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Microsoft to offer external HD-DVD drive for Xbox 360

January 8th, 2006

Microsoft announced that it will offer an external HD-DVD drive to Xbox 360 owners. After much speculation and publicly battling Sony backed Blu-Ray DVD format, the news was received with a mixed response.

On the one hand, many analysts voiced concerns that a next generation console should support next generation media formats — something the Xbox 360 did not at launch. But adding an external device puts it in competition for those who may opt to use a standalone DVD drive, let alone from a competing format of Blu-Ray (which appears to have stronger hollywood support).

Statement by Bill Gates that “this will be the last format war” suggested to some that perhaps Microsoft would push for delivery based video content via their Xbox Live service. Gates told the Daily Princetonian:

For us it’s not the physical format. Understand that this is the last physical format there will ever be. Everything’s going to be streamed directly or on a hard disk. So, in this way, it’s even unclear how much this one counts.

And finally, over at the sportsgamer blog, they echo what many recent purchasers of the Xbox 360 must feel right now:

Just out of curiousity, how many of you that dropped $1,000 on an Xbox 360 bundle are going to drop another $1,000 on an HD DVD external drive for your Xbox360? I think I’ll pass, and it’s pretty stupid, even if it has Final Fantasy 23HD on it.

We’ll have to wait and see how this turns out :)

Technorati Tags: xbox360, hd-dvd, xbox live, blu-ray

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Entry Filed under: Console Hardware, accessories