Xbox 360 HD-DVD model after "next year's spring"???

The most recent issue of Game Informer confirms this as well. They state that the HD-DVD will be to play movies and will not be utilized for games.

 

I can read Japanese, so I will give you a quick translation. Sorry, I don't have time to give a full translation of the articles, but you are basically right in that it states that the HD-DVD version is slated to be released next year (not necessarily after the spring of next year - that refers to the Sony release). This is a legit news source as Mainichi is a real (read: not tabloid) newspaper here in Japan. I am guessing there is all this news coming about due to the initial slow sales of the XBox360. According to the Mainichi article, it has sold only 60,000 units or something in the first two days - much less than anticipated. They speculate it being due to a delay in the release of many of the big titles.

 

Whats the point of this if it does not play games? Just a new and improved DVD player? I will get one next year....jst want to know if its worth the wait.

 

Video game thread overload.

 

I think it'd be more symbolic than significant.

But if they really push it, they'll release their Dreamcast in 3 years.

 

"Suck it, b****es!" Love, Paris

 

omg, my lovely Paris is into video games too. That makes her an 10+ on my scale.

 

I'm not following the Dreamcast reference...

 

I've never understood people who wanted the best DVD capabilities bundled with a gaming system... if you can afford either why not just get both? Even if your system has HD DVD it isn't going to compare with a system dedicted just to HD DVD. If HD DVD is really that important to you, then you're not going to really be interested in if a gaming console can play them.

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000050072716/

 

playing DVD movies and backwards compatibility are all in the same boat. Everyone wnats it, noone uses it.

BTW, is there any mention of price?

 

I'll tell you one reason..marketing. If you're gonig to market these new systems as total entertainment/media devices, which MS is claiming the 360 is, then it is important. Sure, if you have the money it would be easy to buy both, but it goes beyond that. Take space issues. I don't think people want 5 different boxes taking up space, doing 5 different things, using 5 different remotes...its a waste. Hell, I used the PS2's DVD player since it came out, up until I bought a widescreen TV, and it worked just fine.

 

I think I tried to explain this to Svpernaut in another thread but it's obvious to me he is set in his thinking along these lines. Like I said before, a large segment of people are going to do fine with a console that does both gaming and dvd playback in hi-def format to where their not going to go out and buy a stand-alone hi def dvd player. The people most likely to buy a stand-alone hi-def player in addition to the console hi-def player are the videophiles or the settings tweakers who have to have everything just right. Either that...or they buy a stand-alone player because the gaming console is set up somewhere else other than the theater room.

Also, to comment on the disparity between performance of a built-in hi def DVD player in a gaming console versus a stand-alone hi def player is a little premature considering their not available yet.

 

I wonder why it would be any different then stand alone players anyway?

 

If it's not an add-on or something modular it's gonna piss off a lot of people.

I mean, wtf am I on a waiting list for a premium Gen I 360, then?

This better not be true...

 

Quality-wise gaming consoles have always been on the low end of the DVD playback quality. You get what you pay for when it comes to DVD players, and to me someone who wants the "amazing look" of an HD DVD on a gaming console is kind of an oxymoron for lack of a better term. You are willing to pay for the HDTV and more for the HD DVDs but you are going to skimp on your HD DVD player by using a gaming console?