Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive costs £199?
Everybody has been wondering what Microsoft will be doing this Christmas to put the hurt on Sony whilst they are out for the count until spring in Europe and have such small amounts of units to sell in other areas. It seems now we have an idea of what they are planning.
The long awaited HD-DVD drive is supposedly going to be packaged in with Premium 360’s in some sort of fresh deal, which in effect would make THREE xbox 360 units available for sale: Core, Premium and Premium HD-DVD. This could actually harm Microsoft, and as anybody who owns a Mega CD or a 32X can tell you, add ons tend to confuse and segregate your market and can cause hostility amoungst consumers, especially if they feel cheated in some way. Many do now over the fact the Xbox 360 Hard Drive only holds around 13 gb of data which is considered by many to be far too little.
We all want to see where the new disc format war is heading, but £199 for the stand alone HD-DVD unit on top of a console that costs £300 for the decent version means you would be paying more than you would for the basic PS3 model, if you bought a 360 at launch and planned to get an HD DVD drive this year. Retail sources are saying that if you buy both together it could cost you under £400, but thats not very different to the PS3’s basic unit price…perhaps Sony may have the last laugh after all?
Thanks to john trfc and Rossko UK for that information.
For the record: £199 = $371.
If they are going to charge £200 the least they can do is have a special release price, so that early adopters aren’t punished again. Im already on my 3rd 360, which im kinda ok with cause MS have been good in fixing things when they’ve went wrong but if the HD-DVD addon is going to added into a bundle for £100, thats the limit i’d be willing to spend to get one.
Actually, $371 = E371. So the HD-DVD add-on will be $299? No thanks, even if I did have an HDTV.
Man, that sucks. Glad I wasn’t planning on going for it anyway, otherwise I’d be really pissed off. Makes the PS3 with in built Blu-Ray seem tastier than ever methinks.
Thinking about it further, this add on costs more the the console, the premium console at that.
If you payed less for a premium console i think u might have to check it again, either that or it fell of the back of a lorry
To be honest I can’t be bothered with the HD-DVD thing anymore. The day they make HD-DVD games only. My xbox360 will be up on ebay so fast, you couldn’t say PS3 quick enough… any more add ons and pieces hanging off the console it’s looking like the poor mans top spec pc alternative… but I still love it.
If it’s over $200(US), I won’t buy it for sure. I’ll just wait for next year and hope a hybrid player comes out that plays both.
The trick is I DONT WANT HDDVD or BLURAY … so this way i don’t HAVE TO get a hdvd addon
and other disc formats re different than the hddvd because its only for movies its not a requirement for certain games.
Those big LCD HDTVs are getting cheaper by the day. If you think HDTV is not matter, you are in for a big suprise.
Am I the only one that thought that was a good, reasonable price then? Considering the cost of other HD-DVD players, and you get two movies to show off to your friends with (admittedly they might be crap, buy hey-ho). I’ll probably buy this.
On its own, yea i think the price is reasonable enough, im just gonna be pissed if it gets bundled with a big discount
I don’t watch movies too often (and never buy any), so the only time I would even consider this is when the local Choices DVD rental store has a large quantity of HD Movies for rent. That, I expect to take some time.
As for price, even though a lot of people will complain, this is really aimed more at people who have or will buy a 360, a HD DVD player will probably cost around £1000+ (prices that seemed to be announced), but because this player uses the 360 it can be sold cheaper. I think when I am ready to buy A HD DVD, it would be this one.
The Hybrid HD/BR player I expect to be a lot more costly than the HD or BR players, £1500+.
Until this is confirmed by Microsoft its hear say im afraid, and its websites like this that start a shit storm for no reason if this info turns out to be completely wrong. Why not wait for official confirmation before flying off the handle.
Perhaps if you read the article, you will discover that Xboxic didn’t start what is essentially a rumour. Retail businesses have stated what they may be offering the HD-DVD drive for, and obviously it is going to get news. If you waited for official confirmation for everything, it would be a boring world. There is nothing wrong with speculation, it’s all good fun. Opinions make the world go round, just look at UK politics…
Who cares if the info turns out wrong? No-one is claiming it is 100%, so let it be.
Perhaps rossko if you read what i wrote you’ll see that i never said xboxic started it, thats an assumption you made on your own.
I said the reaction here on this website starts a shit storm about an article that may or may not turn out to be true. READ THE FACTS
OK fair enough, I mis-interpreted what you said. I do though still stand by my point about the speculation side of things.
I think £200 is too much for a HD DVD player, way too much. If it was around £100 maybe £120, I would consider it, but for £200 I’d rather buy five xbox 360 games!