Xbox 360 HD DVD getting Euro price cut
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Sep 4th 2007 at 3:00PM }
According to eFluxMedia, Microsoft announced a price drop on their HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 in the European market. It will drop from €200 to €180 -- which if you want to do the conversion would be around $244, the HD DVD drive retails in the States for $179.According to reports last month, Blu-ray has been outselling HD DVD formatted discs in the States 2-to-1 in the first half of the '07. Manfred Gerdes, chief of Sony Germany, said to eFluxMedia that PS3 sales have totalled 2 million there, double the number of stand-alone Blu-ray movie players. The bundle of Blu-ray with PS3 is said to have helped create this widening HD DVD vs. Blu-ray gap. At least movie buffs get something out of the deal -- now about those games.
[Via X3F]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
mr nimblewick @ Sep 4th 2007 3:07PM
Will this drive work with my Wii? That would make the 15,000 I bought to help in the format war useful.
ThornedVenom @ Sep 4th 2007 4:59PM
I don't think so: the reason why the attachment is cheaper than a real player is because it relies on the 360's processing power to do that.
I'm no engineer so I can't pretend that it'd be impossible with the Wii, I'm just stating that it's highly improbable. Not to mention that Microsoft loves being extremely proprietary about their stuff.
R. Johnson @ Sep 4th 2007 3:12PM
having a blu ray player is good and all, but mediocre games + mediocre movies (for the most part) make ps3 a mediocre buy at the moment =(
GRANTED @ Sep 4th 2007 3:48PM
ps3 has the best multiplayer experience on any console right now. stop feeling sorry... this ps3 owner is happy with his console.
ssuk @ Sep 4th 2007 4:51PM
There are online games on PC which have far superiror multiplayer services than PSN and Xbox Live for that matter. And out of personal oppinion, Xbox Live is superiror to the PSN. However, so long you are pleased with the service, then that's fine.
James @ Sep 4th 2007 5:40PM
Did someone just say the PS3 has a better online experience than the 360?
haha.
hahahahaha.
joeyg @ Sep 4th 2007 3:15PM
this means nothing to the M$ fanboys....more storage space is worthless according to them.
Dave @ Sep 4th 2007 3:20PM
The drive has nothing to do with storage space. It's intended solely as an HD-DVD media player. I bought one a few weeks ago. It's great.
joeyg @ Sep 4th 2007 3:22PM
@dave
do your really think that M$ is not going to build it into future 360's?
Vegnagun @ Sep 4th 2007 3:22PM
i think he meant more storage on discs.
Word of the street. @ Sep 4th 2007 3:34PM
So what you are saying is that MS in the future will include HD-DVD drives into their future consoles,could it be but I don't believe they are going to do that right now I mean it would flop harder than the Sega CD if they do it right now.
Also why not simply use 2 discs,really I don't know what is wrong with swapping discs?,I used to like 2 disc set, I feel I got more plastic for my money.
DrXym @ Sep 4th 2007 4:23PM
The drive is for HD DVD movies. 360 games are very unlikely to ever appear on HD DVD. As for Europe and HD DVD, there are so few movies in that region (it must be 1/3 what is on Blu Ray) that it seems utterly pointless to buy one of these players. Wait for the format war to be over and then plonk some money down. Chances are that standalone HD players will be not much more to buy by that point.
Dave @ Sep 4th 2007 4:42PM
They can always import US releases. Region encoding isn't a factor for HD-DVD.
Kye @ Sep 4th 2007 3:16PM
I dunno, this whole HD thing hasn't grown on me yet.
So far there's only been one occasion where I've seen a HD demo that impressed me.
All the other (so-called) HD demos I've seen have been, how you say... meh, in quality compared to the regular.
Whose gona go troll and call me a n00b for not realising how behind I am?
mr nimblewick @ Sep 4th 2007 3:19PM
I guessing Shag and his "ludiite" comment.
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 3:22PM
I agree. The only movies that look amazingling better than upscaled DVDs are the digital pixar/dreamworks ones. The blu-ray vs DVD demo's they have running in all the stores are nothing but propaganda.
The HD format war will be a pyrric victory for whoever wins, because by the time the dust settles, there will be an even bigger and better format on the horizon.
HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray isn't like VHS vs Beta, its more like Laserdisk vs Digital VHS. Nobody cares enough to invest in the winner.
Que up shaggi in 3...2...1..
Vidikron @ Sep 4th 2007 3:30PM
Sheesh... lay off the crack. Upscaled movies are a far cry from native HD content. Upscaling is nice, but it's still "fake".
kinshadow @ Sep 4th 2007 3:39PM
n00b
Go watch Planet Earth.
IslandLife @ Sep 4th 2007 3:40PM
Your behind, noob! :)
AlanRickman @ Sep 4th 2007 3:51PM
"All the other (so-called) HD demos I've seen have been, how you say... meh"
Thats not surprising. The HDTVs you see at Best Buy, WalMart, etc have been pulled out of the box and plopped on the shelves. Most of the time, the manufacturers set those TVs in "face-melting mode" before they ship them out, jacking up the brightness, contrast, and sharpness levels.
They do this in an effort to make their TV stand out on the shelf, and to combat the white-wash effect of these store's harsh fluorescent lighting.
Combine that with a usually questionable HD source, and you have a perfect recipe for "meh."
You need to play Gears of War or Motorstorm or something at home, in 480i. Then, go to a friend's house who has had his HDTV for a while, and has calibrated it properly, and have him boot up the same game at 720p, and play over the same parts again.
Thats a fair comparison, and Im betting HD will grow on you then.
My Sharp Aquos looks a hundred times better at home than the demo did on the shelf, all by just spending an hour or so calibrating it. Most any HDTV owner will tell you the same.
Kye @ Sep 4th 2007 5:43PM
Nice answer.
But calibrating it? I'll stick with a tube till someone releases a model that doesn't need me to spend an hour trying to get it to do what it's supposed to do straight out the box.
TK00 @ Sep 4th 2007 6:46PM
"Nice answer.
But calibrating it? I'll stick with a tube till someone releases a model that doesn't need me to spend an hour trying to get it to do what it's supposed to do straight out the box."
Bro, its extremely easy to calibrate an HDTV, takes like 5 minutes. The reason your SD tv works "out of the box" is because its incapable of the color and contrast range that HD has.
BTW, tube tvs can be HD as will as LCD.
Vegnagun @ Sep 4th 2007 3:18PM
how about those games?
Poisoned Al @ Sep 4th 2007 3:20PM
€180 Euros? What's that in real money?
Ashley Boyd @ Sep 4th 2007 4:43PM
If you mean British Pounds, it got reduced to £114.99 at work (Game) today. And we rarely sell anything for below the RRP so guessing its that.
Poisoned Al @ Sep 4th 2007 5:11PM
Oh, so not massively different in price for once.
dextro @ Sep 4th 2007 7:06PM
In real money I would say... time for, carry the one... about 180€ :P
DBX00 @ Sep 4th 2007 3:28PM
The games are coming - I got Warhawk and Lair in the past week, Heavenly Sword next week, and a list of titles coming this Fall. It isn't like Nintendo or Microsoft are realizing 5 great titles a week or something.
Stubby Boardman @ Sep 4th 2007 3:34PM
nobody is releasing 5 great games a week, least of all Sony. You can't possibly think they have more good games coming this Fall than the 360. All their would-be hits are getting shafted by the reviewers.
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 3:34PM
The fact you even mention lair totally discredits you. Period.
Stubby Boardman @ Sep 4th 2007 3:37PM
Yes, I second Crono. I didn't know if I was being specific enough.
DBX00 @ Sep 4th 2007 3:40PM
Lair is by no means changing the world but it is a good use of the Sixaxis is you learn how to use the controller. If I listened to the opinions of reviewers I would only play sequels and FPS. Regardless, I didn't say that Microsoft or Sony had the best lineup; I just simply stated that the PS3 does have games coming out and Warhawk is a great game that was just released. If you haven't played Lair, then you can't comment on the quality of the game and it also just may not be the game for you. Personally, I am happy that Sony is releasing new franchises as well as some older ones this Fall because I don't really feel the need to play sequel after sequel or another FPS with a different spin.
Shagittarius @ Sep 4th 2007 3:41PM
Have you guys actually played Lair? Its no where near as bad as the reviews have been. I'm not going to say its a great game, it has major presentation issues and is very light on proper guidance and instructions but I've had more than a couple really fun gaming moments with it so far.
I can agree with any review in the 60-70 range, but something is really wrong with the people giving it sub 60 reviews.
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 4:03PM
LOL at DBX00 and shagi, how predictable. Read Tycho's review of the game (http://www.penny-arcade.com). Lair is garbage, through and through, and the fact that you sit there at your keyboard and put your reputations on the line defending it shows how out of touch with reality you sony fanboys really are. Controls are only part of the issue. Even ignoring that, the game is NOT GOOD. Get your heads out of the sony sand, take a step back, and try and make an objective opinion. All you're trying to do is justify the 60 dollars you just flushed down the toilet.
Shagittarius @ Sep 4th 2007 4:59PM
So i take it you haven't played the game then?
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 5:09PM
Thats what reviews are for, shagi: to keep good players like me from even supporting games like that with a rental. Do you read a film review, see it got a half a star, and then go see it anyway? Are you mental?
No, I've heard plenty enough to know I'd hate the game, for all its glaring problems.
Its ok though, you can bask in the face melting graphics during the intro. It will make that 60 dollars seem worth it.
Poisoned Al @ Sep 4th 2007 5:16PM
Well I've never played Lair, but I despise all games that FORCE you to use one control set up. I almost always have to change one or two key-binds I don't like.
lessbiasedthanmost @ Sep 4th 2007 5:29PM
So you're saying you actually read "film reviews"? Ever heard of a thing called a television? They have these great things called commercials.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, reviews aren't worth the ink, or the effort of pushing the keys in this case, they're written with. Unless you play the game in some fashion or another, you really don't have anything credible to fall back on while arguing.
I'll reword this simply, reviews of any sort have gradually rising standards, film reviews put any comedy that doesn't "make you think" at about two stars. Any Playstaion 3 game has to live up to games like Final Fantasy 7 and other "five star" games from sony's past.
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 5:32PM
When the average review score (from 5 or more sources)for a game is less than 5/10 or 50%, that game is bad. Period. I don't need to play it to know to avoid it. I'm willing to believe "not as bad as they say", but not to the point that this game becomes worth owning, or worth playing.
Shagittarius @ Sep 4th 2007 6:39PM
Let me tell you a tale of a game called Magic the Gathering : Battlegrounds.
That game got reamed in all the reviews but I thought it looked interesting so I bought it. I played that game hardcore for a couple months and I still think it was one of the best games of the year (Whatever year that was).
Lair is not that game for me, its enjoyable but not as great as that game but to someone else it just might be.
You can't let other people decide things for you. I go see movies that critics hate all the time, In fact I never check movie reviews before I decide what to see. I like to read them afterwards to see if I agree or disagree though.
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 3:34PM
Que up angry Europeans in 3...2...1...
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 3:37PM
As a follow up to stubby boardman, go check out the gaming forum at VGChartz.com. One of their members has put up several Topics discussing the fall lineups of all 3 consoles, categorized by genres.
Lets put it this way: from the lists and member participation, the only genre PS3 has a prayer at being better at this Christmas is FPS and Racing. 360 and Wii beat it in every other category hands down.
ukickmydog @ Sep 4th 2007 5:08PM
ps3 better in FPS?! lol halo 3 finished that fight
ukickmydog @ Sep 4th 2007 5:11PM
sony has a prayer with FPS? i'm pretty sure Halo 3 finished that fight
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 5:19PM
I said "have a prayer", because PS3 will have UT3, which is a whopper. I agree that 360 is still the better platform for shooters. But to be fair, PS3's FPS lineup is about as good as 360's.
Poisoned Al @ Sep 4th 2007 5:27PM
You're saying the PS3 as better shooters then 360 and the PC?
Okay, you're an idiot.
Crono @ Sep 4th 2007 5:37PM
No, I said FPS is the only category the PS3 can give the 360 a run for its money. Its close, but I think 360 still has better shooters.
I'm not an idiot (or a fanboy), I'm a realist.
Cellien @ Sep 4th 2007 3:42PM
Widening gap? Guys should read recent news.. HD-DVD sales sky rocketed in the last couple of weeks due to sales, namely Amazon.
Ted @ Sep 4th 2007 4:51PM
Where did you read that?
Vidikron @ Sep 4th 2007 3:44PM
Sort of pointless comparison though. I mean, just because you may not have the best game in any single category doesn't mean the games in said category are crap. For the record, I'm looking forward more to R&C than Galaxy... especially after the disappointment of Sunshine. So I'd personally say the PS3 has a shot at platformers too, unless you're going to try and put R&C into a different genre.