Taiwan game industry favors Microsoft' s adoption of external HD-DVD dives for Xbox 360
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Yen-ting Chen, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DigiTimes.com [Monday 14 August 2006]


Microsoft will launch external HD-DVD drives for its Xbox 360 at a retail price of US$200 by Christmas of this year, and Taiwanese games developers and gaming services providers indicated this this is a smart marketing strategy as compared with Sony' s adoption of built-in BD drives for its PlayStation 3 (PS3).

External drives have more flexibility than built-in models, the companies pointed out, while adding that despite BD having a much larger storage capacity than HD-DVD, pre-installation of BD drives may decrease the market competitiveness of PS3 units.

Microsoft adopted HD-DVD instead of BD mainly because HD-DVD is compatible with existing DVD formats while also having much lower production costs, the Taiwanese companies noted.

http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20060814A5023.aspx

200 quid? Wasnt everybody expecting it to be a 100?

then add that up, it equals the ps3 price.

but ps3 has free online and larger disc capacity.

more or less the same now eh?

I dont think it' s the squid I think it' s just dollars mind you these days it equals off a lot of the time any way....but not sure if it' s official. If it is true well I think it explains why the price drop may not happen because the 100 might go there instead with a package like I was saying before.

I read somewhere... can' t remember where, but i read that M$ wanted to provide the hd-dvd at a price which would make owning it and a 360 (obviously) cheaper than a ps3.

I need to start remembering where i read this stuff...

If I remember right I think they did mention something of pricing it to be competitive. But if it is priced with the same as the ps3 it' s gonna be an interesting christmas to say the least. Because hd-dvd has had a good start so far and to people wanting to adopt it 200 is a crazy offer however for people willing to give blu-ray a try with hardly any gaming intentions thats gonna look good to them too so.....

I need to start remembering where i read this stuff...

hmm internet maybe?

:)

if it' s 200$ -it sucks.I' d rather get a fully featured (one) device with bigger hDD and next gen HDMI for the same price.

That is if I would care at least a bit about HD movies - and I don' t.
It' s all about games.

as a gaming system 360 looks like much better value for money.

lol thats just as much as the ps3 400 360 then an 200 drive lol you just got to love that one so i guess the ps3 price is justified

it seem like every body is sticking it to every body but hey its all good in the end

ms should sell there drive for 99 bucks now that would be nice but the again we all know how external drives work for consoles dont we but hey its all good

Actually, even though the HD-DVD + 360 is more or less = PS3, how abt the accumulative cost of buying Blu-Ray movies/games? Or the movies/games combo on one disc that Sony and Dreamworks are thinking about?

Eventually, you' re still spending more on the PS3 once you start buying those games. Worse is that if they' re only better than the 360 ones in terms of graphics, I have no idea what the extra 20+GB of space on the Blu-Ray is for anyway...

but ps3 has free online and larger disc capacity.

The blu ray discs are more expensive! and you might get free online, but there is no guarentee of quality of service, if say you are playing your favorite online game Goldfish and the goblers, and the company that made that game has to shut its doors, no more Goldfishes and goblers for you! Same if they simply decide to discontinue the servers! With Live, you are guarenteed quality servers and services!

The key here is you have a choice to buy that drive for the 360.

People buying these consoles for the games not the damn hd-dvd or blu ray drives. You don' t have a choice with the ps3 you are forced to a pay a premium for blu ray whether you want it or not.

I agree the key is the choice thing. Because not to justify it or anything but you can look at it as which to be honest it is another added accessory that doesn' t relate to your gaming experience directly. I have no idea either what the extra 20g on the blu-ray is for either but sony' s all about quantity. And were' nt there some other wireless apparells they said were coming this ' ' fall' ' too?.

I don' t care about the price I only need to know two things about this HD-DVD add-on. 1. what are the drive speeds? and 2. is it possible to connect it to pc in order to use HD-DVD video or even better HD-DVD Rom.

$200 hm? Well that' s a shame. Maybe if the movie selection is better, then I' ll be more interested...It' s a good value for a HD-DVD tho, just no cheaper then PS3 internal Blu-ray player.

However, that' s funny tho, that I can say that and still have a good gaming console at the same time.

Yeah choice is good, but wont you perfer if games could be devolped with Hd-dvd in mind?


In a few years ps3 will get things that 360 cant, simply becuase hd-dvd cant be used. They have the same issue with the harddrive.

Consoles arent Pc' s, you dont update them, leave out parts or install new ones, every console should be more or less the same, each having all the same the key components as each other, this way games can be brought to the full potential without devs having to worry about low end users.

ORIGINAL: Silentbomber

Yeah choice is good, but wont you perfer if games could be devolped with Hd-dvd in mind?

What you mean just like wii?...

In a few years ps3 will get things that 360 cant, simply becuase hd-dvd cant be used. They have the same issue with the harddrive.

Such as?.

ORIGINAL: dasher232

ORIGINAL: Silentbomber

Yeah choice is good, but wont you perfer if games could be devolped with Hd-dvd in mind?

What you mean just like wii?...

In a few years ps3 will get things that 360 cant, simply becuase hd-dvd cant be used. They have the same issue with the harddrive.

Such as?.

Just like wii... I guess your trying to make a point here, but lets face it, why would a SD game console have anything to do with HD. whereas 360 is a HD console.

As for the second point about the HDD... well, i think to the xbox vs ps2, i think of faster loading, if nothing else. I don' t know if devs are gonna use the hdd to speed loads on many 360 games if not everyone can do it. But guessing the future is pointless so i' ll look to the past.
Sony used a next gen format, sure it was probably more expensive than cd, but now games all use dvd' s for their capacity, not cd. So I guess that in a few years we could think like, sony were smart to use blu-ray, but... maybe not... Where has that crystal ball gone...?

Just like wii... I guess your trying to make a point here, but lets face it, why would a SD game console have anything to do with HD. whereas 360 is a HD console.

As for the second point about the HDD... well, i think to the xbox vs ps2, i think of faster loading, if nothing else. I don' t know if devs are gonna use the hdd to speed loads on many 360 games if not everyone can do it. But guessing the future is pointless so i' ll look to the past.
Sony used a next gen format, sure it was probably more expensive than cd, but now games all use dvd' s for their capacity, not cd. So I guess that in a few years we could think like, sony were smart to use blu-ray, but... maybe not... Where has that crystal ball gone...?

Sony using the dvd as a format is slightly different in that the costs for developing couldn' t be avoided if you wanted a console that was in the disk age. However would it not make much more sense to utilise the dvd format to it' s fullest meanwhile keeping costs down and learning how to manage the next format better?.

You said something about ' ' what would a sd have anything to do with the hd era' ' . However aren' t they using the same dvd format to achieve it?.

If PS3 games will look as good as those for 360 , then it will be clear that PS3 is worth it' s price with all that shit inside (HDD isn' t optional - it' s there to make loadtimes shorter and EVERY game uses it).

We don' t know, as of yet, how much disc capacity can influence next gen games

It will soon be clear if next gen disc format is a big advantage over DVD in games or nothing but a stupid high-end gimmick.

I' m no PS3 fan, but I' ll hold my judgement for a while - assuming too much won' t do us any good.

ORIGINAL: ]GaNgStA[

I' m no PS3 fan, but I' ll hold my judgement for a while - assuming too much won' t do us any good.

I swear you shouldn' t go to the ps3 forums those guys seem to hate the wii for some reason. Anyway I think like you said if the difference cant be seen then it won' t be important.

I swear you shouldn' t go to the ps3 forums those guys seem to hate the wii for some reason.

They sense their impending doom.

However would it not make much more sense to utilise the dvd format to it' s fullest meanwhile keeping costs down and learning how to manage the next format better?.

Definately. CD was being implemented for at least a generation before the original Playstation, and DVD games like Oblivion prove that capacity isn' t a major issue at the moment. At least November is next month (If I say it enough, It' s gotta come true, right?)