Grimfarrow

???

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

We've gotten several e-mails from Bits readers this afternoon, indicating that Microsoft may have inadvertently let the cat out of the bag with regard to the price of the newly announced HD-DVD add-on drive for their Xbox 360 game system. According to a few of our ever observant readers, a $199 price for the device appeared in this story at Xbox.com for a brief time today. A short time after it appeared, however, the specific pricing information was removed. Microsoft is saying publicly that the pricing and availability details on the accessory will be announced at a later date.

If the price information IS accurate (and keep in mind again, it's not yet official), that would put the cost of HD-DVD playback capability for the Xbox 360 at around either $500 or $600 (assuming a purchase price for the system itself of either $299 or $399, plus the $199 for the HD-DVD drive). That's actually right in line with Sony's just announced $499 and $599 models of their PS3, which will be Blu-ray Disc capable right out of the box. Interesting indeed. We'll keep you up to date as new information becomes available. Thanks to all the Bits readers who contacted us on this.

darkside

Makes sense. I think people hoped it would be cheaper, but $200 seems in line.

BobDole42

Very interesting news. I really thought that the price would be $150 or lower. I still want to know what the deal is with HDMI. I suspect it might be absent - otherwise, wouldn't that have been featured in the E3 press conference? Surely MS knew that all the tech blogs and forums would be wondering about HDMI.

GIjon213

Soooo, it seems as though the prices are going to about the same.... The question is going to be if the Xbox 360 get an internal drive, will the price be different? Hummm...

digitalfreaknyc

The difference is that people who already own the 360 can spend an extra $200 to get it. Sure, in the end it's the same price but it makes a big difference spending an extra $200 6 months later.

Maxflier

How could they possibly release it without HDMI? Wouldn't that be suicide, since at some point it could (would?) be required anyways?

digitalfreaknyc

Blu-ray is doing it

Deus

Not on the model that is equal in price to the 360 + the HD-DVD add-on .

lotsofdvds

Xbox 360 $299 + HD-DVD add on $199 < PS3 with HDMI $599

Deus

Amazon.com has the 360 as $399.99! Unless you mean the cheaper 360 model? That's useless!

lotsofdvds

lol, it's not useless. There's nothing missing from the $299 model that won't allow you to use the HD-DVD add-on.

Deus

It is useless if you want the full gaming experience . People would be better off buying the A1 if they were just after something to play HD-DVDs on at that price.

Grimfarrow

Where's the HDMI? On the add-on itself? How does that even work?

ChrisHicks

so how many of you that already have HD-DVD players going to get this anyway?

BravesMG

Sweet, glad I waited on buying a launch HD-DVD player. Give some time for the recent HD-DVD releases to drop (hopefully). I do agree with the above post that the $200 bucks six months later helps the wallet especially since it's OPTIONAL. It would be a comparable argument if the PS3 had an optional BR component upon release, but I really think it's going to bite their ass in the end.

digitalfreaknyc

Exactly.

PS3 is making people pay more because of BR.

I look at it this way.
Say HD-DVD was the ONLY format coming out...but...it was going to cost $200-300 more than it should because they wanted to stick some video game thing in there. I'd seriously be pissed. I'd rather JUST get the DVD player and that's it. It doesn't mean enough to me to have that video game system in there for $200 -300 more.

I wonder how many PS3 people feel the same.

The Bus

The $199 price is nice, but not nice enough. I though $150 would make it a bit more tempting. This needed to launch early (August at the latest) and cheap ($149 at the most) for it to be advantageous. This is not going to convince anyone who though the PS3 was too expensive to begin with.

digitalfreaknyc

$199 is list.

When's the last time you paid list price for something?

Deus

By that logic, the PS3 with HDMI will be less than the $599 list price too.

BobDole42

When was the last time you DIDN'T pay list price for a console or console accessory?

To be competitive, this really should be priced around $129. We shall see what happens.

digitalfreaknyc

Always. I refuse to pay full price for anything.

BobDole42

oh come now. Consoles are not discounted. List prices aren't accurate gauges of how much a DVD is going to cost, but they are exactly what a console or accessory will cost.

digitalfreaknyc

Stick with me, kid. I'll learn ya.

Hey...look. Right now the Toshiba is $487 on DDD. Next month they have the 20% off sale. That'd be a VERY sweet price to jump on if you can get in on it.

RockStrongo

This is all speculation though....MS might have removed it due to finding out Sony's pricing and they are changing it....Maybe they are willing to take a loss on it (or bigger loss) and will lower the price some (that would explain why they would remove the price from the site).

There is no telling at this point. I think $150 sounds like a nice deal.

And to answer someone's earlier question, no. I have an A1 and will not be buying this add on for my 360. It would be a waste for me.

Just like when/if I buy a standalone BD player, the player in the PS3 is a waste for me (at least as far as movies go, I understand that the games will be BD format too).

RockStrongo

True...most stores will not put console hardware on sale and discount coupons usually dont work for them. I know because I used to work at BB in 2000.

The retailers dont make much money on the consoles. If I remember correctly, the markup was about 5-10%, but someone else may know more current info.

Im also wondering if they will do any special deals, like buy the premium console and hd-dvd drive and get it for $499 or something. Hopefully, they would throw in a free movie too!