Microsoft has now, as expected, officially announced that it will launch an external HD DVD player for its Xbox 360 video game console. The perhaps biggest problem with Xbox 360 and its relatively early launch was that there were no ready standards for neither HD DVD nor Blu-ray, which forced it to go with the old DVD format once again. This way it was also possible to keep the manufacturing costs down, both console and games, but then again no support for the next generation movie format(s), something Sony will have with PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray. Already before the launch of Xbox 360 discussions arose about a possible external HD DVD player and in January 2006 the first information that strengthened these rumors arrived.
So, now Microsoft has officially announced that there will be an external HD DVD units for Xbox 360 to make it possible for Xbox 360 owners to watch high resolution movies when they start to appear. It expects that there will be about 150-200 HD DVD movies before the end of the year, which of course will increase the demand and interest for the new optical format.
It has been discussed how an external HD DVD player would be connected to the console and this has also been revealed. Xbox 360 will namely communicate with the HD DVD player through the USB inteface. Exactly how Microsoft is suppose to pair the two is yet to be announced, but at least two very omportant details remains. What will it look like, will it fit the Xbox 360 design? And last but not least, what will this accessory cost as Sony actually offer the same from scratch with its PlayStation 3 console. To make consumers interested in such an accessory instead of a stationary HD DVD player or simply boycott Microsoft since you have to pay extra for HD DVD functinoality you need a very attractive price, which also Microsoft implies.
“So what’s the suggested price for the Xbox 360 HD DVD player? “Stay tuned. We decided to save that good news for another day, but we’re clearly out to make this an affordable option for Xbox 360 owners,” said Penello.”
Source: Xbox.com
