Microsoft Rules out HD-DVD games "this holiday"

[Zenien]

Microsoft hasn’t determined whether to do Xbox 360 games in blue-laser HD DVD, but has ruled it out for “this holiday” when it ships its HD DVD drive for movie playback through the Xbox 360, said Dave Luehmann, gen. mgr.- Microsoft Game Studios. “Speed of loading” is Microsoft’s big concern about HD DVD games on the Xbox 360, Luehmann said. Xbox 360 games on red-laser DVD9 can run at 12X speeds at data transfer rates that aren’t a problem, but the same can’t necessarily be said of HD DVD game content, and Microsoft wants to be confident of pleasing users, he said. He wasn’t more specific about delivery timing of the HD DVD drive. Microsoft hasn’t released pricing on the drive, but “will do so shortly,” he said. He vowed it would be offered at a “great and affordable” price, repeating statements of other Microsoft executives that the drive would be the “cheapest” HD DVD player available.

Yeah I blinked as well.

 

[Manny Calavera]

I'm sure people will spin this into MS releasing HD-DVD games eventually, but it's mostly just PR speak for "we still have options". I doubt they'll ever actually DO it, DVD is going to be fine for this gen, no need to risk a failed add on.

 

[Topdawg]

I knew this was gonna happen. 200$ affordable price?lol

 

[SpiderFan17]

I knew this was gonna happen. 200$ affordable price?lol

200 is a hell of a lot cheaper than 500 for the full player. The only people who can use hd-dvd are people with hdtv's. Therefore you can assume many if not most people with hdtv's that would get a good picture out of it (ie: not some 24" crt hdtv) have a good amount of disposable income. 200 bucks is nowhere near unreasonable. They haven't priced themselves out of the competition, and they know who they're targeting with this. It's definitely not some kid who had to ask his parents to get him a 360 for christmas, its people with HDTV's.

 

[Addendum]

$200 for an HD-DVD add-on for the 360 is a much better deal than getting a standalone HD-DVD player when they come out.

Especially since it's yet to be determined if HD-DVD or Blu-Ray will be successful.

 

[lars573]

200 is a hell of a lot cheaper than 500 for the full player. The only people who can use hd-dvd are people with hdtv's. Therefore you can assume many if not most people with hdtv's that would get a good picture out of it (ie: not some 24" crt hdtv) have a good amount of disposable income. 200 bucks is nowhere near unreasonable. They haven't priced themselves out of the competition, and they know who they're targeting with this. It's definitely not some kid who had to ask his parents to get him a 360 for christmas, its people with HDTV's.

IE me. But the thing that will really sell this add-on is if it will up-convert a regular DVD.

 

[Mentok]

Word from MICROSOFT... HDDVD will NEVER be used for games.

I'm seeing lots of speculation about our upcoming HD DVD Player, and whether we have plans to publish HD DVD games. The answer is no.

Since announcing the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player accessory at E3 2006, we've been clear that it is designed exclusively for playing HD DVD movies. It will not play games on HD DVD.

 

[Manny Calavera]

That's not going to stop people from acting like they're releasing HD-DVD games next month and like Sony was right for making blu-ray mandatory. It won't stop until both systems are dead

 

[Zenien]

It won't be anymore absurd then half the stuff that has been leveled against the PS3.

 

[Manny Calavera]

Except for the stuff levelled against the PS3 is usually a direct quote from someone running the company, or true, and this is neither