Microsoft announces HD-DVD pricing

AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS of negative press for Sony, Microsoft has announced a slew of products that will ensure Sony remain left in the doldrums.

Coming from the Tokyo game show, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will be able to support 1080p resolutions via a dashboard update later this year - a feature of the PS3 Sony has touted as being a major competitive advantage of its new console over the 360.

Obviously this feature will only be supported via component or VGA connections, as the 360 currently doesn't have official HDMI support.

It must be noted that this resolution will primarily be used to upscale current content and DVDs. Unlike Sony, no 'native' 1080p is currently planned.

Further news came from the Microsoft X06 Barcelona conference, where the HD-DVD drive's price and availability were announced. The add-on drive will retail for $199.00 in the US, €199.99 in Europe and £129.99 in the UK from mid November - the Japanese launch has already been confirmed for November 22nd at ¥19,800.

Various new games for the Microsoft console were announced, but the most interesting was news of a partnership between Microsoft and a new Peter Jackson backed game studio, Wingnut Interactive - which may explain the bundling of King Kong with each HD-DVD drive.

Jackson will embark on a new "collaborative effort with Bungie Studios toco-create the next great chapter in the Halo universe", along with at least one other game based on newly created IP.

Further special mention goes to the promise of the much loved Sensible Soccer and Doom for future download via the Xbox 360's live arcade.

A full blog written as events unfolded at X06 can be read here at joystiq. µ

See also
Playstation shenanigans outed, dissected
Wii pre-orders are go
Shortages of PS3s hit US/Japan
Sony PS3 delayed in Europe