Microsoft: Dropping HDMI cable gives Xbox 360 consumers 'flexibility'

What I think he meant was, "You're now more flexible to buy a $299 PS3."

I see a lot of sad kids, teens, and adults this holiday season when they go to hook up a Xbox 360 to their HD TV and all the see is jagged pixels... Then they'll dash out to Best Buy the day after to purchase an overpriced cable for their Xbox because they don't want to wait till the end of their vacation for their cable to come from Amazon.

That thought makes my eyes rain people...

at this point both of the consoles have AV only out of the box. and if someone buys their HDMI cable at best buy, that's their own stupidity, they can get a perfectly good one online for $4.

and "jagged" pixels? get off your HD high horse, i don't have an HD TV yet and i'm still happy as fuck that i own a next-gen console, SD or not.

It use to have HD cables out of the box for 299.99. It got taken away.

Have fun playing Dead Rising in SD...

Good on the topic writer for plugging monoprice. They're a great company, and I'm sure can use all the sales they can get.

I don't know what your point is. If your completely okay with taking away a standard feature from day one and replacing it with a larger hard drive then more power to you. I understand not every kid on the block can afford an HD TV. Just know now that if you one day own a HD TV and your looking for a Xbox 360 to go along with it, make sure you buy some HD cables because they are no longer in the box.

I own a 50" HD tv and it doesn't make my games any more fun. :(

So lemme get this straight. The 360 "Elite" does NOT come with built-in WiFi, a Blu-ray player, rechargeable controllers, an HDMI cable, an optical out port with Bitstream, ability to play games online for free?

Oh, but it does have a lower chance of RRODing now?

I'm getting a PS3 Slim, all the good exclusives are coming to PS3 now anyway.

What fun is playing on line where there's no one else there?

Great, you want to watch a Blu-Ray. Time to download another update for your PS3.

Yeah, my controller is rechargeable. But since batteries need to be charged, we have to sit six feet away from the TV on the floor, and not on couch.

Pop in ODST. Okay, how about Left 4 Dead 2. No? The new Splinter Cell? Oh, come on! This console sure is exclusive... So exclusive it doesn't have games I want to play.

You have to buy an HDMI cable for your ps3 also. + you also need to buy an overpriced aftermarket headset if you want to play online with your friends. Then again, why bother since you will probably never be able to talk while playing different games.

Nah, my PS3 is still the same dust collector it was 2 years ago and I don't think this will change anytime soon.

Oh, really. All those great exclusives like Halo 3: ODST, L4D2, Forza III, and Mass Effect 2. Oh, wait, those are Xbox games. My bad. PS3 has, what, God of War III and Uncharted II? Big deal.

"...get off your HD high horse,"

Well, it's more of a svelte stallion, but sure. Why are you circling the wagons around 480i? Is it the last, best hope of salvation for mankind?

Sure MarkHawk was a bit cheeky about it. But are you sure you're old enough to call someone "kid" when you take umbrage at *that*? SD is inferior to HD. Sorry kid, but that's not a matter of debate.

What is a matter of debate is how much value that extra resolution brings to the consumer. And if you'd stuck with an "I'm fine with my 200lbs of magnificent 480i/p" instead of acting like he'd uttered racist drivel you might still have a heart or two by your name. Calling SD lame isn't hate speech pal.

Personally I like the idea of a 300 dollar Elite. If I had the chance I would have purchased mine at that price and bought the HDMI cable from monoprice for like 5 bucks http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240

Deezul:

Yeah, well, getting around the 100 USD Wi-fi accessory is a different story, 360's lack of wi-fi out of the box is a real pain in the butt... Not to mention yeah sure, you have to charge the PS3 controller (or Xbox if you got the accessory), but you wanna know what I don't have to do? Spend money on batteries anymore.

No real point about getting into an exclusive e-peen battle, you like ODST, some people don't. Some people pop a boner for UC2, you don't.

Lastly, why do you want to play L4D2? Its just L4D again with... you know... a new title.

This may not be a "big deal," but I am sure alot of people agree with me when I say this is not a step forward for Microsoft, and the concept of that bothers me. I already spent 4x as much on 360 accessories than I did on PS3 accessories because they can't package things in box... It may only be "another 4 bucks," but its still a step back for what is supposed to be the "Elite" version of an HD console.

According to the chart here:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/compare101.htm

component cables are still included.

there's something about the #1 spot; companies reach it and become total douchebags. its worse in Microsoft's case; they haven't even reached the #1 spot and they're already douching it up.

That chart is outdated.

@Jack Tretton

According to that chart, the Xbox 360 Pro still exists also.

This is great news. Now consumers will have teh choice of getting to see the "Monster Difference" with $100 HDMI cables.

Wow, dude, did you really post that link SEVEN times in this thread?

Here's how I got around my wireless problem. I use a wired connection. I'm not going with a latency filled wireless connection.

Agreed, the comments "XXX console has all the best exclusives" is purely subjective. But when someones says that their particular console has all the "good exclusives" they're just asking for a rebuttal.

@Nieker:
"you also need to buy an overpriced aftermarket headset if you want to play online with your friends."

You need a headset in order to play with your friends? Also, I guess you don't know much about the system that you are trying to bash. Otherwise, you would know that you don't have to buy the official PS3 headset. Any Bluetooth headset will work. Pretty sure USB headsets work also.

"Then again, why bother since you will probably never be able to talk while playing different games."
Yeah, that's exactly what I want. My friend talking about the game he is playing while I'm trying to play a different game.

@Kodros

If you get time listen to last weeks Joystiq Podcast. Chris kind of nails how I feel about Playstation Chatting and such.

Love my PS3 but when it comes to online gaming, it's not normally my first choice.

Deezul: yeah i just use wired too. in fact i ran ethernet cable behind the walls when my family put in a home theater room so that i wouldn't have to use wireless. i would rather use wired.

@Kodros:
what's the point of playing with your friends if you can't talk to them? in that case you may as well be playing any random stranger. headsets are also useful for strategy when playing. and you obviously haven't used LIVE enough to understand why being able to talk to someone playing another game is useful. here's a scenario: i'm playing halo 3, two friends are playing Gears 2, and another is playing, um, Bioshock. we all get into a party to chat, and decide to all get on Gears 2. i pop out Halo 3 and insert Gears 2 (chat stays connected through all this). i havn't played Gears 2 in a while, and it says i have to update. my xbox signs me out, updates the game, restarts the game, signs me in, and AUTOMATICALLY puts me right pack in the chat party with my friends. we then go on to use our headsets (which we didn't have to pay separately for) to coordinate our movements, win, and have fun. can your PSN do that?

and not everyone has a bluetooth headset. i don't, and the only person i know that does is my dad, and he uses for calls in the car. so you can add a bluetooth headset to the price of the PS3.

Well Kodros I'm not really an obsessive online gamer. A few matches of halo 3 or Battlefield 1943 a week and I'm good. But I do like to just talk to my friends while I'm playing some single player game or whatever. It's just cool to go online after a day of hard work, join a party and just chat with all my friends... It makes the gap between weekends a lot less hard :) It's things like this I really miss on ps3. I got used to gaming in a party and when i switch on my ps3 it gets a little boring after an hour.

It sucks that Microsoft is doing this with the cables but Sliwinski seems to be clueless about HDMI..

THERE IS NO NEED FOR DIGITAL OPTICAL WITH HDMI. The HDMI standard includes full surround sound digitial audio support.

The Optical port is for use with Component HD Video (Microsoft's Component cable includes a digital audio port).

@ maveric101

Headsets are good. The only thing I had an issue with was him saying that you had to buy the official PS3 headset and that even buying that was pointless since you can't cross-game chat.

@abelpc

Actually kind sir there is most certainly a need for Optical Out with an HDMI connection. Why you ask? Well the simple fact that well over 90 percent of all HDTV's in homes right now don't feature and optical toslink passthrough next to the HDMI port and the older ones that do are strictly for input and not output. What is the purpose of having dolby digital 5.1 + pumping through HDMI if you can't input it into some hi-fi speakers/headphones. Those shitty speakers tacked onto the LCD TV certainly aren't taking advantage of that.

/rant

Well screw you all. I have the PSWii60. It does sd, HD, blu-Ray, DVD, qvc, bvds, AND PCPs. My cosole runs of the power of Billy Mays' souls and dead kittens. Forget jumping in or playing beyond, I'm slitting my wrist wrist with occam'ss razor. That is how simplistic the pleasure is that DRIPS from this console

@Jack

You're absolutely right. You posted the same outdated link that SOMEONE ELSE posted SIX TIMES before you already in this thread. Great job, champ.

This is quite possibly the longest sub-thread I've ever seen. And it's funny how the first post just said "wut?".

Bunch of post-jackers....
...just like me!

I just wanted to say that I'm sure these companies get pressured by retailers to include AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE in the box. Especially when it comes to cables, because as we all know, they really ream you on those.

Wow. The thing barely mentioned a comparison between the PS3 and the 360 and everyone goes nuts over it. The point is Microsoft figured they didn't already have enough ways to jack ur money so they took away HDMI, which was one compensation for all the other stuff u need to pay for. They're honestly brilliant to do it, cause they know people will go out and spend money to get things they should already have included with the system.

@The Warhawk2000

I think it's more a "cost savings" thing than a "rape more money out of you" thing, because as far as I know, MS doesn't sell HDMI cables. They may start soon, but I've never seen any MS cables.

And for the record, I think it's bullshit that the PS3 and now the 360 don't have HDMI included. $300 should buy you an HD console with an HD cable.

To be fair, HDMI has it's ups and downs. With image quality matching that of Component video cables, and audio quality surpassing it, HDMI falls short in reliability. Given the cable's pure digital connection, it's more common than you think to see HDMI cables out-right fail when using any device it supports, be in Blu-Ray players, PS3's, digital cable receivers and so on.

Working for AT&T U-Verse in their tech support, I've seen it probably once a week. The cable loses it's connection with either the TV or the IPTV receiver and displays generic, TV-sourced error message "Unable to display video service over HDMI" which seems to be related to the different versions of HDMI not always playing nice together and losing their sync. The only way to fix this is to unplug the cable from both ends, power cycle both devices, and plug the cable back in.

Component cables are cheaper than HDMI (traditionally) and don't have six different versions with which to play with (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Definition_Multimedia_Interface#Versions) - in short, they're reliable. And Googling any theatre forums will point you to the fact they provide comparable video quality.

I'll save $80 on the Elite and spend it on a cable - I never used the HDMI capability of our old Pro anyway.

The tide seems to be turning with the console wars concerning MS and Sony. I work at Target and we've sold out of PS'3 that Sony sent a truck in to bring in more. This holiday will be good for everyone especially Sony since it now seems that putting in Blu Ray will be the tipping point for most consumers this season.

you're absolutely right roger. it's funny to think back a couple years when everyone was saying it was a mistake for sony to put blu-ray in...saying it was too expensive...

but that decision won the HD war and now they have an affordable Blu-ray/game player on the market and it still has about 3 or 4 more years to go before it's out of it's prime!

uh...we did.

I'm really glad I paid $480 for my Elite now, I got the HDMI cable, the component/composite cable and the HDMI audio switch (for analog/optical out).

Too bad the PS3 has only included composite cables since the beginning, although it really is asinine for Microsoft to pull everything out of the box.

Absolute idiocy. Sony finally rolls out the sizable price cut we have all been waiting for, and how does Microsoft respond?

By yanking a cheap, convenient accessory and by RAISING the price on the Arcade SKU in a limited region.

Someone at Microsoft needs to be fired, after they are shot. They could have eaten the cost of a $5 pack-in cable. They could have sucked it up and left the price of the Arcade model alone in Britain. They STILL would have been in a better profitability situation than Sony. But they really worked at it, and found a way to change THIS message:

"Sony cut prices by $100, and so did we."

into THIS message:

"Sony cut prices, and we're raising them. And you'll bend over and take it. Because you need us more than we need you. You'll buy our console even if we don't have any games for it. You'll go and and get a second job to afford our console. Haha, just kidding, fuckers, there are no more jobs in a recession!"

Kill Jebus needs to get punched in the face. The other day he was whining about how joystiq would NEVER post a story about the 360 losing its HDMI cable...where is he now?

Hush, now, Kill Jebus is playing with the other trolls in troll heaven:

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/26/rumor-best-buy-offering-new-ps3-buyers-a-free-game-to-discourag/comments/21144351/

Also, I'd like to apologize for my earlier critical comments about Microsoft. I did some field research for the last 10 minutes, and I found that getting repeatedly fucked in the ass actually does give me more flexibility in the region.

So, Uhm, This fanboy debate is fun and all, but nobody noticed Sony did the same thing. The PS3 Slim only comes with Composite.. So.... guess what, PS3 owners are ALSO buying the extra cables too!

Yes, Duscrom, it is true that the PS3 does not have HD cables. But it never has, either.

I think the reason 360 fanboys are whining is because Microsoft fucked the consumer by removing a feature which was a great selling point for many people.

And when Microsoft does something wrong (Windows Vista, 360 failure rates, Windows ME, Microsoft Bob, need I go on?) people seem to complain. A lot. Even after it isn't supported anymore (in the case of Bob and ME).

and *not* just theirs....

I expect that when I buy the high end model of an HD console, it's going to be able to output HD out of the box. I don't want to have to wait for newegg to deliver.

Then pick one up at the store you bought the 360 at? Or a nearby store?