Speculation: Microsoft may integrate HD DVD into Xbox 360

I don't think M$ has enough faith in the HD-DVD format, especially if it loses any more studio support this year.
Anyways, even if that wasn't the case , confusing the market with ANOTHER SKU is moronic.

They should focus on a console that doesn't overheat every two seconds, fix THAT first.

A better example might be if Nintendo had released an N64 with the Expansion Pak built in

Or if Sega had done a Genesis with CD and 32X integrated

But they could do what Nintendo did in the Expansion Pak's case, make a flagship title for the new peripheral (like Donkey Kong 64), and provide the HD-DVD with it

But as for them going the multi-manufacturer 3DO route, it kind of makes sense. One of the biggest complaints against the Xbox brand is hardware quality, and Microsoft's long term strategy for the brand is simply to accumulate mindshare in people's living rooms. I think that eventually Xbox brand will do what the Ngage brand is doing (except not sucking so astronomically), and simply be a software branding service of sorts

Stupid idea, and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too late. Which complete prat would sell off thier 360 now to buy a new one with HD-DVD when they could simply buy the cheap add-on?

Tome this is a great idea its not like MS has finished fixing the 360 and putting a HDVD drive in it as a final step is a smart move in comparasion to launching a new system.

As long as MS makes sure the HDVD add on can play the HDVD games theres no reason to be against this and even more so if MS pushing the HDVD players to 60-80$.

This is a mixed bag from a dev standpoint though you remove the caps and limits of disc size and could gain better data throughput on it the down side is HDVD game will be a slow seller of coarse what most ignore is that if the price of the add on was under 95$ this would be a non issue to 60% of 360 fans.


HDVD can advance the 360 and give it a extra 2 or 4 years of life as MS hobbles together its new console, if MS is smart and pushes the new HDVD enabled units are current prices as well as lower the HDVD add on price to 70-90 and if in 3 years they want to remake the elite toss in a dual player drive, really as long as it costs no more than 2 games to upgrade to HDVD gaming theres no good reason not to.

As it is the 360 is show its age it will only take but a year or 2 to fall behind the PS3 the 360 needs a shot in the arm and HDVD is it.

Frankly I want them to do HDVD gaming on the 360 this will give them more time to plan out and polish the new Xbox console I DO NOT want a repeat of the 360s BWC, moronically locked HDD and USB or the PS3's ill fated blaoted launch, I want a well priced(300-450) solid(Full or near complete BWC,basic fail rate, reconfigurable storage with PC drives) console not some ninny nancy thats been wanked and jised on feature and hardware wise.

aaaaahhahahahahaahhaha who was the first one to say the PS3 was expensive xD ZOMG..

well anyone.. this aint a good move from MS.. coz:
1. early adopters will feel cheated.. let alone the first gen adopters (xbox 360 w/h hdmi)
2. too many SKU (i bet at least another 2 SKU's)
3. Production cost too high (the next ps3 ;) with a price tag of £600/$1000 xD)


greeetzz

I think it'll have both pluses and minuses. Bluray is doing wonders for the PS3 due to its massive capacity for storage. Bluray is 80gb on a disc if I remember correctly. HD-DVD is 50-60gb I think. That extra 20-30gb of data is a lot. Anybody who has worked with high-quality audio and video know that they're huge space hogs, and when you're saving multiple versions of the same piece of work, those gigs add up quickly.

I'm curious to see which way this goes, that's for sure.

"putting it on par with Sony's PlayStation 3 that has a built-in Blu-ray drive."

Check the sales charts, bubs. They apparently don't need HD-DVD drives to be 'on par' with the PS3 :P

Although I'd sure have liked an HD-DVD drive with my elite...

(And yes Chris, I'm aware you're quoting Mr. Dudley :D)

I can't see how putting HD-DVD drives in anything but a small fraction of 360s makes any sense.

Maybe a super top of the line edition yes. But to put it in all of them would just jump up the price on 360 and with 12M out there already that don't have HD-DVD drives, there wouldn't be any HD-DVD games anyway.

Just seems like the same baseless rumors to me.

Why does everyone automatically jump to the notion that a built in HD-DVD player in the 360 means they will switch to HD-DVD games? It's more likely they are going to do the same thing Sony did to the PS2 when they released the PSX. It will most likely be a 360 that still plays DVD based games but you don't have to buy the external HD-DVD player to watch HD-DVD's.

When there's smoke, they pinch back.

Durandel
the PS3 is growing but frankly they limited them selfs from the start, prehaps they will overcome the damage they caused to themselfs prehaps not, I do know the 360 ageing faster because of its poor design.

If anything this is what will happen the PS3 matures to become the better dev platform,devs move to it slowing the 360s momentum or putting a stop to it as the 360 stagnates in its current state they will need to do soemthing to put some life back into it HDVD and HDVD gaming would do this.

As for sony they started off as bad as the 360 did and sustained the damage from the poor start longer because they are number 2 or 3 in lunching their console, despite the stupidity in the beginning the 60GB unit for 300-400$ is a better value than anything MS offers just because of the 360's poor hardware, the 360 dose has a better line up but with half of witch on PC the PS3 just seems a better buy for the 60GB unit at under 500$ but only the 60GB unit.

Hmm...maybe Toshiba will be able to make a 360 that MS apparently can't. One that actually has a reasonable noise level.

Reminds me of the PSX.

Guy, guys, guys. This isn't for games, and won't divide the install base. It's only for movies. It's just a more elegant alternative to having an external add-on HD DVD drive for movies. Everyone was disappointed when the Elite was announced w/o internal HD DVD... MS is just righting some wrongs. It's a premium SKU for those that want Games+Movies. It this pans out, I think it's wonderful news. More options! Again, it won't offer anything over a current 360 + external HD DVD... just a more streamlined package.

Here's to hoping they also drop the add-on price below $100.

People love to speculate but I do not think the 360 is ever going to see a built-in HD-DVD drive. They would of done it when they introduced the Elite. Why make the same bloated mistakes Sony has made this gen(and landed it in 3rd place)? The games will never be on HD-DVD and apart from benefiting the format war for Toshiba, MS gains nothing and if anything might effect their Video Marketplace negatively.

I believe it's going to be IPTV related and that MS is going to work with cable providers by offering the 360 as a TV tuner and gaming machine.. Perhaps a free 360 with your Cable subscription?? It should do wonders for 360 sales and god knows they've been hinting at it for long enough.

Looks like the 360 is trying to be a PS3 and the PS3 trying to be a 360.

To all those thinking this is a great way to extend the 360's life... I don't think the 360's life needs extending.

Instead, I think a higher-density storage format (HD-DVD or BluRay) is a great selling point for the Xbox 720. 360 is already behind the curve (I mean behind PCs, not behind other consoles), so why extend its life into mediocrity when you can launch a new console with a new feature and sell again?

Hell, look at Wii. It's just a Gamecube with a new controller. They could have easily added the Wiimote to the GC and prolonged its life, but they made a lot more money not doing so. I think MS and Sony should learn from this.

maybe the rrod was intentionally placed by m$ so when someone gets it they give it to ms and they give them an hd dvd console :)
speculation with speculation

Having someone else responsible for hardware would be a great benefit to Microsoft (or Sony or Nintendo for that matter). Hardware is a multi year loss leader, whose only purpose is to sell software.

Microsoft is not a hardware company. They derive the bulk of their revenue or profits from software and licensing. Basically they get a piece of every software (and to be fair, hardware) sold for the 360.

So a hardware manufacturer would likely only want to enter in such a business to be profitable at hardware. And this is where the 3DO had issues. The hardware was too expensive for consumers because the manufacturers were only selling hardware. Microsoft, Sony, and even Nintendo subsidize their hardware and development costs through the sales of software.

When you consider Toshiba, something comes to mind. Their HD DVD players are essentially computers with a HD DVD drive. There's an operating system, hard drive, and network connection. What is a 360? Basically a computer with a DVD drive. Imagine if you could combine functionality and offer both? It seems like it would be possible, however it would likely cost more than anything currently available. Current HD DVD players are subsidized by Toshiba, because they get a cut of all HD DVD sales.

Then you have to ask yourself, what's in it for Toshiba? Well, they are trying to expand HD DVD. So there is a possible benefit.

If anything, I'm sure this option has at least been considered by both Microsoft and Toshiba. But it's a risky path for Toshiba. And anything that results is likely for HD DVD movies only, while the games remain DVD based. From a consumer point of view, assuming it's affordable and attractive, it might not be a bad idea.

M$ is only "supplying" the 360 hardware, Toshiba is the one making it... It's no big deal. This doesn't affect any 360 owner. This is for everyone else. The SDF is crying about it because they want BR to win. The few 360 owners are complaing about it because their "current" 360 doesn't have it.. I have 2 360's, 1 in the living room, and my son has one. I would buy it and move 1 into my room. I support HD DVD and to hell with BR.

They'd only release one if Blu-Ray sales starts to completely eradicate HD-DVD before downloadable movies have become fully developed.

Other than a kickback from the HD-DVD consortium, what would be Microsoft's motivation?

One thing I've seen lately are dual-format HD-DVDs. Yes, movies actually have a DVD and HD-DVD version on the same disc. I'd be ticked off if HD-DVD game discs had more content than the DVD version, but if it would make the console quieter, that would be a plus. I'm sick of the constant scream my 360 makes.

Panasonic Q anyone?

i really think that would be a bad move on Microsoft's part since the upgrade will only be usable for movies and not games as well. outsourcing it probably wouldnt be that great of a move either since it will probably be outrageously priced and add a bunch of unnecessary crap. if Microsoft wants to get serious about the whole HD-DVD thing then they should just bundle the current player they have out now and throw in a media remote or something.

just leave the internal hi def DVD-ing to the PS3. different strokes for different folks.

I'm starting to think that the ones that complain about the 360's "noise" issues are either:

A) A Teenager (or younger) trying to play his/her 360 late-night with the volume off so their parents wont hear them, but they end up getting busted from the 360's fans.

-OR..

B) A Whipped/No Backbone boy friend/husband trying to play his 360 late-night with the volume off so their girl friend wont hear them, but they end up getting busted from the 360's fans.

It's too late to matter. They should have done it with the Elite. It's not going to help game storage either unless they use some hybrid disc, ship multiple discs in the box for legacy users, and cripple the game by making it sufficiently linear.

I hate to say it, but this is just what I'm looking for. I recently purchased a HDTV, but have no HDTV capable optical media. I've been tempted by the 360 as a gaming platform, but feel the hardware is just to risky. But if they license the platform to a company that actually has a slight clue how to make hardware (like Toshiba) then I'm certainly interested. Particularly if I get an HD-DVD drive as well. (I've looked at BluRay, but personally the "Flipside regular DVD compatability" of HD-DVD seems like the biggest bonus to me, as I only have one HDTV and several regular TVs/DVD players) But if they try to price it at $599 I think I may have to wait things out a while longer...

ZippyDSMlee, you don't need to post the same thing 100 times. Get over it... IF this actually happened, there is not a chance on God's green earth it would be used for games. It would remain a premium item in a higher priced SKU for movie playback only.

But yes, the prospects of Toshiba building an Xbox 360 is interesting. I own two Toshiba HD DVD players (HD-A1 and HD-XA2) and they are both built like tanks. Really impressive build quality, particularly on the XA2. Neither one has so much as hiccuped.

ZippyDSMlee, you don't need to post the same thing 100 times. Get over it... IF this actually happened, there is not a chance on God's green earth it would be used for games. It would remain a premium item in a higher priced SKU for movie playback only.

But yes, the prospects of Toshiba building an Xbox 360 is interesting. I own two Toshiba HD DVD players (HD-A1 and HD-XA2) and they are both built like tanks. Really impressive build quality, particularly on the XA2. Neither one has so much as hiccuped.

Did you mean Blu-ray?