Toshiba to field HD DVD-equipped Xbox 360? Toshiba may be gearing up release an own-brand Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD drive, a senior executive from the company has apparently claimed. The staffer allegedly told Australian mag Smarthouse last week that Microsoft and Toshiba are working together on an Xbox 360 with built in HD DVD drive. However, he also claimed …
Well that's dumb, who will buy an XBox360 if a new HDDVD version is due to arrive?
I don't see how Toshiba can be selling it (so how would that work? Microsoft would make it form them and Toshiba would sell it? Yet Microsoft wouldn't sell that version???), doesn't sound right, sounds like they've realized leaking it was a bad move and are covering their asses.
It's probably worth noting that if you go to XBox.com there's currently an offer of 5 free HD DVDs if you buy the 360 HD DVD drive addon. This is a bargain even if you don't own a 360 because it works with XP (using 3rd party drives) and Vista also. The HD DVDs on offer cost around £15 - £25 so it's well worth it especially as the drive itself is only £99 at Gamestation.
It seems they're making a big push for HD DVD now which is interesting. I can't see a Toshiba branded 360 ever coming out though, but I can see a 360 with HD DVD built in being very likely in the next year or so.
...with all the marketing hype and simply false statistical data and claims. 74% of HDTV disc players in Europe they claimed.. yeah, sure.. then how comes that Blu-Ray discs sell rates account for 80%+ of the market worldwide and well above 60% in Europe as well ?!
They even didn't count the PS3 as a HD-DVD player, they kept promoting the fact that consoles are just for games and now they want Microsoft to put the HD-DVD inside the XBox360 and turn it into a full HD-DVD player with media box like features and even a PVR...?!
Yeah, this really makes sense.. of desperation.
The only hope is that the majority of people won't get fooled into buying an inferior product and an inferior optical disc format by all of this.
The PS3 is the best product, now I can only hope that Sony starts putting some serious audio/video codecs/containers support in upcoming new Firmware 2.x ...
What does Microsoft an American company gain from having an Asian company release a 360 under it’s own name?
How is it that Asia has not really taken up a games console built by an American company?
Now it might be me but it seams like an ideal solution, The Asian market tends to distrust American companies which has undoubtedly hurt the Xbox 360’s in the Asian Market. This could just be the breakthrough that Microsoft Needs.
Apart from the £150 HD DVD price tag? It was £130 and is now £115 with 5 free films.
ICT was dead on arrival and has yet to be 'turned on'. Seems to be a common fanboy comment about the problem with ICT when it currently is not a problem and probably will never will be - at least for this generation of consoles.
When playing HD DVDs the 360 is fairly quiet - not noticable above the film soundtrack.
Plus the HD is £70 and not £100 - still a rip off for a 2.5" HD.
given the history with consoles dying? At least taking a month to repair the console isn't the end of the world. I wouldn't really want to be without my TV for that long. I'd also expect my TV to last a bit longer than the XBox 360. That bit sounds like a bad idea to me. Integrating the HD-DVD drive with the console in some way seems reasonable to me though. I'll keep my premium and attachment player. I prefer this model to the PS3 where Sony is trying to push a HD format on consumers. I bought my 360 before I had an HD TV so I appreciated being able to save some money upfront and buy the components as I needed them. Consequently I never bought a PS3 and since the price is currently in free-fall I'll hold off until it either goes away completely or the price bottoms out.
Hah! Man, you are one clueless but very funny Sony-troll.:)
You call it "desperate to force" - with 360 available without HD-DVD ever since its release it's beyoind me how could Toshiba force anything here, ROFLMAO - but in the next sentence you declare PS3 "The PS3 is the best product"... you know, the very PS3 that never been available without Blu-Ray (hence the lunatic pricetag)... :D
Priceless! (Pun intended, of course.)
Ahh, the icing on the cake?
Right after you declared PS3 to be "the best product: you continue on saying you "can only hope that Sony starts putting some serious audio/video codecs/containers support" - sic!!! :D
H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S.
"LOL, anyone else fell Microsoft have no gameplan when it comes to the 360? It's a comedy of errors.
Lets look at a bit of history."
Yeah, let's look at it and compare it to PS3: PS3 was 1+ year late (look up original announcement), as little as 2 months before its release they kept changing the specs, it launched with a lunatic price tag, lacking not only such basic things as rumble controller but it didn't even have GAMES FOR MONTHS.
Talk about comedy of errors.
Now let's look around, a year later: it's behind ANY competitor when it comes to sales. AZNd it's behind by A LOT.
Heck, it's behind handhelds as well - and EVEN PS2!
PS3 produced the most pathetic false ad campaign, the most unprofessional launch the industry has ever seen - all of which, of course, compounded these ridiculously miserable sales results ever since.
360 wasn't an errorfree product, that's for sure and Nintendo laughing on its way to the bank but praising PS3 while talking about comedy of errors with regard to 360 is just downright hilarious, it's sooo ridiculous...
Ummm hate to burst your bubble but it's vica versa.
First was the '3 free movies' HD-DVD promo, back in late 2006 when Blu-Ray including PS3 was a no-show. Then sometimes this year Sony realized PS3 sales are so crappy - thanks to its insane pricing - they have to do something and they decided the only option they have to boost it as a Blu-Ray player which consequently will help the whole BDA camp's sales to counter Toshiba's successful 3-disc promo so (presumably) Sony won't have to foot the bill alone. They introduced the same promo but with 5 disc which Toshiba decided to match up very soon by raising its promo from 3 to 5 discs as well.
Better check the facts before you post, you know. ;)
I own a PS3. I don't own an X-Box. I have however played the 360 a lot.
I like them both, They are both more or less capable of the same things. The reason I went for a PS3 was because of it having the Blu-Ray drive. My thinking was that not only can I watch HD films but also the games would be able to have much greater content because of the amount of space available on the game discs. Unfortunately, so far, this has not rung true. I think the main reason for this is that the 360 hasn't (as far as I know) been able to utilise the HD-DVD format to play game discs therefore developers haven’t had the amount of space that they possibly could have had for game content. Seeing as a lot of games are being released across both platforms, I think if they were both able to use the space that HD formats allow, games could be much bigger or just even better than they are currently.
So to summarize I own a PS3, I like the 360 and I want it to get an HD-DVD drive so I can get some better games for my playstation, if that makes sense.
I have not joined either camp but from a neutral observers point of view this move [if there is any truth in it] does reek of copy cat tactics by Toshiba M/Soft.
Sony may have joined the party late but some could argue that they did this to ensure that they got the hardware right. M/Soft have added HDMI, made HDD a requirement and now adding HD-DVD. How long do you think it will be before having an HD-DVD will be compulsory???
A quick Google on price reveals that an Xbox Elite + HD-DVD can be had for £408.89. Yes I am sure that some of you could find a package for a few pence less but like I said it was a quick Google. Can we expect an Xbox 360 with an integrated HD-DVD to be a similar price? This makes the £349.99 asking price for a PS3 seem a bargain.
Both consoles have their merits and pit falls but if M/Soft now integrates HD-DVD into the Xbox it will be as good as admitting that they are in fact now playing catch-up and if/when they make HD-DVD compulsory risk alienating a large proportion of their user base.
So we can all argue over who has the best processor or the best graphics card but, at the end of the day, most of us mere mortals are just looking for the best deal to deliver the best quality games and/or films. Let's be honest, who can really notice the difference between the graphics on the 360 or PS3 when confronted by two equally high quality games? We want great gameplay - without that, any amount of pixels or fluid motion is all but irrelevant.
By introducing an integrated HD-DVD Xbox 360 do we not then find ourselves with two similarly spec'd games machines both with great hi-def DVD capability (again we can argue the toss over HD DVD vs Blu-Ray but let's not - both have good films available!). Then it's not so easy for one side to argue why their box is more expensive than the other. This can only help the pricing be more competitive.
Now, if the boxes are 'similar' (from the majority point of view), what distinguishes one from the other - the software! Let's see Sony promote more good quality games and let's see both reduce the prices - come on, £40 for a game that may last a dozen or so hours does not seem like good value to me!
I happen to have a PS3, more by chance than choice (came 'free' with my Projector) but, software aside, I'm more than happy with it. My Xbox has been relegated to the cupboard, along with the box load of games (some of which are unopened, let alone completed - I was a sucker for those reviews). Nowadays I look at the games available (for the PS3), or shortly to become available, and I think, 'maybe I'll wait until they're cheaper.'
If we're lucky and we do see the launch of an integrated HD-DVD Xbox 360 then just maybe the software prices will also have to drop in support of a bit of healthy competition. Maybe that's just wishful thinking.......
And I've been considering buying a standalone HD-DVD player to complement the Blu-Ray in my PS3. I think now I will wait.......
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