Microsoft To Bundle "King Kong" w/ Xbox 360 HD-DVD player! (1 Viewer)

[Tim Glover]

This is a very smart move for Microsoft. I'm not a gamer and probably never will be...but I like getting the HD-DVD movies in the hands of those who are. Maybe they'll like High Def movies and add another obsession to their lives.

from Highdefdigest...


http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...D _Player/262

 

[Ron-P]

Hey Tim, don't forget about the free remote to go with it.

 

[Tim Glover]

Sweet Ron....very cool.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Easy choice, as long as the X360 HD-DVD player is rated alongside the existing units. It's a bardgain at that price, and it's not like I was gonna pass on KK

Thanks for the heads up, Tim!

 

[Tim Glover]

It's my job to spend other people's money

 

[Steve Blair]

Sweet deal. Even if you don't want KK or the remote, you can sell those on ebay for probably $50.

 

[Matt Pasant]

I've now entered into the HD DVD game. I pre-ordered this device from Gamestop this morning. I've been a fence sitter on this but for $200 bucks its hard to pass up.

Now... what are the best looking discs?

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yeah I'll be scrounging up some trade ins tonight to bring the price of the Unit down. I'll give it a shot at that price. Too bad King Kong will not include the Special Edition coming to SD DVD in November, I don't feel like Triple Dipping.

 

[Jordan_E]

I'm probably getting a 360 for Christmas, and it looks like this add-on will be our 2nd player, as the 360 will be set up in the HT (my A1 is in the bedroom).

 

[Austan]

Lucky you!!! have you considered the XBOX360 is $399 + $199 HD DVD drive and a PS3 is $499??? would be nice to have both formats.

 

[Jonathan White]

A core xbox is only $299 + $199 for the HD drive. The price of these may drop in time for the PS3 release. In the UK you can get some decent special offers on 360's at the moment and the PS3 isn't out for another 6 months.

 

[Austan]

The core xbox360 is missing a wireless controller and a 20gb hard drive. 2 options that most gamers would want for an extra $100. PS3 $499 comes with those 2 items. The $599 PS3 comes with a 60gb hard drive instead of 20gb and wireless ethernet plus memory card slot. Did I mention both PS3 models come with HDMI 1.3?

 

[ppltd]

With regards to the sales:This will all come down to what you currently own, or what you can get. For current XBox 360 owners the external drive might be a cost effective way to get into HD, but I have my doubts. Most add on have not sold well. The only reason I hedge my bet on it's sucess is that is to be used for movies only. This might make a difference in it's sales. We will know soon enough.

I don't believe either that non gamers will put either the PS3 or XBox on their list for HD viewing, but, as strange as this year has been in sales, I guess nothing would surprise me. Bottom line, sometime in February, we should actually start seeing sales numbers that may give us some real data on which HD system will survive. I think it will be both.

As far as the game systems go, both MS and Sony will have very large install bases by the end of 2007, and will both enjoy many years in the market place. And hopfully will give me many years of enjoyment.

Thomas Eisenmann

 

[JackBauer24]

I wonder will the add on work on a PC through the usb port?

 

[Austan]

I doubt it would work without some sort of "hack". Maybe if they open it up they can get it to work in a PC. But without burn capabilities I dont know if it would be worth the effort.

 

[Dave Mack]

Too busy playing with the saber?!?! Sorry, had to go there! I have the Vader one. Have you seen these sites?

http://www.akaimpc.com/forcefx.html

http://forcefx.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=mr

http://www.ultrasabers.com/products.php?cat=8

http://www.ultrasabers.com/products.php?cat=13

upgrades for dueling!

 

[JackKay]

If it does work on a PC without much trouble, the player will be flying off the store shelves.

 

[Ryan-G]

I think you'll be surprised. My generation(Gen X) and younger are very tech savvy, having grown up in a world of consoles, VCR's, computers, cell phones, internet and such. Unlike earlier generations I strongly suspect that we'll make the adjustment to a new format fairly quickly.

Remember, we grew up in a world of disposable formats: Cassette -> CD -> MP3, Atari -> a dozen others, 80286 -> Pentium X, Broadcast TV -> VCR -> DVD. Even phones have changed dramatically for us. We've *always* bought things knowing that in a few years it'll be replaced with something better, this is no different for us.

We never grew up in a world where you bought something a kept it for many years, and replaced it with the same thing. We're the children of the marketing machine.

So, I strongly suspect that more than a few people will either outright buy into the format, or rationalize a console to buy into a format, as HDTV is right up our buying pattern alley.

IMO, the adoption rate of HD video will be equal to or greater than DVD. Heck, HD video's already generated as much buzz as DVD did.

 

[Cheech]

As the owner of a 360, I can't turn it down. I preordered this hog from EBGames the day after the details were announced last week, don't want to miss out on free Kong. I went a little nuts at Amazon and ordered 5 HD-DVDs, so my new toy will have quite the variety in its diet.

At that price point, I could care less who "wins". I've had a problem in the prior 2 years I've owned my Mitsubishi HC900 projector. Normal DVDs, for the most part, upconverted or not, simply do not look good blown up on a 106" screen. Some of my favorites, like "The Thing", are unwatchable. Needless to say, that was one of the 5 flinging its way to me from Amazon.

My first DVD player I bought in 1998. It was a Creative Labs kit for my computer that contained an internal DVD-ROM with a PCI card that did hardware MPEG2 decoding. It connected to my TV via S-video out on the PCI card, and distributed digital audio via coaxial digital. It was low-rent but it worked, and it was an affordable way to get into a new format.

For me, this feels like 1998 all over again. It's all very exciting, I don't think I've even bought 5 normal DVDs this year! I even updated my account info on DVDempire.com which had been dormant since 2001. The 360's HD-DVD drive will last me a solid 2-3 years, until things shake out a little bit. My gut tells me that Microsoft will put out an HDMI cable for the 360, once they figure out how to do it, so maybe the drive will last me the life of the console (roughly 4-5 years).

 

[GordonL]

XBox 360 HD-DVD Add-on Product Page

Info is kinda light.