Microsoft cuts Xbox add-on to $49

[saprano]

wow!, give it up already

Microsoft is about to mess up the HD format war one last time just for fun. Despite HD DVD officially being dead, the news we have is still going to tick off the Blu ray camp.





We’ve just learned from several different retailers that starting within the next week, the HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 will be available for $49.99. We don’t have the exact date, but we do know that the EXTREME price cut will take place within seven days.

Why should this concern the Blu ray camp? Casual consumers likely still don’t even know the war is over. The casual consumer is like a Vietnamese soldier hidden in a spider hole somewhere. They’re cut off from info and are still waiting to attack despite a cease fire being called.

What can happen from this? People buy the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on and realize that the up-scaling of regular DVDs adds new life. Then the next-gen format war turns into old verse new instead of new versus new.

As I’m writing this and clearly know that HD DVD is dead, I can hardly wait to go buy a player for 50 bucks. Imagine what the ill-informed will do when they see these prices in stores.

Now is it Microsoft’s intent to mess up the format war one last time? Probably not. They just want to recoup a little money (at a loss) while they can. The fact that ignorant consumers and people that just can’t resist cheap electronics (me) will buy it is just a side effect that could force the ultimate success of Blu ray to wait a little longer. But if it’s too long, then Sony has a problem that most hadn’t even considered. Going head to head with digital downloads. And that was Microsoft’s goal wasn’t it?

http://xboxfamily.com/xf/index.php?o...=1440&Itemid=1