Wants an XBOX 360 and the HD DVD addon this Christmas? Guess what...

[Faustus]

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13432

Looks like the total cost will be HIGHER then the Sony Playstation 3. hahahahaha

This only reminds me why I made the decision to go Nintendo this time and let the big boys fight it out with their over priced toys.

[handyguy]

Surely the ps3 is going to cost way more. Just wait & see what scalpers ask for it.

[neomaine]

I think this just goes to show how much money Sony will be losing on its hardware.

Sure, all the vendors do, but they'll be making it up in costlier games at $80 bucks a game. This is versus 360 games at $60.

Point is, they need to make their money. I believe MS did it right in a two step process. I really fear for Sony on this go around.

[Bob W]

Last I heard was a comment from a MS dude that in the USA the price of the xBox and HD DVD as a combo would be less than the PS3. My guess is that they will lower the xBox by $50 and sell the HD DVD at $150 when sold with the box.

[pegcity]

Unlike Sony microsoft is not forcing anyone to buy the HDDVD drive, its merely for movies and optional.

they are not making consumers buy their expensive format in order to play games.

[yoda313]

they are not making consumers buy their expensive format in order to play games.

Well actually HD-DVD isn't soley pushed by Microsoft. Who is it Panasonic the big cheese behind HD-DVD??? Whereas Sony is the main culprit behind BLURAY.

The only danger would be if they start forcing the BUNDLE and phasing out the console only package. Though I'm sure they'll get the bare bones console as cheap as they can to blow the PS3 out of the price war.

[neomaine]

The real problem, if I can call it that, for MS will be when a game developer puts their game on HD-DVD. Now of course, there'll have to be enough of them out there to warrant making a game HD-DVD only.

Actually, I would expect MS to be the first and have a game/HD-DVD bundle to make it more attractive to purchase. Essentially, give the game away, which it can well afford to do and get the HD-DVD on people's 360s.

On the price war note. MS has Sony by the balls. The instant that the PS3 actually gets sold at a store, I think it would be in MS competitive interest to instantly lower their price to spread the price gap even more. Why should they? First, being out for essentially a year I would guess that they would be getting close to breaking even on the console fairly soon.

Sony on the other hand is already bleeding money (hearsay? don't remeber where I read that, though PS2 is strong but sales waning) and if so can ill afford to lower their price and loose too much money.

Yup, good strategy by MS. Have their games come in at 720p, which is what most HD TVs are at this point and have the HD DVD content as an add on. Definitely gave them a huge advantage being able to come first and getting mind share. Now all they need is a few more games.

Now that I'm thinking about this some more... The 360 from what I've read really only outputs at 720p and scales everything else. If so, the only thing a game on HD-DVD will give them is more content if a game can't fit on a DVD9.

We'll have to wait for the XBOX 1080 to get the max HD content.

(Sorry, lots of rambling. Its early...but speculation is a blast)

[ROF]

I agree. MS would do wise to lower their console price by $50 or so when the PS3 comes out. It may already be cheaper than the PS3 but to increase the price gap would be a competitive move for MS and could work in their favor. I do not think HD players in either console will be a deciding factor for those purchasing these devices. It's a gaming machine.

[Faustus]

Damn, I broke down and got a 360. Burnout Revenge is AWESOME.

[yoda313]

I heard that it has a huge external power block instead of a simple plug. How big is that thing???

[Faustus]

It really is the size of a good brick. Fine by me, I'm a big fan of external power. Keeps the size down not to mention banishing a bit of heat.

I can't stress how fun Burnout Revenge is, I'm addicted like I've not been to a console game in a long time. Between it and the 3 or 4 I'm interested in between here and end of the year Microsoft just took a huge hunk of my money. Hell I'm even pretty sure I'm gonna do a full Gold Xbox Live account so I can play online. I hear Gears of War will let you play 2 player CO-OP through the story. Fuckin-a

[Conquest10]

That was fast, Faustus. Complete 180 in less than two days. Do you know how much the Nintendo will be (though I hate that it's not HD)?

BTW, here's the brick next to the 360.

[Faustus]

That was fast, Faustus. Complete 180 in less than two days. Do you know how much the Nintendo will be (though I hate that it's not HD)?

Yeah I tend to flip around like a crack baby when it comes to big purchases. Honestly it was the Gears of War video that finally sold me. I just can't miss out on that, not to mention Halo3 late next year.

How much for the Wii? Alot of "speculation" says $200 but I think it will be between $250 and $300. BUT I also expect it to come with two controllers and the 3in1 sports game. Some poeple agree, some think I'm crazy.

edit: haha my first Game points are from UNO.

[shelbyGT]

It really is the size of a good brick. Fine by me, I'm a big fan of external power. Keeps the size down not to mention banishing a bit of heat.

I can't stress how fun Burnout Revenge is, I'm addicted like I've not been to a console game in a long time. Between it and the 3 or 4 I'm interested in between here and end of the year Microsoft just took a huge hunk of my money. Hell I'm even pretty sure I'm gonna do a full Gold Xbox Live account so I can play online. I hear Gears of War will let you play 2 player CO-OP through the story. Fuckin-a

GoW should be awesome. If you are wanting nice story co-op play, don't miss out on Ghost Recon: Adavanced Warfihter. It's pretty decent.

[lordsmurf]

Well actually HD-DVD isn't soley pushed by Microsoft. Who is it Panasonic the big cheese behind HD-DVD??? .

It's the DVD FORUM. http://www.dvdforum.org/

1. Hitachi, Ltd.
2. IBM Corporation
3. Industrial and Technology Research Institute
4. Intel Corporation
5. LG Electronics Inc.
6. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.
7. Microsoft Corporation
8. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
9. NEC Corporation
10. PIONEER CORPORATION
11. Royal Philips Electronics
12. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
13. SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
14. SHARP CORPORATION
15. Sony Corporation
16. THOMSON
17. Toshiba Corporation
18. Victor Company of Japan, Limited
19. Walt Disney Pictures and Television
20. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

As you can see, Sony double-dips, as does Philips. They played both sides of the table during the +R/-R format war too.

I think Toshiba has a big part of HD-DVD for R&D.

[Faustus]

It really is the size of a good brick. Fine by me, I'm a big fan of external power. Keeps the size down not to mention banishing a bit of heat.

I can't stress how fun Burnout Revenge is, I'm addicted like I've not been to a console game in a long time. Between it and the 3 or 4 I'm interested in between here and end of the year Microsoft just took a huge hunk of my money. Hell I'm even pretty sure I'm gonna do a full Gold Xbox Live account so I can play online. I hear Gears of War will let you play 2 player CO-OP through the story. Fuckin-a

GoW should be awesome. If you are wanting nice story co-op play, don't miss out on Ghost Recon: Adavanced Warfihter. It's pretty decent.

Is it an FPS? Because the only tradional FPS I make an exception for is Halo. FPS belongs on the PC where I can use a mouse and keyboard and not suck.

Though I may make an exception for that one game thats gonna have like the 200 player battles in it.


As far as High Def DVD goes. I think I'm rooting for HD-DVD, I mean the players are ALREADY half the price for BluRay.

[Conquest10]

I'm also rooting for HD-DVD after hearing this:
http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/08/10/blu/index.html

The player must always be connected to the internet to be able to get the "self-destruct" update?

[yoda313]

The player must always be connected to the internet to be able to get the "self-destruct" update?

You know there have been some movies I've rented that I wish would self destruct after watching them!!

[Conquest10]

You know there have been some movies I've rented that I wish would self destruct after watching them!!

Yeah, but its not the movie but the player that self destructs.

[Faustus]

The player must always be connected to the internet to be able to get the "self-destruct" update?

You know there have been some movies I've rented that I wish would self destruct after watching them!!

Stop renting Battlefield Earth and you will stop having that desire.

[RottenFoxBreath]

The player must always be connected to the internet to be able to get the "self-destruct" update?

You know there have been some movies I've rented that I wish would self destruct after watching them!!

Stop renting Battlefield Earth and you will stop having that desire.

what was wrong with battlefield earth?>?....hmm...umm...thats right it was utter shite!

[richdvd]

Damn, I broke down and got a 360. Burnout Revenge is AWESOME.

Wow...after all that 360 bashing, you bought one?

[Faustus]

Damn, I broke down and got a 360. Burnout Revenge is AWESOME.

Wow...after all that 360 bashing, you bought one?

I thought this was already covered? I'm impulsive. I won't say its not overpriced though, it is.

Being impusive has lead to both my greatest victories and my greatest waste of money. So I guess it all works out.

What turned me? Mostly talking to people online about how it looks and plays on a standard TV. (Looks fine btw) That way I'm not pressured to get an HDTV I can't afford at the moment. That and online UNO. For me a $7 UNO game was the XBOX 360's killer app.

[richdvd]

Glad you got one....I like mine...although I am not online yet.
UNO, that sounds cool!
Can I play that with the Silver Package...the one that comes with the Core System?

[Faustus]

Its online so unless you want to just play against the computer I guess you would have to have Live Gold.

Personally I'm going to pick up my year gold sub on payday.

[ViRaL1]

Obviously there is some discrepancy in pricing between the regions. They're talking about 279GBP or $527US for an XBOX 360 Premium. They retail here for $399US.

[Doramius]

I've always been a proponent for HD-DVD since I visited the CES show here in Vegas at the beginning of the year. Blu-Ray was extremely interesting, butcost was very prohibitive. HD-DVD players and burners could be as low as regular DVD players & burners in a matter of a year or 2.

As for being online to play movie content, it'll never happen. There's still too wide of population that do not have constant internet access, and only have one phone line in a rural area where anything outside their local township is long distance. Try governing that in Australia, China, areas of South America and Europe. That would be a horrid choke on a company. The idea is there, just like the EZ-Ds. Plus an odd scratch could send a false code and you'd need a new flash or chip for your player.

XBOX is setup so it could play games off the HD-DVD system. (read more articles, they'll all say the same thing) However, to keep the cost down, the basic units don't have it. M$ has a brain and is learning the same way Nintendo has. Make a unit that is extremely cheap so anyone can afford to play it. (though the price of an Xbox 360 makes you think otherwise at times) The people will like certain features, but not use them all. They will pay for the items they want to add, and skip ones they don't. Kids like to go online for multiplayer. Others only do LAN parties. Then you have those people who just want a 5 min. game everyday to play by themselves and then trade the game in when they've beaten it. M$ also recognized that people bought their 1st gen. machines as a primary DVD player. If you're not going to play games online and you want a cheap DVD player that doubles as child gaming entertainment, you got an all-in-one package.

Nintendo is still sitting back in profits with their Game Cube. People aren't thinking it as a major competitor to Sony & M$. Again, do searches and see who made the bigger profits in sales. The XBOX 360 really does cost a pretty penny to make, and so will the PS3. The companies don't make as much off the games either. Last time I checked, Madden football was made by EA Sports.

[yoda313]

M$ also recognized that people bought their 1st gen. machines as a primary DVD player. If you're not going to play games online and you want a cheap DVD player that doubles as child gaming entertainment, you got an all-in-one package.

That's not entirely up to speed. (for the xbox 1 that is, I don't know if the 360 can play dvds without a dongle).

To play dvds you HAVE to have the dvd dongle for the official dvd remote from microsoft. Thats $30 new or so. I had no use for it since I had it sitting next to my regular dvd player so I never bought one. (I have since traded in my xbox at ebgames for cash to buy my liteon dvd recorder ).

Granted $30 is a small investment to get an extra dvd player but these days you can get one that does divx on standalone for almost less than $30 if you hit the right rebates.

DVD was definitely secondary to the XBOX especially since it didn't have true DTS support.

BUT MS was smart in having tiered pricing for the 360 and making the HD-DVD an option instead of mandatory. Though I bet they'll integrate it in the next version or two of the 360 once prices come down and not make users buy an addon.

[Faustus]

That's not entirely up to speed. (for the xbox 1 that is, I don't know if the 360 can play dvds without a dongle).

Yes the "dongle" was just the remote reciever. So many people complained how DVDs on the PS2 using the controller that MS decided to sidestep the entire issue. If you wanted DVDs on the Xbox you purchased the remote.



As far as the HD-DVD standard, I'm 100% sure the system COULD play games off the HD-DVD, but think about it for a second. Which publisher wants to publish a game that will only hit a small percentage of their market? Which one wants to waste resources making 2 different copies of the same game for the same system. None.

Could it happen? Yes. Likely? Doubt it. Meanwhile its still upto MS to change the current game spec to allow official games to use it.

[Doramius]

Most people I know bought the Xbox with the DVD remote as one package. But it just stresses the point of how they can make a base unit and you only put on what you use.

I don't think they'll change the current game specs too much, but I'm sure it'll have the ability. M$ is based off of PCs. It's totally modular like one. If you don't need a 56K modem, then you don't buy the card. If you want a Floppy, you add one on. Printers, scanners, cameras, PDAs, etc. If you're not gonna use it, why have it. But it's nice to know you can add it if you change your mind in the future. But having the low-cost base unit means you can afford what you need right now.

Now if only M$ can apply it to their OSs, and keep them as stable, everyone will be extremely happy.