During his CES keynote speech yesterday Gates announced that MS would be shipping an HD-DVD external add-on box in 2006. Now, the press release does not state if the box will be used to play games in the future, but I doubt it. History has shown that add-ons like the Sega 32x for instance or Sega CD tend to hurt the success of a console. What, you do when your release such a device is to split your user base into two groups. Those who have the add-on and can play the games that require it and the people that do not have add on and cannot play. My guess is they external drive will only be used for Movies and other media that will be released on HD-DVD format. Basically, the Xbox 360 would work like any other HD-DVD player that you could buy of the shelf. I honestly don?t think PS3 having an internal high capacity DVD drive built in (in their case Blu Ray the last I heard) will make any impact in the console wars. Even the biggest RPG?s can fit on one or two DVDs and swapping is very infrequent.
Below is an excerpt from the press release:
Building on Xbox 360 leadership in high-definition experiences, the company announced plans to deliver a new Xbox 360 external HD DVD drive in 2006. The new drive will offer millions of Xbox 360 owners the ability to easily enjoy HD DVD movies and will provide consumers with even more choices for experiencing high-definition content, in either physical or digital form.
I too have seen the oft repeated Microsoft line that "games will not be played on HD-DVD." I do not believe them for a minute. Just as a complete high definition movie with its special features can not reliably fit on a DVD9, neither will the more expansive high definition games.
I appreciate what Microsoft is saying to its base: "Keep buying the 360, this gaming machine will be top-o-the-line for a few years more." But there is some uncertainty. Like: Will the HD-DVD drives be internal on next year's models? Will the data transfer rate be fast enough for external HD-DVD drives?
Overall, the announcement from M$ is a positive. It shows that the 360 has modular capabilities, which will allow people to upgrade their systems as funds become available and their entertainment priorities change.
Does anyone know what the data transfer rate for high definition video has to be, and what transfer rate is supported by the 360 sockets?
Quote:I think that USB 2.0 top speed is 480Mbits/sec, and thats the connection that the HD-DVD will be using.(i think)
Pretty much the only external connection the Xbox 360 has. A SATA connection would be faster but you would have to do a hardware modification to connect it to SATA.
