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| UPDATED: 2006-05-10 |
 Microsoft Confident At E3 
By: David Utter 2006-05-10 When Sony announced pricing for its PlayStation 3 game console at the Electronics Entertainment Expo, Microsoft's execs in the Home and Entertainment division found reason to celebrate as well.  We recalled yesterday a few of the things Microsoft (MSFT) doesn't have with its Xbox 360 console, like a signature must-have game or better availability of the console itself. There's something else the 360 doesn't have: a $499 or $599 price tag for just the console.
Prices for bundles containing the hard-drive equipped Xbox 360 Pro (good luck buying a 360 Pro by itself) run in the $500 range, making it competitive with the PS3 and the bundles it is likely to be available in during the holiday season. Microsoft spent a day of E3 Expo week in Hollywood, demoing games and playing to the crowds. That included Bill Gates making his first ever appearance at E3, along with Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division. Gates addressed the gathering at Graumann's Chinese Theater to discuss Live Anywhere. That new initiative means Xbox Live will become platform-agnostic; the service will be available on the Xbox 360, a PC, or even by mobile phone. He also said 10 million Xbox 360 units will be in gamer hands before the PS3 even hits the marketplace, with over 160 new titles on the shelves. By the end of this year, Microsoft will launch the 360 in South Africa and in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. More importantly, Microsoft will finally have a HD-DVD player available for the Xbox 360. Moore said the HD DVD drive would be on store shelves by the holidays. When Microsoft first began touting the 360 before release, some found it surprising that the console would not have HD DVD at launch. Toshiba has been the primary development force behind HD DVD, a high-capacity disc format and a rival to Sony's Blu-ray for the default next-generation DVD standard. Microsoft and Toshiba have cross-licensing agreements in place for their technology, so it seems like all the legal niceties have been covered for a while. HD DVD, and Blu-ray on the PS3, represent the potential for game developers creating titles with even greater realism than some of the title available today demonstrate. The format allows for much more data storage than current-day DVDs, which hold about 4.7GB. With HD DVD being released only as a player, it is probably too soon to think about games in that format on the 360. Perhaps Microsoft plans to make HD DVD the default format for its third-generation machine, or is just hedging its bets until either HD DVD or Blu-ray emerge as the DVD standard. --- Tag: Microsoft Add to | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web | Furl Bookmark WebProNews: 
View All Articles by David Utter About the Author: David Utter is a staff writer for InternetFinancialNews and WebProNews covering technology and business. |
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