This could be big news indeed for HD-DVD.

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/09/13/mic...ternal-hd-dvd/

If they make HD-DVD internal and keep the price somewhat the same as they have been talking about price cuts in the 360 that could give HD-DVD a big push. Ill keep my fingers crossed for this one as it is by far the best move MS can make to help HD-DVD get a foothold in the market.

PS...

Those rumors have been going around for a while but don't expect it to happen when they are designing and about to release an add-on HD-DVD drive for the 360. Maybe 2-3 years from now we'll see the drive built in but not any time soon.

I definitely wouldn't discount it.

From what I'm hearing, HD DVD has some seriously blows to deliver in the next couple of months and this could be one of them.

Honestly, if this happens soon and without a huge price increase, I might be in the market for a second 360 instead of a PS3.

I've been advocating this for awhile now.

Shouldn't those be ?? instead of !! in the title? I thought this was an announcement, not repetition of old rumors.

Exactly

The should have done this from the start, it would have made the 360 the Market leader and BlueRay would not have a change.

If I can get a system that plays HD-DVD (with DVI) and Halo 3, I would jump all over it.

The unit would have been cost-prohibitive. They wanted to build market share.

It was out of MS's hands. AACS was not finished even after the 360 launched and, as we now know, MS didn't want to fall into the yield problems with laser diodes. If supply is tight now, it was much worse last year.

As an OPTION, this is a nice addition to the lineup.

Noone is forced to pay big bucks for a HD format they don't want/need simply because they want to play next-gen games.

If the difference in raw cost of the DVD-ROM drive and the HD-DVD drive is reasonable, then it would be a great idea to absorb the cost in the high end model and keep the price at $399 with the HD-DVD playback added.

The thing is, the games for 360 wouldn't be able to take advantage of the extra capacity of HD-DVD even if the drive is built in, since those games wouldn't be compatible with the 360s out now. So this would be an enhancement solely for the purposes of HD-DVD movie playback.

Considering the price difference between DVD and HD DVD drives, I can't see them adding it to any of their current console configurations at current prices. Maybe as a special-edition type console? I mean, after all, the Gamecube had a DVD-playing version released in Japan.

This is making it harder for me to go out and buy a 360 when these rumors come out. On one hand, I figured I'd wait til Christmas time because I figured a bundle or something of the sort would come out and I'd be able to get the external HD drive, but now I'm considering waiting a little longer.

Although I can't wait to play Gears of War this holiday because that game looks really good.

Videogames dont need anything but DVD's for playback right now. Even the largest games out there right now dont even begin to fill up a DVD9. Wouldnt make a bit of difference that the games wouldnt benefit at all from the Internal HD-DVD drive. Its simply taking a product that is going to be sold as an option and combining them. This would without a doubt, if kept cheap propel HD-DVD into the lead especially if they could get something like this out by early next year before any decent amount of PS3's have a chance to get into the populations hands.

As for the people complaining about my !! when you feel they should be a ??, LOL.. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How do you like them apples?

PS....

Yes it does. PS2 and Xbox both had DVD-V playback because they had DVD drives built in them already for the games. Adding DVD-V playback was a minimal addition in cost. In contrast, adding an internal HD-DVD drive to the 360 would add a significant cost to its current construction with no added game value, so there's much less incentive for Microsoft to do it.

Plus, it would add confusion to the marketplace by adding yet another 360 model to the market so shortly after it launched.

It's certainly possible. I just question whether it will be significantly cheaper than buying the accessory either seperately or as a bundle. It depends on how much Microsoft is willing to subsidize HD-DVD on 360, if at all.

I just have to disagree. I dont think it does matter that it doesnt effect the game play in any way whatsoever. If there were only one Xbox edition available like Sony where you have no choice on wether or not you want a HD player in the console then I would agree with you. However the fact that MS has other versions available so peoplearent forced into buying something they dont want I dont think it matters at all. This would simply be a variation of the Xbox 360 aimed at people who wanted to get a HD-DVD player to watch movies. They know it has nothing to do with the games and thats fine. If the price is right nobody will care and if they do they just wont get that model.

I would absolutly wityhout hesitation buy another 360 if it had an internal HD-DVDplayer and was close to the price it is now, maybe 75-100 more.

PS....

Has it been positively confirmed that the HD DVD add-on will not be able to be used for games, or is that only speculation?

If the add-on could be used for games, then compatibility would be much less of an issue. They could release games on the newly-announced TWIN discs, with special extra content that would only be accessible if you have the requisite HD DVD drive. Without the drive (either internal or external), you can still play the core game, just not with the "extra features". That could also create incentive for people to upgrade.

Don't discount the posibility of HD DVD games. Its been talked about, and the denied, too many times by Microsoft for something to not be going on.

No the Xbox 360 can not play games off of HD-DVD's. Any HD-DVDplayer used with xbox is only for the purpose of movies. MS didnt feel it was necessary for games to be made on more costly HD discs and I 100% agree. We havent even come close to filling up a DVD9 yet with a game so imo there is no need for the games to be made on 30-50 gig discs. Standard DVD video is fine with me and my game playing.

PS...

Quick question, a little OT:

If the games aren't filling DVDs on the 360, why are they underpowered compared to some older versions on Xbox or PS2? There are fewer levels or characters or whatever available in many games. Is it disc space? Is it a plan for online upgrades?

It absolutly has nothing to do with disc space. Elder Scrolls Oblivion is really the biggest game made yet for both xbox and xbox360 and that only filled a little more than half the disc. If I remember correctly Oblivion was around 5 gigs.

PS...

Ok, then what are they doing? I hear complaints about missing levels all the time. Gives one pause when considering a 360 purchase this fall.

This would be great for HD-DVD. I love my Toshiba A1,

Probably will want you to purchase levels from the Live Marketplace, like they did with Ghost Recon.