Microsoft to Stop HD-DVD Player Production, Cut Price

[Paul2]

Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. plans to stop making HD DVD players and cut the price of existing supplies by more than half after the leading promoter of the high-definition video format conceded defeat to Sony Corp.\'s Blu-ray last week.

``From tomorrow, we will cut the price to $49,\'\' said Grace Chou, a Taipei-based spokeswoman for the Redmond, Washington- based company. Microsoft\'s Xbox 360 game console includes a standard DVD player, and customers can buy an HD DVD machine to use with the console at $119.99 through retailers such as Amazon.com.

Microsoft, the world\'s largest software maker, was part of a group led by Toshiba Corp. supporting the HD DVD standard. Tokyo- based Toshiba on Feb. 19 abandoned its HD DVD business after the Blu-ray technology received support from major Hollywood studios including Warner Bros. Entertainment in the media industry\'s largest format war since VHS beat Betamax in the 1980s.

``It will not have a big impact because we don\'t sell HD DVD with the Xbox 360, only as an add on,\'\' Chou said.

The Xbox 360 trailed Sony\'s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Co.\'s Wii in U.S. game-console sales in January, according to researcher NPD Group Inc.

Sony includes a Blu-ray disc player in its PlayStation 3 game console.

Link

[Viper_Fujax]

microsoft are such idiots and are going to be in financial ruin because of this....

dumb microsoft for investing their life savings...

/sarcasm

just another page to turn. companies can usually plan on something failing and not getting hurt by it much..even toshiba will be perfectly fine and they put way more money into it.

anyway, 150 is still way too damn expensive for something thats going to die off. sounds like a trivial 30 bucks, but i think 120 would be a fair price

[Paul2]

the link said Microsoft is going to cut the price tag of their external hd-dvd player from $130 to $50.

[Viper_Fujax]

looked like a typo to me

[Paul2]

no, its not.  even Best buy sell it at $49.99.

[Jumpman]

Ps3 Wins The Console Wars Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

not sure if the PS3 will ever pass the wii without a serious price drop, but the 360 will find itself in 3rd place before long.

[GmanJoe]

Nelson: HAHA!

[Jumpman]

not sure if the PS3 will ever pass the wii without a serious price drop, but the 360 will find itself in 3rd place before long.

no man its over

ship the victory

this hddvd thing has huge implications for ps3 dominating the 360 and even the wii

no no wii wins since smash brothers came out and showed how awesomely to take advantage of the waggle and wiggle!

and come on wii will never stop being the top choice with its great chain of third party titles with their vast variety and selection!

[Viper_Fujax]

not sure if the PS3 will ever pass the wii without a serious price drop, but the 360 will find itself in 3rd place before long.

Im expecting it not to be until a couple years for that to happen and games start actually using what the ps3 is supposedly able to do..not even sure what that means anymore.

Blu-ray winning is not going to do anything big to the ps3 sales..most people buy ps3\'s to play games, and blu ray is just icing on the cake..and people into only movies arent going to buy a gaming console for their blu ray player.

It\'s going to be up to exclusives and them getting off the track of developers making games for the 360 since its easier to program for (MS is way more developer friendly than sony)..which should start happenening when developers make their second set of games..like lucasarts

Blu-ray winning is not going to do anything big to the ps3 sales..most people buy ps3\'s to play games, and blu ray is just icing on the cake..and people into only movies arent going to buy a gaming console for their blu ray player.

i\'d say Blu-Ray wining the war caused PS3 to beat 360 in Jan sales and perhaps Feb too.

[Viper_Fujax]

i\'d say Blu-Ray wining the war caused PS3 to beat 360 in Jan sales and perhaps Feb too.

Id say its because the people who wanted a 360 already bought one. It\'d be natural for a console with a later release date to have better sales in later months. plus the ps3\'s been slated for a while to have a big 08 game wise

Compare the game attach ratios and you\'ll see that people are buying a PS3 for the Blu-Ray and 360 for the games...

Also, the top selling games are always on 360, Wii, or DS, and maybe one on PS3...

Also, compare multiplatform releases...

The PS3 was (and might still be) the cheapest Blu Ray player out there so why wouldn\'t someone who didn\'t care about games buy one, just for movies? Plus, that whole future firmware thing with the PS3 being the only one guaranteed to be compatible...

Blu-Ray won in large part to PS3 and PS3 is selling in large part because of Blu-Ray...

Take one out and both would either fail or struggle...

[clips]

At this point i must admit that the 360 has the better selection of games...i\'m still a huge fan of gears of war and while i haven\'t played it, i\'ve heard some great things about mass effect...and even tho EA brought the developers to mass effect, i think ms just recently bought the rights to mass effect?...i\'m not really sure but i know that ms did something to make sure that mass effect stays on the 360......damn...i knew i wasn\'t ever going to see gears of war, but i really was hoping to see mass effect.

And that\'s were the difference is between sony and ms....ms is really husltin\' to get those AAA games on their system, and i think sony\'s early arrogance hurt them a bit,(i think that they\'re tryin a bit harder now to secure good games) and yea they have mgs and final fantasy, but square is already makin\' games for the 360 and metal gear, while good isn\'t a new franchise, while gears of war and mass effect are,...and good one\'s at that,...and all the other AAA games that are coming down the pike are multi-platform...ms may have lost the hd-dvd contest, but their gaming division is thriving...