360 HD DVD Drive Is Still an Outsider
October 23, 2007

Rumors of an in-development Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD player heated up Tuesday, with another report by nationally known CNBC. The story asserts that Microsoft chief Bill Gates is planning to burst onto the CES 2008 scene in January with details about such a beefed-up 360. 
But Microsoft HD DVD envangelist Kevin Collins pooh-poohed the idea to VB. The Xbox 360 has always been conceived as a hard core gaming device, with everything else being supplemental.
"There are no plans for an internal HD DVD drive, because we believe gamers are the primary audience for the Xbox 360," said Collins. "There are absolutely no plans to create an internal HD DVD drive. This is something that we have been talking about all along."
But Collins was not surprised by the line of questioning, explaining, "This seems to surface every six months."
People are right to be curious about how Microsoft, one of the biggest corporate forces worldwide, may try to influence the format war. HD DVD is trailing Blu-ray in hardware penetration, largely because of the sales dominance of the Blu-ray capable PS3.

Posted by Susanne Ault on October 23, 2007 | Comments (0)