Videogame news with HD DVD implications…

Nice! Come on MS give HD DVD add-on a nice price cut to! $130? $100? $150?

I say give it away free with all future Xbox 360 elite purchases.

That'd be quite a bundle!

....for the 80GB model. IMO, a rather stupid marketing strategy considering weak sales versus other gaming consoles (due to higher price).

Completely agreed for two reasons

1. It has HDMI and is the Flagship 360
2. The Elite is Black, and I'm sure Elite owners would prefer a black HD DVD add-on

I have the Black HD DVD drive

How'd you do that??? Paint it, skin it, let us in on the secret since they're not being made as far as everyone knows.

There were a few on e-bay which were made in extremely limited quantities for MS employees I think. There are also various skins including black

But my point is that black HD DVD add-ons aren't sold. So it would be a smart move to package a black one with every elite and continue to sell the white ones for the Premium/Core owners.

I painted mine a few months ago. Turned out pretty cool.

I knew about the skins, but not about the limited quantities. Must've cost a little extra for it.

I'd go for a package deal like that, makes sense. Hopefully something like that might happen for the holidays this year.

DS2: That looks sweet!!!!!

I bought mine at the Elf auction it was one of a few that was made for the HDDVD team. I was sitting next to Amir when I bought it

You guys should check out http://www.elfsystems.org/ and drop a couple of bucks their way.

It is good way to make what we love worthwhile.

Dave

I say make the HD-DVD the only disc player there is in all XBox's going forward. Immediately. If they want to compete, then it's time to get with it.

At first I agreed with everyone here about Sony being stupid to say that once the $499 60gb models were gone, that was it. However, I think any of us would be so naive to think that once they are gone, that the price of the 80gb model will continue to be $599.

I love HD DVD as much as everyone else here, but what sony has done here is pretty ingenious for the average dumbass uninformed consumer. Fire sale the 60gb units while ramping up production of the 80gb unit. When it's finally ready, surprise surprise, it will be $499 too.. I'm not defending sony in anyway shape or form, but this is likely the scenario to take place and if any of you think otherwise, I think your thinking wrong.

That said, M$ MUST MUST MUST get the price of the 360 down quickly to beat sony to the punch. If it is $100, fantastic. Hell for $199 + an HD I *MIGHT* even consider buying one for the xbox live dowloads of disney movies, if disney doesn't get their heads out of their asses soon and start releasing movies on HD DVD.

Tell that to the Sony CEO.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/clustered-f...ion-278414.php

The ket point to that article is "no price adjustments until the 60gb supply is depleated and a market analysis"....

So once the 60gb units sell out and no one buys the $599 unit at all, the market analysis will say, hey, people bought them at $499.... fill in the rest of the blanks.

Like I said, I hope that sony is too dumb to figure that out, but I would think that they are smarter than me... lol Or else I wouldn't be living in an 1800 sq ft house that was built in 1974.

I'd love to have a unit with integrated HD DVD, but I don't think it's a requirement for them to compete. I think it's more important to market and price the add-on properly.

IMO, MS has missed an opportunity with the add-on. It's never been very compelling, although it COULD be. First you have the broken audio. I'm not talking about not being able to pass HD sound thru HDMI. I'm talking about the dynamic range being forced on. Anybody who does any research before buying would have found out about that and decided to pass on it as a viable HD player. They finally fixed that, but now the unit isn't priced right. With standalones approaching $200 street, and the add-on being essentially a bare drive in a plastic case, and unable to pass HD audio thru HDMI, it simply isn't worth spending $200 on it.

I think it would be a mistake for ALL 360's to have integrated HD DVD. Otherwise you have another overpriced console trying to double as a HD trojan horse, and no way to get a feel for software attach rates.

What they need is another SKU... an Ultra with integrated HD DVD, 120GB drive, and bundled wi-fi adapter for $549. And it needs to pass HD audio via HDMI.

Then offer the add-on in both white and black for everyone else, and price it at $99 or less. Even without HD audio, this would move a lot of units for people who want to dabble in next gen media and have already invested in the console.

Finally, get the Elite @ $399, Premium @ $299, and Core @ $199. And drop the price of the wi-fi adapter to $49, for heaven's sake. You'd still be gouging people, but stopping short of telling them you think they're stupid.

IMO, if all these things came to fruition, MS would have a winner on the console front while helping Toshiba in the HD DVD arena. But what do I know.

That's not a quote from the article. That is a serious misquote.


That would work if companies could price their merchandise based on customer preference, which would default down to 1 cent or free. But, if a company sells something less than what it costs for them to make it, they won't stay in business very long.

what i heard was for the holidays (after the price drop of 100 dollars) microsoft is gonna do a bundle with hd dvd player and 5 free movies for 499.00 on the elite model which has hdmi and 120 h/d

Goodlord man... I was paraphrasing... The gist of that article says, there won't be any more price adjustments until 1. the 60gb supply is depleated and 2. a market anaylsis.

You realize I'm on your team right? I'm just being realistic!

Hi,

I don't follow gaming so I may have missed something, but this announcement by Microsoft really intrigues me.

E3: Microsoft Announces Disney Video, Windows Live For UE3, Halo Console


I'm wondering if Disney has already agreed to release all of their hit films in high definition to the Windows Live download service, then what business reason could they have for not going format neutral? No insult intended to those of you that are gamers, but do they really think that this gaming console will have a wider HD audience in the long term than the HD DVD format, or is this merely a forward-looking indicator that Disney is on the verge of going format neutral?

Larry

They might have a wider HD audience, I purchased my HDTV because of HD gaming, not HD movies. I didn't even know the HD DVD add-on was coming when I purchased my HDTV and I have purchased 34 HD DVD movies since December. Even though video game consoles won't decide the outcome, they will help push their individual sides.

Hi Michael,

You mean they may have a wider short term HD audience because there are currently more XBox add-ons than there are standalone players?

As you say video game consoles won't decide the long term outcome of the format war, and obviously Disney, as well as the other studios, know this.

For instance Steve Nickerson, senior vice president, high hefinition media at Warner Bros sates:


I've got to believe that the Disney folks are just as perceptive as the Warner folks. So if Disney is already releasing their hit HD films to an HD DVD device, wouldn't this logically suggest that strategically they've already conceded the point, and now its just a matter of logistics as to when they start releasing HD DVDs? Perhaps during the holiday season might make sense?

Larry

If they do cut the prices they really should put a HD DVD drive in the Elite and they can keep it at $500. They would be able to really prolong the life of the console if they do (assuming RRofD is fixed of course har har). They would have to get the standalone HD DVD player down in price for 1st gen 360 owners if they started making games on HD DVD. I don't know if they even need that media for games for a few years anyway.

It would be nice if the PS3 could get to $300 too

Houses built back in the mid 70's and earlier are much better built than a lot of houses today.