Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on unveiled

EMX: Street date, pricing still kept under wraps

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/7/2006

AUG. 7 | UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.—Microsoft unveiled the first demo of the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on during the Entertainment Media Expo here Monday.

With the small, gray, rectangle drive plugged into an Xbox 360, Microsoft senior program manager Kevin Collins showed the audience how a game controller is used to access menu options.

Collins played the first several minutes of Warner Home Video’s The Phantom of the Opera, and the picture and sound quality were similar to other HD DVD demonstrations performed on computers earlier in the day.

He did not provide street dates or pricing details.

Collins did say the Xbox add-on will be the cheapest HD DVD player on the market for consumers who already own an Xbox 360 console.

He also offered Microsoft research to show there’s high interest levels for HD DVD among Xbox 360 users. He said that 30% of people who want to purchase games already have high-def displays, and 64% of Xbox 360 users already own high-def displays.

Many Xbox 360 users “already have the display technology to support HD DVD,” Collins said. “This will keep costs down.”