who isnt loaded to afford and it had like 2 games available. most of the hype about XB360 is overrated. remember about it having a triple core cpu? most desktop pcs pack more punch than the xbox 360 along with better games, and just as an added extra you dont have microsoft controlling your brain!
keep it real
MS's Moore said back when 360 was released that they did not integrate the HD DVD to keep console prices down and avoid tying their gaming system to disc format that is in the middle of a "war".
I don't like the attached drive anymore than the next guy, but I DO appreciate the efforts to keep the price "down" (though not cheap by my standards).
Sony may come out with a "prettier" console by integrating Blu-ray, but that's why it "costs" $600 (more acurately, why it's -sold- for $600...it costs $800). I for one buy game consoles for the gaming; movie playback is nice extra, but the standalone players are sure to be better when they flood the market next year.
Hey Zadillo: GET YOURSELF A REAL DVD PLAYER!
This has nothing to do with games. It's simply a cheap HD DVD player add-on if you happen to already have a 360 and you want to watch HD movies, of which Microsoft has no involvement. Pure and simple. It's nothing like what Sega did.
#17, I do have a real DVD player. My question was more about the mediocre DVD playback capabilities of the XBox 360, especially in light of the idea that they are going to be pushing this HD-DVD add-on to use to watch HD-DVD movies. Really, my question is, are they going to offer improved DVD playback capabilities or at least standard functions like being able to remember where in the movie you were if you turn it off and on again? If not, it doesn't seem to make much sense to me to invest in an HD-DVD add-on if the playback capabilities are essentially as bare-bones as possible.
Responding to #15. Halo 3 was announced today. Have you seen the trailer? Real time rendering from the in game graphics engine. Equal if not better than anything I have seen on a PC. That is unless you get a $3,000+ Alienware. I played doom 3 on my friends $2,000 dell with an aftermarket graphics card, cost liek $350. From what I can remember, the graphics are equal with the halo 3 trailer.
But I am also curious. Will the 360 HD DVD drive be used to larger game files or just for video?
And what is it connected to in these pictures?
bloggy fella, "these ones," is grammatically not quite right...just a heads up.
The 360 is far more powerful than most gaming rigs out, which is fact. Unless you shell out for a tricked out 4grand system you will not outperform a 360. Yeah most launch games may not show it but look at the upcoming titles, Gears of War, Halo 3, Rainbow 6, Splinter Cell, the list goes on. As for the HD-DVD i prefer stand alone players, for the reason most people complain about playback on their consoles. I have a 360 and never use it for dvd, still go wih my 6 year old Toshiba dual disc player. The PS3 has got to cost more than 800, with the cost of bluray, cell, and all the other crap being thrown in I cant see just a 200 hit, if not they would have taken a bigger one knowing they would make it back on BD licensing and software. Controller is a big let down, never like the Dual Shock anyway. I think MS has a great chance at taking most of the US this time around.
Um...is it just me? or does anyone else out there realize that USB 2.0 is way too slow for HD-DVD bitrates?
AFAIK, HDDVD transfer rate is 36Mbps, (compared to BD 54Mbps) and USB 2.0/High Speed handles about 57Mbps. Those are the real-life rates, I think.
So, plenty of room to spare, I guess.
i will believe the halo 3 graphics when i play it. i remember a year ago when they had that madden 05 ad and they said that it was going to look even better then the commerical... bs...
Stormaes, I didn't know PC Fanboys still exist!
An ode to PC Fanboys
Consoles now rule,
PC Fanboys are tools.
PC gaming is dead,
Microsoft get out of my head.
Microsoft shows the greatest potential by far, and have succeeded in executing some revolutionary concepts.
1. Play between PC and Console. Who has done that before, that's something PS3 or Wii can't or won't go near.
2. Halo 2 had the highest opening night sales of any piece of entertainment ever released, eclipsing even Titanic.
3. Xbox Live is the only and best online solution period.
On top of that, they basically pulled the rug under Sony with the GTA episodic content exclusivity contract and now Madden is first on Xbox 360.
That being said, think about what will happen 6 months from now. PS3 will sell out instantly to fanboys everywhere, then sold on Ebay for 2X or 3X more. What will parents buy their kid who is dying for a new system. A Wii or an Xbox 360. That's when MS will be waiting with 10 million friggin units to sell this holiday season and with a much lower price point.
Microsoft is not only forcing performance pressure on Sony, but also financial. We all know MS might not have the best software engineers, but they have the most cut throat strategists. MS made a product that makes developers happy, it's easy to code for, and provides the same graphics as PS3. Do you think any 3rd party developers will code 3 versions of the same game. The 360 and PC have more in common than PS3 and PC, which means lower development costs, which means less PC games coming out for PS3, which we've seen already --> Oblivion for PC and 360, no PS3 in sight.
The failure here is PS3. PS2 was released in 1999, Xbox in 2001. That means Sony had 7 years to come up with a new system, MS only 4. With 3 years more and a whole lot more experience, Sony can't even make a system that is superior to the 360. Don't give me that crap about Sony having insane Killzone or MGS videos, those are all pre rendered garbage. Even the new GT5 was said to look stunning from scenery perspective, but close up, you can see the GT4 textures were used! LAME
Sony's fanboys really need to get their head examined. Sony has been lying to you guys all along.
Whatever happened to your dual output HDMI garbage. What about 1080P games as promised, gimme a break, who the hell is going to develop games at 1080P, are you smoking crack. Only a handful of TV's today even are able to display at 1080P, not to mention the lack of 1080P content in TV, or movies. Even Kojima stated MGS trailer could run on 360.
It's only Japanese nationalistic mentality that restrains Japanese developers from releasing on American systems.
The new PS3 controller blows. I could have came up with a better design than that if I took a shat and used what was left in the toilet. Is Sony so arrogant that they believe their over 15+ year old controller design is still ergonomic to gamers, Pulease! It's probably the same arrogance that defeated Sony from any of their other formats being successful, BetaMax, Atrac, UMD, and soon BR.
Look at history, PS1 sold because Nintendo used cartridges, PS2 won because Nintendo used cartridges and PS2 was sold as a cheap DVD player. History will not repeat itself.
man you need to get a life dude. no one should spend more than 5 mins typing anything in a blog.
to no. 27, completely agree with you!
He has spent the time writing cause he has read the posts like me and found people's responses fustrating and needed to get the logical points across!
The reason it's an add-on is because of the HDDVD Vs BR war, and at the moment there is no need for larger capacity game content just yet so just Movies would be the logical conclusion!
Get in Xbox360!
#24 & #23 - Slightly wrong.
HD-DVD id 36Mbps (megaBITS per second). http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdbasics/a/bluhddvdinfo.htm
USB2 has a raw data rate of 480 Mbps (megaBITS per second), comparing quite nicely to Firewire 1.
http://www.everythingusb.com/usb2/faq.htm
ya i think the hddvd addon for the 360 is smart. Ps3 forces you to buy a blu ray if you want the system. Why should you pay the extra 200 for blu ray, if you arent going to be using it for movies. MS is giving you the option here, you want movies, heres a HD DVD, and the total costs basically the same as the PS3, but you know what, you dont need to have this to Play the great games. i thought $400 for the xbox was unbelievable. And now sony has fixed the $600 tag (seriously who's goign to buy the $500 with no hdmi). This war is going to be great, but i predict microsoft on top in the US, especially after sony's lackluster show of games.
Gran Turismo 5 was confirmed to run at 1080p at the conference. They explicitly said it was using GT4 assets and was essentially a HD version of GT4.
You yourself say that that you believe that the MGS4 shown on PS3 was pre-rendered and then go on to say that it would also be possible on XBOX360. If indeed it was pre-rendered then your average video player could display those graphics, unless you were later implying that they were real and that the XBOX360 could do that level of graphics. (which I think it can).
Actually, just in case no one remembers, the dreamcast had quake 3 in which people on the PC could play with people on the console. I used to play on my pc with a friend on the DC, i would kick his controller using butt :)
Really though, that HD-DVD addon is sweet
and they said its only used for movie playback not games so you dont have to buy it if you dont want to watch movies
This HD-DVD add on is such a wasted opportunity for the format. Since games won't come on HD-DVD discs, it's a completely optional device. How many people decided to buy the DVD add-on for the original X-Box? Very few, I'm sure.
Blu-Ray, on the other hand, is required for the PS3. Even if you think it's a waste of money, it WILL put many more Blu-Ray players into the homes of gamers. It's a no brainer about which format will win.
I have a great PC (bought about a year ago for $2600) and I can play Oblivion just fine. I can't tell the difference between playing Oblivion on my 50' HD-TV and seeing it played in the stores on an X-Box 360. Same goes for GRAW.
There might have been only a few DVD addon's sold, but then DVD players had been around for awhile. The HD-DVD addon, is new, at the beginging of it's life, so could be a great way for people to get into HD-DVD
As stated many times before, manufacturing a HDMI cable for the 360 will be a piece of cake, it's providing HDCP support that should be of concern as it's usually provided by a separate chip within the hardware. Early HD DVDs shouldn't be an issue as many studios have stated they won't downscale the picture if HDCP isn't present. Later releases may require it and leave you with a lower rez display and an essentially usless peripheral.
thre is no reason why ms cant put the hdcp chip in the connector that plugs into the 360 similar to the optical out
i wont be buying one unless it supports hdcp though dvi or hdmi, same goes for the ps3 tard pack
After reading most of the posts here i had to post my own comments. I own Xbox 360 and Xbox. And to post #34 there is a huge difference that i notice between GRAW on xbox 360 and on pc. Unless you spent $800 just on a graphics card. PS3 wont be able to play games at 1080p its just impossible. If you seen the E3 MGS video yesterday you can notice that the framerate is pretty low. And speaking of framerate didnt sony say that there games are going to run at 120fps.
man you guys really need to realize that Microsoft released this drive as an add on because not everyone who buys a 360 has a HDTV or even gives a damn for that matter...
It is an option... unlike the 600 dollar ps3 with its blueray drive.....
Furthurmore noone really knows which format will be the champ in the next five years... so who wants to gamble with 300 dollars? not me... ill wait on both... at least with the 360 i have the option to wait and STILL PLAY NEXT GEN GAMES....
options options options... dont eat everything sony feeds you fanboys.... damn....
One thing that concerns me about the $599 PS3 system is two words stated in the press sheets that I don't see nobody talking about "OPEN PRICE". That means you can charge as much as you want for the system without getting into problems with Sony. What are your opinions about that?
OK, so I'm using wireless controllers -- If I can pop a game into the HD-DVD add-on drive then I can hide my 360 behind my tv! Microsoft, please met me play my games through the HD-DVD thingie! And I can treat the rest of the console like a big power brick/av adapter! It would be ideal if there were a mini Ring Of Light on it, which is the only other reason I'd want to look at the actual 360.
Quake III Arena was released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000 and featured 4 player online play versus Dreamcast and PC gamers.
This bears absolutely no relation to future releases.
Final Fantasy debuted in Japan on the Sony PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002. The Dreamcast was one of the first home console systems to offer online gameplay with the game ChuChu Rocket! in 1999.
A total list of PS2 online games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_2_network_games
Oh, I'm sorry- you weren't talking about GAMES, you were talking about the online *experience*.
From CNN: (Microsoft did not describe the relationship with publisher Take Two Interactive Software as exclusive, indicating PlayStation 3 owners will also be able to play the latest version, Grand Theft Auto 4, on Day One.)
As for Madden:
( By: EA Sports
Genre: Football Sim
Release Date: Aug 8, 2005 (more)
Players: 1-4; 4 Online (tech info)
Also On: PC | PSP | XBOX Best | X360 | GC | DS | GBA | MOBILE )
A much lower price point than a Wii? I don't think so.
It's nice to know that we are working with underqualified engineers.
So, you're at E3 now? Watching it? First-hand?
<
Whatever happened to your dual output HDMI garbage.>
The same thing that happened to the XBOX 360's HD-DVD drive (built in).
You logic is this: because there are "a handful" of 1080p TVs out there, no one will develop for them. Guess what? You make something in 1080p and you can play it on a 1080i TV, and there are more than "a handful" of those. Lack of 1080p content in TV and movies? Obviously you lack experience and knowledge in the cinema....
How many American game systems have there been in the last 10 years? 20 years? Do *you* really want to program for second best?
Please do, because you sound quite backed up.
PS1 sold because it used 3D better than its competition AND because it was CD-based.
PS2 won because of its installed userbase, backwards compatibility, decent graphics, and future expansion.
Lets hope not, as Microsoft can't afford to lose as much money as they did on the XBOX.
-1. Play between PC and Console. Who has done that before, that's something PS3 or Wii can't or won't go near.-
Quake III Arena was released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000 and featured 4 player online play versus Dreamcast and PC gamers.
-2. Halo 2 had the highest opening night sales of any piece of entertainment ever released, eclipsing even Titanic.-
This bears absolutely no relation to future releases.
-3. Xbox Live is the only and best online solution period.-
Final Fantasy debuted in Japan on the Sony PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002. The Dreamcast was one of the first home console systems to offer online gameplay with the game ChuChu Rocket! in 1999.
A total list of PS2 online games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_2_network_games
Oh, I'm sorry- you weren't talking about GAMES, you were talking about the online *experience*.
-On top of that, they basically pulled the rug under Sony with the GTA episodic content exclusivity contract and now Madden is first on Xbox 360.-
From CNN: (Microsoft did not describe the relationship with publisher Take Two Interactive Software as exclusive, indicating PlayStation 3 owners will also be able to play the latest version, Grand Theft Auto 4, on Day One.)
As for Madden:
( By: EA Sports
Genre: Football Sim
Release Date: Aug 8, 2005 (more)
Players: 1-4; 4 Online (tech info)
Also On: PC | PSP | XBOX Best | X360 | GC | DS | GBA | MOBILE )
-A Wii or an Xbox 360. That's when MS will be waiting with 10 million friggin units to sell this holiday season and with a much lower price point.-
A much lower price point than a Wii? I don't think so.
-We all know MS might not have the best software engineers, but they have the most cut throat strategists.-
It's nice to know that we are working with underqualified engineers.
-Even the new GT5 was said to look stunning from scenery perspective, but close up, you can see the GT4 textures were used!-
So, you're at E3 now? Watching it? First-hand?
-
Whatever happened to your dual output HDMI garbage.-
The same thing that happened to the XBOX 360's HD-DVD drive (built in).
-What about 1080P games as promised, gimme a break, who the hell is going to develop games at 1080P, are you smoking crack. Only a handful of TV's today even are able to display at 1080P, not to mention the lack of 1080P content in TV, or movies
You logic is this: because there are "a handful" of 1080p TVs out there, no one will develop for them. Guess what? You make something in 1080p and you can play it on a 1080i TV, and there are more than "a handful" of those. Lack of 1080p content in TV and movies? Obviously you lack experience and knowledge in the cinema....
-It's only Japanese nationalistic mentality that restrains Japanese developers from releasing on American systems.-
How many American game systems have there been in the last 10 years? 20 years? Do *you* really want to program for second best?
-I could have came up with a better design than that if I took a shat and used what was left in the toilet.-
Please do, because you sound quite backed up.
-PS1 sold because Nintendo used cartridges
PS1 sold because it used 3D better than its competition AND because it was CD-based.
-PS2 won because Nintendo used cartridges and PS2 was sold as a cheap DVD player.
PS2 won because of its installed userbase, backwards compatibility, decent graphics, and future expansion.
-History will not repeat itself.
Lets hope not, as Microsoft can't afford to lose as much money as they did on the XBOX.
Ok, I feel someone has to remind all the fanboys spouting their individual propogandas regarding HD formatting and superiority of a few things.
First, although ps3 will be capable of outputting content in 1080p, very few, if any, game studios will be designing games at that level of detail and resolution. As one comment noted, there are very few 1080p capable displays on the market, and even fewer are in the normal consumer's home; thus it would be essentially throwing away development money to design content that won't appeal to the lowest and broadest common denominator of the console gaming market. In reality, the 360 will be capable of producing identical cutting edge graphics, with ps3 having only the advantage of rendering more units on screen. This is not to say that ps3 does not have the capacity to surpass the 360; I believe the concensus is they are very similar in what will be rendered for the upcoming generation, and if ps3 holds any advantage, it has already been made immaterial by the fact that no studios will spend the money necessary to go above and beyond.
In regards to the HDDVD add-on for the 360; I would like to ask all of the fanboys and naysayers alike who are already complaining about it not rendering games, and remaining solely a video playing device: word? Its not as complicated as you all are making it. If you would like to watch HD content dvd's, microsoft has a wonderfully optional add-on you can purchase at your whim; if hd-dvd movies aren't your thing, don't..buy..it?
How does that compare to BR and ps3 is the next question. In the end, if film studios remain divided on use of BR or HDDVD, inevitably the buying market will become disenchanted with needing to follow which format carries which movies, and will end up buying neither. One format will need to triumph for it to catch on like the DVD wave. Frankly, I appreciate M$'s optional HD add-on; we whine constantly about the high-way robbery M$ conducts, but the fact remains that they are allowing HD as an option, where ps3 is making it the law of the land. Enough said on that.
We can debate all day which system is superior, but at the end of the day, when both systems are putting out similar cutting-edge gameplay, it will come down to personal preference. If Halo is one blogger's life, the 360 is clearly the superior option for him; however, if a second blogger's life is Final Fantasy, why have the gall to try and sway him towards a 360? I myself lean heavily on shooters (who am I kidding, I'm forever Halo addicted...and for those interested, I'll be starting a support group soon), so Microsoft is the path I have chosen.
In closing: Quit bickering about the superiority of systems and be excited for the system you have been planning to support eons before e3. Dream about your motion sensitive controllers, or your cameras and system-defying Live changes.
P.S. (Does anyone besides me think its sad that the highlight of a certain system that rhymes with pee is that you can play all the games you were playing 10 years ago? Word?)
Either way nothing really matters now... bungie is gonna take over the world enyway. and HALO 3 is going to be the best game ever made! Can i get a HELLYEA?!
I like how this has morphed from a discussion of HD-DVD to 360vsPS3.
And continuing that fight...
I give points to Msoft for one reason. They have finally realized 3rd party support is imperative for the 360's survival. Last (or current?) generation the fanboys were touting the ps2's superior games and library. As soon as ps3 was announced they switched to how much better GRAPHICALLY it is vs the 360. So which is it? As nintendo is proving, games and their content are much more important than how intense the graphics are. Don't get me wrong, graphics are vital (I am def. a graphics junky currently running an sli setup) but if games aren't fun or varied your system will lose. As msoft has done with snatching the gta4 license (doesn't matter if it is exclusive or not) is prove they are willing to go after QUALITY 3rd party support. So come christmas time when the 360 is 300-400 dollars, has the same games, similar graphics, better controls, and is in large supply what are you going to buy?
...
USB 2.0 - 480 Mbps. Enough at least to 10 HDDVD players.
HDDVD device for XB360- $200. What you are waiting from such cheap device? It's just "addition". He doesn't needs HDMI.
Need full HD-player? Buy device for $1000.
Aspect ratio is controlled by TV. Just press button on your RC.
What is HDTV ?
comment 47........rofl, I think i Wii'd myself...
Of course usb is fast enough for hd, we currently stream hd content through USB via a wireless adapter.
ok u can choose to buy the hd-dvd drive as an option there not shoving it down ur throat liek sum other companies......and only the hardcore gamers and hardcore sony fanboys are goign to buy an 600 dollar ps3 me myself i am also goin to buy a ps3 and wii........i like the best of both worlds......and for graphics to me there the same..even soem game developers said so.....and lookin at this years e3..sony doesnt have that many exlcusives i mean only gt4 hd and mgs4(which i heard might even becoming to 360)the rest were just prettied-up videos(nice way to show off how ur system can play videos :)....all in all jus buy the dran drive if u want to or not.....and if ur a real gamer u dont choose sides.
I would like to point out that if the HD-DVD drive is $200, then M$ would be in trouble. Think of it this way:
$500 PS3 - Blu-ray = $400 X360 (meaning, say, you're paying $100 for BR in comparison).
$500 PS3 + Blu-ray = ($400 X360 + $200 HD-DVD) = $600
M$ better do some more viral marketing to make that stick. I would never purchase an add-on drive for a console... ever. The older people already know the horrible stories of the attempts.
Interesting that according to Phil Harrison at Sony, HD is only HD if it is 1080p - yet their lower end (but still expensive) version of the PS3 has no HDMI port. Without the HDMI port, you won't be getting 1080p since the component hookup can't deliver that much bandwidth. How do they explain that? According to Kaz Hirai at Sony, the difference between 1080p and 720p (or 1080i) is not noticeable to most users on most TVs so it really doesn't make a difference. Lol. They really need to talk to each other and get their stories straight.
And of course, nearly none of the demos ont eh show floor were in 1080p except GTHD which was a beautiful example of how 1080p output won't make crap textures look any better. Most developers are going to ignore 1080p in favor of having enough RAM and throughput to actually make a game.
Ok, I did not read threw all the threads just a main portion talking about games not coming out for HD-DVD...
Here's my thoughts, and I have been pretty accurate on alot of accounts.
Do you really think developers are going to sit on their hands and not making anything for HDDVD, I dont.
Here what I think, all personal opinions of course.
Most big titles come out in regular edition and collector's edition. So here you have it, this is the way developers are going to start making ppl by HDDVD players. Make the collector's edition on HD, that way, they will no longer have to have multiple disk, you can have your game, plus all the xtra content all on 1 disc. Seems to me to be a reasonable way of mainstreaming games on HDDVD.
Oh, and to all of you Sony fans, I am sorry if you decide to buy a $600 system. Read reviews and stuff. Not only can you buy a 360 and a Wii for the price of the PS3, they are also saying that HDDVD is going to win the format war, and they are alot of reasons for them saying that. But we shall see, best of luck to Sony this go around.
Fanboyism has no place in this discussion. There are simply facts to be considered:
Assuming this article is spot on and the HD-DVD expansion will cost $180 (which will probably mean it's selling at a loss)...
To buy an apples-to-apples next-gen system will cost the following:
Xbox 360 with 20GB HD and high density optical drive
$399 + $180 = $579
PS3 with 20GB HD and high density optical drive
$499 + $0 = $499
Now if you want to spend $599 you will also get another 40GB in HD storage and an HDMI port.. that is up to you.
Will any 360 games make use of all this storage? We'll see, but considering the outcry whenever a game REQUIRES the optional HDD, I wouldn't expect many. PS3 games on the other hand will pretty much ALL use the HDD and once the need for storage exceeds 9GB, pretty much all games will come on 50GB bluray discs. I believe at the beginning of their life, I believe most xbox and PS2 games came on CD-ROM until their puny 640MB capacity demanded games be put on DVDs.
As for the "format war"... Most people will still use DVD's by and large for years to come. So the number of people who own a HD-DVD player or a stand-alone bluray player will probably be measured in the low thousands by November... Big deal... But come November 17, there will be an explosion in bluray players flying off the shelves and there will be no contest after that point. Whether people will decide to buy movies in high definition once they have the player in their homes is the million dollar question. We shall see. For me personally, if it costs me $10 more to buy a Spiderman movie in 1080p, I'll do it because I have a display which can support all those delicious extra pixels. But obviously this isn't going to really do much for the average Joe with his SDTV Zenith, who truth be told would probably get just as much out of just playing a PS2 or an xbox on it.
I have a question about this hd dvd drive. Does the 360 display the hd dvd movies in their native 1080p format or will it downgrade them to the xbox's maximum of 1080i? If it is able to display in 1080p, why can't it display games in that format? I recognize that very few people own TVs capable of 1080p and very few games coming out in the next year would support 1080p, but 3 or 4 years from now, that could be alot different.
Just to set the record straight, both the high-end stand alone high-def DVD players (Toshiba HD-XA1) and the Samsung BD-P1000 decode the 1080p dics to 1080i when the discs are read. The Toshiba HD DVD doesn't even currently offer 1080p output at all -- it's up to your 1080p display to deinterlace the 1080i signal. The Samsung outputs both, but reviewers were unable to tell the difference between the 1080p output and the 1080i output deinterlaced by a 1080p television. My point? I really don't think the $200 Sony HDD drive is going to be outputting 1080p with any degree of usefulness (if at all), if the flagship Toshiba HDD player doesn't even do it.
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/equipment/1473/toshiba-hd-xa1-hd-dvd-player.html
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/equipment/1683/samsung-bd-p1000-blu-ray-disc-player.html
LOL!!! Where do you see a Sony HD DVD Drive??? Boy did you set the record straight! Sony makes Blu-Ray genius!
I was referring to the XBOX 360's add on HDD drive, and the "Sony" was a typo -- was referring to Microsoft. You must be real intelligent not to have figured that out after reading the posts. Genius.
My xbox 360 HD-DVD no reding same HD-DVD format.Show me message:Can't play this content.Status code:C667000A.Please send me e-mail what happen is eny upgrade for this drive.
Thank You
Derek
I will buy this hd dvd drive, I have xbox360 attach with LCD Toshiba 32"WL66e and the picture very fantastic, you know the thing is HD dvd player will be more expensive than this drive, imagine if you already got the console and have to invest new hd dvd player which will cost you more than $800 and you will only get the same scale up to 1080p, it will be not much different with the features since xbox360 provide a way to install this by online, in must be in the future it will develop the software from time to time, it is walking technology that xbox360 will inject to the system when ever they have to follow what games should have
zadillo, If you have xbox live support then you xbox dvd drive does remember where it left off. it was in the latest update.
I would have made the connection the back of the 360 a SATA II hook up. USB 2.0 I don't think is fast enough. Its part of the addons that Xbox 360 could brought on to really give Playstation a good run.
Imagine: Xbox 360 with intergrated WIFI b/g, SATA II connection for HDDs and the HD DVD and an HDMI out, that would have been something!