Microsoft May Lower Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive Pricing to $79

Microsoft Corp. may lower the pricing of its add-on HD DVD drive for Xbox 360 game console to $79, as that is the price-point at which a big online store (i.e., Amazon) is selling the device now. The price slash would be logical for Microsoft, as manufacturer suggested retail price for a fully-fledged HD DVD player from Toshiba starts at $149.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

**Blinks repeatedly, shakes head** It's a little too late.

[SRT4Chris401]

If they did this a year ago they might have given the HD market a chance. I'm not paying $179 for that drive if all it's gonna do is play movies. Cause they need start looking for a larger format for they're games.

[DARKKNIGHT]

who in their right mind would buy this

[LSDARBY]

Clearance Sale

[Tone]

wheres the UK price drop then?

Grrrrrrrrrr :/

[deeznuts]

Hmm, I'm a big blu supporter, but if it hits low enough I might bite. I want me some Battlestar Galactica in HD.

[BigBoy2000]

It'll be on blu-ray soon enough.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Unlike BigBoy2000 who apparently doesnt want to save money...you are right. At $80 for the player why not get it? Seriously, Amazon right now is offering up a ton of titles at 50% off on HD-DVD and if you were able to get it for $80 with the 5 free movie deal?

If you own a 360 why in the heck wouldnt you get it? Who cares if its a dying format? You will have the movies regardless ...and most likely at half the price you would pay to get it on Blu Ray.

I get its a dying format. I even think this is a too late move. But for those who can take advantage of it...why not. Really if you like movies then go for it, cause the HD-DVD price slashes are going to continue to get better and better on movies.

[BigBoy2000]

cause this here's a fire sale! Ha ha!

[K33GAN]

waste of money

[Megaton]

Sucks for the uninformed sheeple who are going to buy it, not knowing that support for the format is dwindling.

[JosefTor]

Even if HD DVD doesn't catch on and fails... you still get a great DVD upscaler so I wouldn't feel too bad for them. I would buy one if I had more money.

[ArchangelMike]

Flame On!!!

[BloodySinner]

Isn't this something that should have been done from the very beginning?

[Kain81]

HD-DVD is dead

[cooke15]

If they do ill buy one for my PC

[marcdz1]

You must live in a freaking cave if you don't have a new dvd player that does that already. HD-DVD is about to die. It's like people buying VHS tapes that is freaking retarded. Even at 80.00 it is not a great deal still. So the Xbox 360 costs about 350.00 and then you have to buy and additional peripheral bringing the total to more than 400.00 dollars now that is plain dumb. They needed to sell it for 50.00 dollars when the Xbox 360 came out. That would of been fair. People are too stupid to realize that 350.00 Xbox 360 + 199.00 HD-DVD add on + 80.00 WiFi Adapter+ all kinds of other crap they wanted to sell individually is allot of money. Wake up and smell the coffee.

[cooke15]

79.99 for an hd dvd player or 300 for a blu ray player... hmmm tough choice. Considering they both have realtively the same amount of movies, and the hd player does a better job at upscaling you would have to be retarded not to go hd. And if enough people go HD the movies studios will take notice.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I would venture to say the VAST majority of people dont have upscaling DVD players. Mostly because they bought their DVD players 5-7 years ago...and have had little reason to upgrade them.

Think it through man, DVD has been around for quite a while...upscaling DVD is a reletively new thing.

[akaFullMetal]

doesnt the 360 already have a upscaler??? so why buy this for an upscaler???

[bosels11]

to cooke15 the movie studios wont take notice, because this isnt doing SH!T for HD DVD! Its just to get rid of what they can to make money off of it b4 its too late. Toshita wont have 1 movie studio backing HD DVD by the end of this year. GAURANTEED!!!!!!!

[marcdz1]

Well the add on is FUGLY it comes with another Electric plug, DVD upscaling is the same on the PS3 or any other DVD player with those capabilities. The same amount of movies. What the hell are you smoking, Blu-Ray has 75 to 80% of the movie industry in its back pocket. Go buy some VHS tapes then since you are into saving money, you can find them in pawn shops.

[cooke15]

PS3 is massive. No one should buy it.

thats what it comes down to? 80% of the movie industry? Just so you now Paramount Dreamworks and Universal are more than 20% of the industry. Universal is the largest of all the major studios.

[InYourMom]

You do know that HD-DVD still has exclusives BR doesn't? Also, it works on both the 360 and PC and makes for a great upscaling DVD player as well. It's $79 dollars and unless you are a kid or uniformed that is a pretty damn good deal.

@8.1 "PS3 is massive. No one should buy it." and don't forget FUGLY.

[SKUD]

Even at that price its still a rip off.

[marcdz1]

Those companies are jumping ship as we speak. They are trying to get the hell out of their contracts before loosing anymore money to a dying format. Just like everyone else you are very hard-headed. I can tell You weren't the smartest person in school. You deserve to go down with HD-DVD if you are too ignorant to comprehend. 350.00 for your Xbox 360 plus another 80.00 dollars. You are acting like that is all that it costs. Remember you had to buy the Xbox 360 and the add on. That is the real picture live with it. PS I ran out of bubbles because of nitwits like you.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I totally understand your argument to the PS3 is a complete movie player with the format that looks to be the winner...

And the 360 w/ the add-on is more costly than just a PS3 as it stands now. HOWEVER....

If you already owned your 360 like me since launch...getting a $80 add-on right now certainly isnt a bad economic choice when you factor in the free movies PLUS the fire sale that is starting to happen on the HD-DVD movies themselves. You can build up a sizeable HD-DVD library for cheap. Then down the road buy your PS3 when its even cheaper ...and blu ray gets cheaper and then start working on that movie collection.

Plus, for those who dont have an upgraded DVD player (most of the world btw...) they now have a player that will upscale their DVD's nicely for them.

There is no reason why you cant buy both and use both if you already owned a 360. Just cause HD-DVD may be dying doesnt mean the Transformers is suddenly a bad movie to own on HD-DVD.

[Bladestar]

the ability to upscale standard DVD is worth the $79...

Ohh and by the way... let's not forget that was killing or killed HD DVD it was not it's superiority of HD DVD... but the Studio support that blu-ray enjoys.... HD DVD and Blu-ray do relatively the same thing as far as movie is concern... if Warner would of announce their support on HD DVD instead of blu-ray we would be having a very different conversation.... Sony was smart enough to seek studios support even before the release of HD DVD... stopping them from supporting HD DVD... So, I don't know if microsoft pricing this low when it was released it would of change the outcome...
Toshiba is no one was far as Movie industry is concern they don't even own a movie studio like Sony... Microsoft also has no movie studios... The only chance that HD DVD had and Microsoft and Toshiba were hopping is that the mainstream were going to choice HD DVD... but with Movie studios not supporting it ... what will the people buy? duhh.. not HD DVD.... studios nor Sony want the people to choose.. if so... studios would support both formats and 1-2 years later... drop the one with the lowest numbers... but how can studios like disney say that people picked blu-ray if the never released 1 movie for HD DVD... that's like saying people picked chinese food in China... lol... or that people in the in a puerto Rico hate snow... lol.

[Skynetone]

should seriously look for professional help

[darthv72]

The notion of $80 for retail is good but there will be others trying to get rid of their units at a lower cost with more movies. I seen people selling them on ebay and craigslist at or below the $80 mark. I will pick one up just to add it to my collection of obscure game console items.

Heck even the sega cd is a dead format but it doesnt keep me from looking for bargains on games I dont have. That is the difference between a collector and a player. I am both so I have quite the extensive collection of gamings great losses of the past. As a format, hddvd and bluray are equal in terms of quality (IQ/AQ). The nod goes to blu for having a higher capacity per layer.

I think sony knew they had to corner the market before hddvd had a chance to really threaten bluray. Which is why they had three things going for them this time than before.

1) they are a content provider this time instead of just a hardware maker.

2) they have the brand recognition in the name of the playstation to use as leverage with movie studios.

3) they got smart and found partners willing to help them with licensing the tech this time as opposed to being the sole proprietor.

Toshiba as a hardware company makes really great equipment. More so than sony. It is a shame this had to happen.

[PiXeL_eYeZeD]

This might somewhat be convenient for someone that doesnt have a PS3,for people who have Blu-ray just a waste of money and shelf space

[Diselage]

Everyone complains about and yes sure it may be dieing but there are a lot of good movies out for HD-DVD and if a player costs the same as 3-4 movies then it's really not that bad.

After doing a quick online search heres a list of movies i would get for it that would in the long run not bad to have in HD and would be great not to wait for them to come on blu-ray, yes some may be on blu-ray already though too.

Lucky Number Slevin
Transformers
The Bourne Movies
300
The Italian Job
Batman Begins
Blazing Saddles
BeoWulf
Serenity (huge reason)
The Kingdom
Pan's Labyrinth
Hot Fuzz
The Matrix movies

I could go on buy you get the point and with most of these movie at bargain basement prices in the near future I really don't see why it would be a bad investment.

[Skynetone]

just pick them up on dvd

i dont see a reason to spend money on a dead format

that 80 quid would buy me a nice pair of shoes

[Diselage]

Upscaling a dvd isn't going to look as nice, what's the point of getting a blu-ray player? I can just buy whats on blu-ray on DVD then. What because in 3-5 years DVD will be gone and all will be left is Blu-ray. By then i doubt i'll bother buying dvds and just get them online. I already have half a TB with plans of getting more space so having HD movies on my HDD isn't a big deal and then all you need is a way to get it from the HDD to the tv which isn't hard either.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Well...by your logic then what is the point of buying them on Blu Ray if you can get them on DVD for $15 cheaper per movie?

I am just saying...an investement in a cheap HD-DVD player right now wouldnt be a bad call because you are going to get some killer deals on movies to go along with it. Its a great way to start your High Def library.

[chaosatom333]

the truth is that xbox owners did not care about hd-dvd to start with and price drop wouldn't make them care either, since they know that hd-dvd is not doing good these days.

[Shaka2K6]

h dud R.I.P.

[chfthnder26]

i would like to know how hddvd isnt doing so well when the players are selling and the movies r selling as well look at amazon hddvd players r the #1 dvd players period its prolly a good thing that they dont include the online numbers cuz the so called war would be looking very different right now even with only 30% percent of the studio support people still choose to buy hddvd