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[Xbox-Scene]

Xbox 360 HD-DVD Addon for 200usd? Posted by XanTium | August 14 12:24 EST

From digitimes.com: 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. Read More: digitimes.com

[bucko]

good price, some nice 360 news coming out today!

[postaldude25]

am going to buy one for 200$ that is not much, jsut want some more news to se what kind of auido it suports and resolutions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[grim_d]

that is a really good price. although im not interested i think its a small price to pay should you want that option. Unlike Sony which forces you to buy their crap.

[jtom617]

thats a great price, i dont think i really care that much about movies though, but for that price, i might just buy it to have it!   good deal!

[C-5]

I have to say that I am disappointed that they are going to price it that high.

Without a price drop on the 360, the PS3 is a better value.. which goes against earlier statements made by MSFT. The only plus is that it IS optional unlike Sony's fuck up.

$399 Premium Xbox 360 with No HDMI, No WiFi, 20G HD, No multi-card reader + $200 External HD-DVD = $598...

Lower spec PS3 with No HDMI, No WiFi, 20G HD, No multi-card reader + internal Blu-Ray = $499...

Personally, I am not buying any of this new tech, until the format war is settlted.

This post has been edited by C-5: Aug 14 2006, 04:56 PM

[twistedsymphony]

YUP.. unless MS drops the price of the 360 by $100 or bundles the Premium package with a 60GB HDD, WiFi adapter and HDMI  a similarly equiped Xbox 360 is MORE expensive then a PS3.

This comes from the fact that without wifi, HDMI or a larger HDD the Premium Xbox 360 most closely resembles that of the lower model PS3.

Don't get me wrong I STILL think the Xbox 360 is a better deal because you can upgrade over time, I myself am not very interested in the next gen DVD formats until the dust settles a bit, I also have ZERO interest in Wifi on my console. I probably wouldn't have bought an Xbox 360 if it were another $100.

It's just interesting that MS has twisted their definition of what an Xbox 360 console "IS" to meet their needs one way or another

[throwingks]

I think it is a good price. If you want a home theater/gaming system choose between PS3 or the 360. If you want a gaming console, the 360 is better. It gives you room to upgrade as you see fit. Bloatware is not forced on you.

[cxgamer]

QUOTE(throwingks @ Aug 14 2006, 05:21 PM)

I think it is a good price. If you want a home theater/gaming system choose between PS3 or the 360. If you want a gaming console, the 360 is better. It gives you room to upgrade as you see fit. Bloatware is not forced on you.

It's funny..

Isn't MS famous for bloatware?

[skarekr0]

Very good news. I would have been more impressed if it would have been $150, but still $200 is less than I was expecting.

So lets recap. We want these consoles to stand up next to each other so im going to include most of the features they both have.

Sony premium - $600.00
charge and play - included
Blu-Ray - included
Wi-Fi - included
Games (x2) - $140.00 (70.00 a game?)
headset - $20 (based on the ps2 headset)
Total = $760.00

360 premium- $400.00
Charge and Play - $20.00
HD-DVD - $200.00
Wi-Fi - $100.00
Games (x2) - $120.00 ($60 a game)
Head Set - included
Total = $840.00

I left out Homebrew and Live since I have no faith in what Sony is offering in that department. But, Personally, I think MS should have a $100.00 price drop if they want to continue to say that they are the cheapest. Choice is expensive.

[brywalker]

Perfect. I am in.

I have a 360. I am behind HD-DVD. My only other option is to shell $500 for the stand alone. I dig the interface of the 360. This is a no brainer.

It's not so much to compete with the PS2 on this one, it is about CHOICE. I don't want Blu-Ray. I want a PS3. Um, I am not going to buy a PS3 now because I am forced to a format.

Personally I couldn't care less about resolution - my DLP is 720p/1080i. Good enough.

Done and done.

[Cauhauna]

Yes! I called it at 200 bucks in the last thread about the HD-DVD drive. I knew it =)

[skarekr0]

Since I keep hearing the choice card being pulled alot today, im just going to say that REAL choice would be offering a blu-ray add on as well. What about those people who would prefer blu-ray over hd-dvd but would rather have a 360 than a ps3? Where is their choice?

[ZildjianKX]

Think there is any chance of being able to hook up this drive and using it in a PC via USB?

If that was the case, would make the drive very versatile.

[Madgame]

I think 200 may be too much.  I am all setup for next gen movies.  I have a home theater.  I am looking forward to movies in Hidef.  However, I want ALL the features of next gen, whatever those may be.  The first thing that sticks out about this add-on is the new sound formats.  I'm assuming that this addon will not have preamp audio outs that the standalone unit's have, enabling one to watch movies in the uncompressed 7.1 formats (DTS-HD and DDTrue HD I believe).  Am I correct in assuming that the sound will be processed through the 360's optical out?  Thus Dolby Digital and DTS are enabled?  That's not my only concern.  I am very curious how picture quality will stand up to the stand alones as well.  I guess we shall see.