Microsoft have demo’d their soon to be released external HD-DVD drive for the XBox360 at the DVD Forum conference in Las Vegas this week.
The XBox360 does not ship with a next-gen DVD drive as standard as it was released prior to the Bluray and HD-DVD formats being finalized and manufacturers having drives available. Sony’s upcoming PS3 in November will ship with an internal Bluray next-gen hidef DVD drive as standard in both models. To keep up with the Joneses, Microsoft will be selling their hidef DVD drive as an external optional add-on – no hints at the prices yet. This decision may hurt Microsoft in the short term, since new games will not immediately be available that take advantage of the huge amount of storage available, whereas new PS3 games will be using this feature from day 1.