Microsoft: HD DVD demise not a problem

The Xbox 360 console maker has released a statement saying that it's unconcerned about the struggles of the HD DVD format.

Speculation has been growing over the last few weeks that the next-gen movie format war is nearing the end, with Toshiba-based HD DVD falling to its Sony-boosted rival, Blu-ray.

Last week, major US retailer Wal-Mart announced that it would be dropping the HD DVD format. Reports circulated over the weekend that even Toshiba would soon be admitting the battle was over, although the company has yet to announce its surrender publicly.

Wal-Mart joins retailers Blockbuster, Woolworths, Best Buy, and Netflix, which all have announced that they would be favouring the Blu-ray format. Blu-ray has also been winning the war on the production side of the industry, as evidenced by January's announcement from Warner Bros. that it would be going Blu-ray exclusive. That leaves only Paramount and Universal holding out in the HD DVD camp.

Sony is likely to be rejoicing at the news, as the PlayStation 3 is also a Blu-ray disc player, and the format potentially winning the battle is likely to see sales of the machine leap. Its rival the Xbox 360 plays DVD movies, although a USB add-on, costing $130 in the US, and £115 in the UK, can be bought for watching HD DVD movies.

However, Microsoft has issued a statement today saying that it is not concerned with reports that the HD DVD will be joining the choir invisible. It said, "We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace, As we've long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles, and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best-selling games in the industry."

Microsoft also said that it would be waiting for the official word from manufacturer Toshiba--which has so far not issued confirmation that the format will be discontinued--before it makes a decision on the future of the add-on HD DVD player for the 360.

455 Comments

  • PumpkinBoogie

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 9:29 pm PT

    @ -Celeste-,

    Thank god someone else (such as yourself) see what I too have posted about! I find it amazing how so many people still amazing enough think MS can magically just mozy on over and get a blu-ray add-on made and think that Sony gonna be like "OK, sure".....uh, no they're not gonna do that people...


    Like you said, that's, of course, not likely unless MS is really willing to pull some deep pursestrings--'cause I'm for sure if they want it done Sony definitely gonna stick it to them price-wise to see how bad they want the copyright licenses.

  • jeffosoft

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 3:48 pm PT

    The Format war was never a contest between microsoft and sony... You cant blame microsoft for going with HD dvd Sonys track record for Formats is obismal. Fan Boys are just using this to say one system is better then the other and it really means nothing in the long run. I own both the PS3 and The 360 and im a fan boy of neither. However I am whole heartly more impressed with the 360 at the moment. Xbox Live is years ahead of sony online (Although microsoft should really stop charging for it or drop the prices of the content)

    Second Sony will not hold exclusive rights to blueray that would be a very unwise decistion and be considered a monopoly of the market, in additon they want to get as many machines out as possible they dont care who makes them. They dont make money of the players that make money off the Blue-Ray sales.

    Last, havent we seen time over and over that the size of the game doesnt matter who cares if the audio is 13GB, its all about compresstion and it gets to a point where you really cant tell the difference anyway.

    Finally, again as an owner of both systems the PS3 has a long way to go to compete with the 360, maybe they will in the next Gen of PS3 and XBox games but they simply are not cutting it at the moment.

  • -Celeste-

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 11:44 am PT

    Eh? 80% of the rights? Sony bought out the Blu-ray rights from Toshiba some time back. And even then, iirc it was a 50% split. So Sony now owns 100% of the rights? However, Sony is required to license those rights to anyone and everyone interested in producing that product. The same way MS was required to divulge the Windows code.

    The question isn't IF Microsoft CAN have a Blu-Ray add-on. The question is HOW MUCH is microsoft willing to SPEND to get license rights for Blu-Ray. Also, any of the companies with license rights to Blu-Ray CAN make an addon for the X360 seeing how they have the rights. The only thing that would restrict another company from making such an addon is the contract it has with SONY.

    So before you start mouthing off about doing research. Do your own research. Here is a question to start your research. Who makes the HD-DVD addon for X360. FYI ... you're wrong if you say Microsoft.

  • AzureWind213

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 11:24 am PT

    Why hate on Microsoft? If I see one more person call it Micro$oft, I'm gonna flip... You know, there's a $ in $ony too. or $ear$. or Be$t Buy. $eriou$ly, I'd love to $ee some people grow up and realize that these bu$ine$$e$ are out to make MONEY. If they can't make money, how do they deliver product? Let's congratulate the winner$ and try to complain about something more meaningful, like how Clinton is gonna make you jump through a million hoops to buy your M-rated games, and use YOUR tax-dollars to do it.

  • talonkard044

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 9:25 am PT

    You guys SERIOUSLY need to do your homework.

    Main reason why you probably - and I hope NEVER - see a Blu-Ray add-on for 360 is because Sony OWNS 80% of the TECHNOLOGY RIGHTS AND LICENSES.

    They CREATED Blu-Ray with Toshiba back in 2002-2003 (the beginnings of it).

    Sony has Executives that are the LEADERS OF THE BLU-RAY DISC ASSOCIATION, including current PRESIDENT OF SONY Kaz Hirai himself.

    Point I am trying to make is that BR is basically SONY'S FORMAT...Do you think Sony would be foolish enough to give it's main console war competitor the current advantage - 1 of many mind you - it has?

    People are sooooo dumb sometimes.

    Micro$oft wants Blu-Ray? Go and buy a Blu-Ray player, tear whatever brand label is on it, slap a Micro$oft label on it then attach it to your 360 and call it a Blu-Ray add-on. That's the only way it's EVER going to happen.

    The companies that back Blu-Ray would be more interested putting their content online for 360 people, because hey, they happily pay for junk on Xbox Live Marketplace.

    IN DROVES.

    Fin.

  • talonkard044

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 9:11 am PT

    To erik_K_3 on pg 5>

    Yeah man, you got me.

    I sooooo want 360 because - It's guranteed to crap out on me

    Has very few AWSOME exclusives that aren't PC or ported

    I would just LOVE to play online...Being that I have 15days + in the COD4 online you could make the arguement I am getting my moneys worth.

    I DON'T need High Def movies...Blu-Ray is totally going to lose to HD-DVD right? Plus, if I want to watch HD-DVD's I could just go and spend an extra $130 to watch them THRU A USB CABLE that hooks up to my 360. No problems there. Ohh wait, is the Funeral soon for HD-DVD?!?!

    I could literally list a few more reasons why I would want 360..but wait, I have the better console.

    I have a PS3.

    But you knew that already...

  • talonkard044

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 9:01 am PT

    To TMontana1004 on pg. 6 >

    4 games - probably more - already have taken up more space on a Blu-Ray then possible on current DVD-ROM's my little Cuban friend...

    1. Heavenly Sword - 12G's just for the lossless audio alone

    2. Lair - Same as Heavenly Sword with upwards of 16G's worth of master quality lossless audio.

    3. Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction - Insominac has stated in their podcasts that RCF:ToD took up nearly 27 GIGS of the Blu-Ray (HOLY MOLEY!!)

    4. The soon to be biggest game on Blu-Ray, either Little Big Planet or MGS4 - both of which might supposedly be a 2 disc set because they are going to max out the Blu-Ray's.

    So see...There ya go.

  • easpley

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 2:17 am PT

    If Microsoft is not concerned and they believe it is only the games that count why release a HD DVD add on for the 360 and were considering an xbox 360 with built in HD DVD also what about PC's with blue ray disc drives, Microsoft Vista . LOL !!

  • carljohnson3456

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 4:11 pm PT

    Well, no duh Microsoft doesnt care. They werent going to risk their bums for HD-DVD. They should have, and Toshiba would probably be singing a different tune and devs would have more room to play with between HDDVD for 360 and Blu Ray for PS3. In terms of hardware, MS kinda half arsed it this gen. DVD drive, no WiFi, memory cards (64 MB for 30 bucks), harddrive add on, no HDMI in first 360's, and terrible hardware failures. At least it's powerful.

  • markd751

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 4:06 pm PT

    M$ should have made the 360 with an option for built in HDDVD

  • razu_gamer

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:56 pm PT

    and MS forgot that it is technology that also makes game (to a certain extent) if it did not matter and only games mattered then we should all have stuck with the Snes.

    LOL, Microsoft's pathetic attempt at nex gen. More like xbox 1.5.

  • Evanrocknuma

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:35 pm PT

    I knew this would happen soon but frankly I didn't like blu-ray or HDDVD so none of this really matters to me. This won't hurt microsoft at all since you don't have to get the hd-dvd add on, and the only relation is that some 360s have toshiba disc players. All in all this topic is mainly innefective.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:34 pm PT

    C-Brock

    @Autolycus - Ha laugh it up all you want, I know alot about alot, but am never the type to grab the sources and save them, which sucks when trying to debate. lol

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:22 pm PT

    actually Wingnuts99, I think the user is pretty correct. As a whole, the average consumer will purchase what the tv tells em. thats where hd-dvd failed.

  • lanista

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:25 pm PT

    Why do they keep reporting on this stuff about the movie format wars? It has jack to do with gaming. This gen won't see any utilisation of BluRay for games.

    Just as in the last gen the PS2 didn't have a HDD and had less power overall in processing and graphics. The 3rd party devs tended to support both consoles so the lower spec was the main target

    Same way this time the 3rd party devs are going to spec the games to fit on a DVD. Period

    At least with this announcement we can now move ans quit arguing about what the movie studios are doing and get on with discussions about games and gaming on each of the consoles

  • C-Brock

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:15 pm PT

    @Autolycus - Haha, what a credible source of information you are.

  • wingnut99

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 12:34 pm PT

    @Autolycus. I like the 360 more. Why? well the games. I have not turned my PS3 on in 12 weeks. Also The add on can play games. it's just for movies. I also want to say, not to you.. but why would any one want a long game. It would get old fast and most of us working people with a wife and kids dont have time for it. We are the once that buy them. Not alot of kids buy them. there mom's and dads buy them for them or for every one in the home. Pluse a long game gets old before you get to the end of it. Also my PS2 has had more probs than any of my systems. The frist x box had no probs. But sony fanboys wont tell you that. They wont even tell you that the PS3 has drive probs. Also I am a Dev. I do it part time.

  • wingnut99

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 12:10 pm PT

    Well calotono I had to have my 360 fix 10 times. Then after that they just sent me a new one. I had to take my PS3 back 2 or 3 times becouse of the Drive.

  • calotono

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:58 am PT

    I just hate xbox. sorry. I had two and both got RRoD. It gets me mad to see such a big company do that to me. I just sold my refurbished xbox and got a ps3. no problems so far

  • wingnut99

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:55 am PT

    @calotono. You are right about one thing.2100p?? The only way to really tell a difference between a 720p and a 1080p is on a 42" or larget display


    True.. But the 360 is far from outdated. and there blu-ray add on is only 99.99. I just pre odered one. The 360 and PS3 are both out dated. Computers are years ahead of them. So what if PS3 has Blu. I dont play movies in my game systems. So a blu ray drive is not a big deal. Both 360 and PS3 are the same in power. Just diff parts. But do the same thing. Running your hole about how one can play movies of one kind and the other can only play the other is stupid. More people own DVD's any ways. It will take 5 more years for people to move to something that really isent a big jump. Really, there is not big diff from DVD to Blu. I'm not trying to say that DVD looks just as good. Blu looks better but not by much. Its really only for people that have a HDTV that bigger than 32

  • SaxxyGamer18

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:53 am PT

    Oh stop it with the system wars, people. It's immature. It will be interesting to see what happens if Microsoft wants a Blu-ray player in the future. Wonder how that will work out.

  • calotono

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:30 am PT

    @Autolycus

    What are you talking about? People already spent 400 dollars on a useless, dated console which ONLY plays dvd. The format of the PAST. If you buy a ps3 you have EVERYTHING wifi, the winning format of the future, 80gb hard drive (upgradable), etc etc

    2100p?? The only way to really tell a difference between a 720p and a 1080p is on a 42" or larget display.

    With 2100p thats gonna be like 54-58". That size is useless to most homes, unless you have a HUGE living room or want to go blind.

    Blu-ray won. Some researchers already developed a 200gb blu-ray. Blu-ray outdated? NOT.

    And if current players cant read the 200gb blu-ray disc, well we have firmware updates that easily fix that.

    Good luck paying ANOTHER 200 bucks for a blu-ray stand alone player, suckers! Should have bought a ps3 in the first place and saved you A LOT of money, and get better quality products. (30% failure rate of RRoD)

    You have nothing to say, and if you do, well then it means youre a sore loser because the truth couldnt be ANY clearer.

  • wingnut99

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:17 am PT

    @Autolycus. how would devs have a hard time selling a blu-ray add on? it has jack to do with us. It's MS's add on. not dev's. We would not even game games for the add on. You cant run games on the HD add on. The only thing you could do with the add on is view movies. It's not a add on game player, its a add on movies player.

  • grosgrostas

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 10:34 am PT

    Thank's Autolycus !!! Thats exactly what I wanted to know !

  • Agermemnon

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 10:22 am PT

    @Autolcus DVD roms like the pc the 360 never used HD-DVD discs think Microsoft would rather do away with disc formats and go straight to downloads ?

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 9:47 am PT

    grosgrostas Are the games on the 360 on regular(9) DVD'S or on HD-DVD 'S ? if so wont that be a problem...and you think eventually it will play Blu-Ray ?[b] grosgrostas, the games are all on DVD9, which MS said was used to keep the costs down and they havent seen a reason on why they should make people pay for technology that isnt needed yet. They also said they wouldnt want to put a "wrong" technology in it, and have it fail because it wasnt fair to their customers.

    The 360 could play blu-ray with a stand alone player, but developers would have a nightmare of trying to get it sell because you cant make a game when you arent sure how many people have what technology in their home console (which is typical for computer games as well, which is why they take so long to develop for). The PS3 developers have to do the same thing w/ the rumble features and the 360 developers have to do the same thing, incase someone purchased the sytem without a harddrive (like i did originally to save some bank, then i got the HD later)

  • Autolycus posted Feb 19, 2008 9:43 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 9:43 am PT (hide)

    Pie_FOREVER


    Last time most recently, Sony didn't screw over their early adopters, or have a system with an astronomical failure rate really? sony didnt screw up their early adopters? wow I wish i could've paid 600 dollars for a 60 gig hard drive and no rumble controller. OH wait, they lucked out because they actually have backwards compatiability, which they could've gotten for 500 and 20 gig hard drive, or was the a 80 gig hard drive, or 400 for a 40 or 500 for a new possible 120 or 160, which has a rumble controller?.

    maybe I was one of the lucky people that picked up a music cd published by sony that illegally installed DRM software on my computer so i cant copy cd's, without my knowledge. or maybe, just maybe i was one of the lucky souls that had to send my ps2 back for repairs because of a faulty lense, to only have it return with the same problem a couple months later (yes just like RROD). Or better yet, maybe i was lucky enough to adopt a early blu-ray stand alone, which in a couple months wont be compatible with blu-ray discs because of a new standard the the blu-ray forum decided to throw down.     get a clue.

  • grosgrostas

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 9:40 am PT

    Are the games on the 360 on regular(9) DVD'S or on HD-DVD 'S ? if so wont that be a problem...and you think eventually it will play Blu-Ray ?

  • Pie_FOREVER

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 9:30 am PT

    AND Autolycus, what you said still doesn't change the fact what I originally posted is what is the case with the company, which you failed to respond to and instead avoided it with saying "oh yeh wel sony is muhc wurse u shud look it up".

    Last time most recently, Sony didn't screw over their early adopters, or have a system with an astronomical failure rate

  • Pie_FOREVER

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 9:27 am PT

    @ Autolycus now THATS FUNNY because Sony is a million times worse and if you cant see that, you should really start reading up some companies pasts and current affairs

    Says the guy who's busy defending Microsoft, his 360 and his now dead HD-DVD player he bought. This company doesn't give a damn about you, otherwise they would have made sure your invesment didn't go to waste. It's amazing people as delusional as you actually exist and continue to exist in the world.

    If Sony and others are so terrible, would it trouble you to link me to some of the articles you're talking about with their "atrocities"?

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 9:15 am PT

    i dont disagree its a market force strong enough to drive the sales of the ps3. but is that really the direct you want from a video game console? now its major buyers are concerened about their movies and sony will switch their time to support those people, not the gamers. thats not a dig on sony, any company would do that, its smart business. henry4th

    Autolycus, your very statement contradict yourself. Poeple don't care the hd technology, but care about something 2100p? Jesus Christ, I'd love to meet those poeple who can't afford a 1080P tv but want 2100P diplay technology. lol
    the point i was trying to make is Blu-Ray is already outdated and consumers arent going to stand for this kind of business anymore. look @ the u.s. most people currently are so pissed @ their government they are ready to actually do something about it. in the next 20 years, the u.s. will change dramatically and it wont be so naive. (obviously thats an opinion based of what i have seen and read)

  • henry4th

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 9:11 am PT

    Autolycus, your very statement contradict yourself. Poeple don't care the hd technology, but care about something 2100p? Jesus Christ, I'd love to meet those poeple who can't afford a 1080P tv but want 2100P diplay technology. lol

    Even if 5% of poeple care about the current blue-ray technology, it's a market force strong enough to drive the sales of ps3.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 9:11 am PT

    Pie_FOREVER

    It's funny that Microsoft is saying "it doesn't matter", basically saying "**** you" to everyone that spent 200 bucks for the HD-DVD add on. Sorry but I fail to see their reasoning there. If they didn't care about it in the first place, why release an add-on you could buy that essentially would screw over anyone who invested in it? Their claim is "games sell consoles". WELL GEE, if that's so why did you ever release an HD-DVD add on in that case? So you could screw a bunch of unlucky people out of $200?

    Why ANYONE defends this company is beyond me.
    now THATS FUNNY because Sony is a million times worse and if you cant see that, you should really start reading up some companies pasts and current affairs

  • tantone56

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:59 am PT

    Hey artson. Tv is not changing to HD in Feb 2009, it's changing to digital. The only people who will be affected are those that recieve their signal from an antenna. In that case they need to buy a $40.00 conversion box.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:55 am PT

    henry4th i work in retail and talk to hundreds of people with a 360. Most dont really care but if blu-ray wins they said they'll just buy a blu-ray add-on if they really cared enough or just wait for the newer technology since its already developed, better, and faster can capable for 2100p resoultions.

  • Stammalamma

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:54 am PT

    Nicely played, Microsoft. Classy.

    "Naaah, we . . . uh . . . . uuuuh . . . we, uh, knew that HD-DVD wasn't gonna win, yeah, but . . . uh . . . we just felt sorry for Toshiba, and . . . uh . . . wanted to make them . . . uh, feel. . . you know, nobody even cares about HD anyway. No, we still have Halo 3, you know."

  • artson1966

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:54 am PT

    Winblade,

    so you think this Hd is no big deal what will you do Feb 2009 when you wont be able to watch your standard definiton televison anymore.. wait you will have to buy a HD tv.. so your argument of it not being a big deal is flawed....if you doubt me go to best buy and look at any tv and read the label on any standard def tv it will read this unit will not be able to recieve any signal with out a conversion kit after feb of 2009.. hd is here to stay.. also check with FCC if you still dont beleive me.. so if you now have to watch a hd tv why would you want to watch your dvd player and see movies in letter box format of worse yet in a small box with in that 16x9 screen....then you will wish for that blu ray player

  • erikkup

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:53 am PT

    It might not hurt Microsoft but it sure hurts those who spent $130 - $200 dollars for an add-on HD DVD not to mention the movies they bought for it. Of course it is still going be usable but just harder to find movies. I think MS will go with a Blu-ray player add-on for the Xbox 360 or risk losing market share to Sony's PS3.

  • Pie_FOREVER

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:53 am PT

    It's funny that Microsoft is saying "it doesn't matter", basically saying "**** you" to everyone that spent 200 bucks for the HD-DVD add on. Sorry but I fail to see their reasoning there. If they didn't care about it in the first place, why release an add-on you could buy that essentially would screw over anyone who invested in it? Their claim is "games sell consoles". WELL GEE, if that's so why did you ever release an HD-DVD add on in that case? So you could screw a bunch of unlucky people out of $200?

    Why ANYONE defends this company is beyond me.

  • sony_is_sony

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:51 am PT

    Microsoft is under SONY's Blu-Ray MERCY now XD hehehe (just kidding here MS fans) and m pretty sure that this news wont affect the software giant.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:50 am PT

    holographic discs, blow blu-ray out of the water.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:49 am PT

    um the high def format has nothign to do with the 360. if BD takes off, they'll just release a stand alone player for the 360. big deal....

  • Autolycus

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:48 am PT

    MS only prefers HD-DVD because on Blu-Ray you are not able to make a personal or corporate back up of the software. They havent poured much money into it at all ( compared to Sony and Samsung ). Microsoft simply believes that to have a media format that cant be backed up, like blu-ray, is a nightmare. SO says bill gates anyways, and I have to agree with him.

    also sweet that MS said they really dont care about the 360 and movies cause well, we bought it for games...

  • calotono

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:39 am PT

    I meant best-buys idea to ONLY sell HD tvs, and not standard anymore. Thats good

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