Xbox 360 HD DVD pre-order costs $99 if you do some funny math

If you love cooked-books math as much as we do, get ready for some fun with the forthcoming $200 Xbox 360 HD DVD drive bundle: as reader Edison points out, initial shipments are bundled with King Kong on HD DVD (MSRP $40) and the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote (MSRP $30); if you apply for an Amazon card when pre-ordering the unit (did we mention it's now available for pre-order?) that drops it down another $30, making your unit "$100." We know, that's some pretty shady math to justify yet another $200 on the old credit card, so instead we'd recommend you just say you're treating yourself for being such a good girl/boy this year and not worry so much about what the thing's going to cost. C'mon, you're worth it.

[mase @ Nov 5th 2006 6:40PM]

Now if they would only sell it without King Kong and the remote for $130!

[par @ Nov 5th 2006 6:49PM]

HD DVDs cost $40 ? Are people supposed to buy them at that price or just comment about them?

[Robotron @ Nov 5th 2006 6:52PM]

God help us all. Ed finally jumped from the comments section to the front page!

Guess all we have to do is spam every comment until we get up front....I'll go first:

Bill Gates is Satan's only begotten son!!

[Michael @ Nov 5th 2006 6:56PM]

Technically if we are using the Amazon.com discount, that makes $200 on your NEW credit card!

[LiveItNerd @ Nov 5th 2006 7:20PM]

It seems that putting the price of the games at US$40 is just promoting Piracy. They just don't seem to realise that if the price dropped then so would piracy. You'll never get rid of piracy but it would help! Same goes for DVD's & CD's.

[Yem @ Nov 5th 2006 7:21PM]

As long as we're playing fast and loose with hardware costs.. you could, instead, pay $500 and get Blu-ray, DIGITAL output.. and a PS3.

[Ryan @ Nov 5th 2006 7:24PM]

$40 is just the suggested retail. You know they are going for $20-$30 just like how dvd's were when they first came out....

[Bootes @ Nov 5th 2006 7:38PM]

$20-$30 is still too much.

[Craig @ Nov 5th 2006 7:53PM]

i can't believe engadget's doing a story on this fuzzy math... the $30 amazon card offer does not count. getting $30 off is not worth taking a potential ding in your credit.

[laskid @ Nov 5th 2006 8:05PM]

$20-$30 is too much? SD DVD's still run around $20 (after the first week). Should HD and BD movies cost less than those? I can't wait to have High Def movies to play on my HD tv. Upconversion is nice but after watching INHD and then watching a DVD on my Oppo, I am still disappointed in the picture quality. Why does everybody act like new technology has never been expensive? Eventually the price will go down and everybody can complain about the prices of Super HD when that arrives, and forget about the introductory prices of the current HD. If you don't want to pay $20-$30 for a movie, rent it.

[Victor Servin @ Nov 5th 2006 9:56PM]

Its not enterely tru i preorder mine on thirsday and I will not get King Kong Any more..:(

[Tiran Kenja @ Nov 5th 2006 10:01PM]

I don't really get what the market is for this one. I mean... A gaming console gets a big external drive just to play movies? Is anyone really going to buy that?

It already plays DVDs and those are actually available in stores. Sure some early adaptors are going to want a HD DVD player. But wouldn't they mostly already have a dedicated player?

Sure PS3 also have HD playback of movies. But they do it with one internal drive. And they use it for games as well. Making it possible to provide much more content in games as well as just show better quality movies.

It seems like a poor attempt to counter what Sony is doing just to try to even the next-gen DVD war a bit. Because face it. The PS3 might be super expensive. But they ARE going to sell more that they can make for a while. And that means Blueray is going to get a big leg up in that regard.

[Tenken @ Nov 5th 2006 10:19PM]

HD DVD stand-alone players still cost ~$400, so a $200 drive that connects to something people may already have is a good deal. The drive is more targeted at the techy segment, which would probably be greater among the Xbox 360 market share than general consumers.

Is it a counter to the PS3? Well of course. It's called competition, it keeps everyone on their toes. Just the same, the motion sensing in the PS3 is a poor mans Wii interface.

All I know is that I want one of these HD DVD drives because it's the cheapest way for me to get into the HD movie market. With HDTVs out for more than half a decade, it's about time we get some content. It's different than the PS3/Bluray scenario because Sony pushes it on the consumer, and most people end up spending hundreds of dollars when they will never take full advantage of Bluray discs. Hell most people today still don't get the most from DVDs.

In the end, it's about choice. Sony may be creating a large Bluray user base by forcing it on everyone with the PS3, but the real question is if people will actually take advantage of it... As for this HD DVD drive, Microsoft could end up marketing it to PC users as well since it's just a standard USB 2 external drive. That will certainly open up its potential user base quite a bit ;)

[nes @ Nov 5th 2006 10:36PM]

It's too bad King Kong was terrible.

[Moose @ Nov 5th 2006 11:49PM]

Yeah... I cant see people flocking to the shelves for $40.00 HD DVD's.

[E Malave Jr @ Nov 6th 2006 1:06AM]

PS 1 - 1994
PS 2 - 2000
PS 3 - 2006
PS 4 - 2012 (est.)
What happens if a new DVD technology (e.g. burnt sienna-ray or whatever) is developed before 2012? If you have a 360 you buy the new external drive in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, or 2011-if you have a PS3 you wait until 2012 and spend $1200. Start saving fanboys.

[ericpan @ Nov 6th 2006 3:07AM]

I know I've been a good girl/boy this year.

[Huleboeren @ Nov 6th 2006 3:07AM]

The HD-DVD Addon will die as soon HDCP kicks in...
Start saving fanboys

[Ed @ Nov 6th 2006 7:32AM]

HDCP wont kick in until 2012-2015 if ever. Plus it's only to limit 1080i/720p to component and 1080p to VGA. And if this is implemented let's say till 2015, movies with this restriction wont come out till 2016-17...if ever.

[SQUIDwarrior @ Nov 6th 2006 1:01PM]

And then Microsoft will implement an HDMI cable with HDCP compliance.

How do you like them apples?

[Vanillacide @ Nov 6th 2006 4:40AM]

@Huleboeren: you mean ICT (Image Constrain Token) not HDCP -- which is the encryption system used by HDMI.

ICT is the technology that makes analogue video outputs (i.e. component) 960x540 resolution instead of 1920x1080. If you use digital connections like HDMI then ICT would not apply. But it's vaporware ... VAPORWARE!

ICT needs to be in hardware and on discs.

The studios have said they are not going to introduce ICT on discs until 2012 at earliest -- six years. Still gonna be using that same console as movie player in six years?

As to player hardware support ... guess what? HD DVD players including Xbox add-on have no hardware support for ICT.

HD DVD doesn't have support for region codes either -- which means those 'Blu-ray exclusives' that are really 'US Blu-ray exclusives' can be bought (in English) from Europe where many are HD DVD exclusives. Sweet!

[StooMonster @ Nov 6th 2006 4:51AM]

@E Malave Jr

PS 1 - 1994 - CD player
PS 2 - 2000 - DVD player
PS 3 - 2006 - Blu-ray player
PS 4 - 2012 - HD download player **

** PS4 will not feature an optical drive and will be exclusively downloads, at lease according to Sony's senior executives.

"I'd be amazed if the PlayStation 4 has a physical disc drive." said Sony's Phil Harrison, at launch of Blu-ray enabled PS3 console.

Similarly at GDC London, Sony Europe's Jamie MacDonald said "In five years' time, my belief is that the majority of content won't be delivered on disc."

So, doesn't look like Sony have long term plans for Blu-ray.

[Ed @ Nov 6th 2006 7:37AM]

That's funny that they already saying they will abandon this technology they are trying to push down our throats. Engaged once said there is a rumor in Japan that they already have a hybrid HD DVD/Blu Ray player... I wonder why....

[Vanillacide @ Nov 6th 2006 7:39AM]

Ed: you mean ICT not HDCP (which is on all HDMI today).

Check my post at bottom of page 1.

[Ed @ Nov 6th 2006 7:52AM]

Yes you are right. thank you.

[MosquitoControl @ Nov 6th 2006 11:26AM]

$20-$30 is far too much for me, considering the vast majority of my DVD collection was $5 or $10, with a few rare $15 purchases.

And it isn't really fair to include the remote with this math. What are you going to use the remote with other than this player? Therefore the remote is an accessory for the player, and virtually required to use it. Definitely needs to be included in the cost analysis, not subtracted.

[sabih @ Nov 6th 2006 3:10PM]

i ordered mine 3 days ago. will i still get king kong?

[hydrogen_wv @ Nov 6th 2006 6:46PM]

When games are no longer on discs or physical media of some sort, I will no longer buy games. It's just like in a lot of my college courses they are moving to e-books instead of textbooks. I refuse to buy e-books.
My reason: When i'm done with it, I can't sell it back. Also, I can't buy it used for cheaper. For the price of 1 new game, I can buy about 3-4 used games. Not to mention that they will never have deals on games. You'll buy them for one price and, although they may drop, you will never find deals like buy 2 get one free and stuff.