Despite a very hard company line that HD DVD will never be used as a gaming format on the Xbox 360, and that there are no plans to integrate an HD DVD drive into the 360, the rumors just keep popping up. From the Xbox 360 Ultimate to the Frankensteinian Toshiba nightmare with every media connection, dock, port, and function imaginable, it just won't go away. It's probably about time to heap a fresh reiteration of the company line onto the pile then. Speaking to Home Media Magazine, Microsoft's Kevin Collins rehashed that there were no plans to bundle an HD-DVD drive with the Xbox 360. Collins noted that Microsoft "believes that gamers are first and foremost gamers," and that market statistics bear out that gamers use their consoles for gaming, not movies. He says that including an HD drive would inflate the Xbox price, making it too expensive. He takes this opportunity to jab Sony saying, "If bundling an HD optical drive in a game console is such a smart idea, then why is the PS3 so far behind on sales targets?" Finally, he notes that UMD sales for the PSP declined as more compelling games were released, and he expects a similar chain of events for the Playstation 3. In other words, Playstation 3 owners are purchasing Blu-Ray movies because there aren't enough quality games available, no necessarily because they are crazy about Blu-Ray.
So, in brief, no HD-DVD 360 for you.
[Via High-Def Digest]
