Xbox 360 eventually $149-$199

GamePro has an interview with Microsoft's Albert Penello about HD-DVD, PS3, and the Xbox 360 in general. While most of it is stuff that we already knew, here are some of the things he said. The HD-DVD drive will be the cheapest player on the market, and although he didn't confirm a price or release, he said it will "be out in plenty of time for the holidays" and a price will probably be revealed by the Tokyo Game Show or X06. He then said that there were no plans for HDMI or DVI on the HD-DVD add-on, saying that "the reality is, for any normal HD owner, the difference [between the formats] is nonexistent". He said that they may add it eventually though, but nothing is planned so far. Penello then said that an Xbox 360 with built in HD-DVD was possible, but once again there were not yet any plans to do so.
Then he said that "We built the Xbox 360 Core system so that we could get to $199 or $149 sometime", also saying he didn't think the PS3 could achieve such a low price. Although Microsoft is very clear that there won't be a price drop this fall, it looks like eventually the 360 could cost as low as the origianl Xbox.

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HD DVD outsells Blu-ray

TG Daily says that HD DVD players outsold Blu-ray ones by 33% in the first six weeks after launch (sales began in April and June, respectively). So far there is only one Blu-ray player available, Samsung's BD-P1000, and it sells for around $1000, while there are many HD DVD players for sale for as low as $450. Although HD DVD players sold better, Blu-ray's higher price allowed it to make more money. Samsung took in more revenue from it's player than all the HD DVD ones combined, reaching 42% more revenue in the first six weeks.
These "next generation" DVDs are still not widely used though, as only 0.4% of all disc player sales were from HD DVD and Blu-ray, while 86.2% were from DVD players, and 13.4% from DVD recorders.
[Via QJ.net]

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Why 1080p does not matter

Ozymandias has a good post on why 1080p does not matter, and is in most cases no different from 1080i.
Read the post

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HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray...which is better

Now that there are some of the same movies on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray, a side to side comparison can finally be done. High-Def Digest compared the movies Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Rumor Has It, and Training Day, and from video and audio quality to load speeds, Blu-ray was worse while HD-DVD peformed better. These next generation DVDs are still very new, but considering that Blu-ray is one of the PS3's big selling points, and one of the reasons for the high price, this isn't good for Sony.
Via Ozymandias

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Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3

There's a good comparison between the 360 and the PS3 at Yahoo! Video Games, it's worth checking out.
One thing they brought up was the Xbox 360's lack of HDMI, saying you should go for the PS3 for HD movie playback. According to this article at Team Xbox though, it may not matter.

Thanks to Xbox-Scene

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PS3 price and release date

This isn't directly related to Xbox, but since the PS3 is the 360's leading competitor, I think this is important.

The PS3 will be released on November 17, 2006, and there will be two versions (similiar to the 360). One will cost $500, although it will have less features. The second will be a full $600, twice the price of the Xbox 360 Core System. Each will come with a hard drive, 20GB on the $500 version and 60GB on the $600 one. Sony has scrapped the boomerang controller in favor of one similiar to PS2 controllers. It will be sensitive to movement (like the Wii controller), although it will not feature vibration like the Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 controller. The PS3 will have an online service which has pretty much the same features as Xbox Live.

More at OXM UK and Team Xbox.

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