XBox HD-DVD comes at a heavy price

STARTING TODAY, we'll be rounding up the weekend's gaming news with a feature-length article posted on every Monday, in the hope of cheering you up and attempting to relieve the Monday-morning doldrums.

Xbox 360
An interesting post appeared on the official Xbox Team blog as the week fizzled out, concerning the amount of development the team endured to ensure HD-DVD drive compatibility with the Xbox 360.

The add-on drive has apparently meant a staggering 4.7 million lines of code have been added to the 360's OS in an attempt to bring the Microsoft backed HD-DVD standard to the Xbox. This software-update driving the Xbox's HD-DVD implementation apparently utitlises the full 'six hardware threads' of the triple core CPU, and is claimed to push the system harder than any game currently available, ensuring for some considerable fan noise one would imagine.

It's also cost Microsoft 'millions of dollars' to add. Lets hope it's all worth it and Xbox fans don't end up with the runner-up in the re-run of the VHS/Betamax war.

The HD-DVD software was included within the fall system update which was released for download last Tuesday on Xbox Live. Immediately problems with the update were reported, with some users claiming the upgrade had bricked their consoles. Microsoft quickly responded acknowledging and admitting to the problems, and released a further update to resolve the issues, but not before around 1% of the installed base was infected.

A big plus for Xbox 360 users once the issues were fixed was the inclusion of 1080p support, something that Sony have been purporting as the PS3's major advantage over the Xbox.

In other 360 news, it has been announced that the highly anticipated release of Halo 3 will come in three retail packages. A regular and collector's edition will be priced at $59.99 and $69.99 respectively, and a 'legendary' edition priced at $99.99 which will come bundled with a Halo Spartan Mjolnir Mark VI Helmet replica. Useful.

PS3
Generally it seems discussion and debate surrounding the next incarnation of Playstation from Sony has been moving steadily towards a more positive vibe this week, after numerous press show cases and live demonstrations of real kit. Plenty of journos also had PS3 debug and test consoles delivered with final working code, prompting much jubilation and fanfare.

The general consensus is that the product is incredibly sleek, well designed, and fortunately very quiet. Microsoft take note when producing something to be used as a media-hub - we don't want to hear the player hum over the media.

More negative exposure came from a feature over at Gamesindustry.biz which has stoked fears of problems with Sony's online designs for the PS3. Insomniac revealed in an interview that one of the launch titles for the console, 'Resistance', is set to use its own basic online gaming features, instead of any Sony provided services. The columnist writes "The ball, in other words, has not so much been dropped; it has been hurled at the ground with alarming force" - sentiments we can only agree with.

It was noted that the API libraries weren't supplied earlier enough and therefore Insomniac had to go it alone. For a console thats been delayed time and time again, this can only be worrying. Sony's previous networking implementations have been poor and the company simply must get them right if the console is to compete with the successful offering from Microsoft's Xbox 360 team (and the previous implementation on the original Xbox).

Wii
After a quick mention of Wii DVD playback support in this month's copy of Edge magazine, the Internet was abuzz with rumours of a Japanese-only Wii that would allow DVDs to be played back on the machine. Nintendo have confirmed this, and although they first denied that the US or Europe would receive the enhanced console, further questions to Nintendo received a 'wait and see' response.

Most people already have a DVD player, in our opinion it seems a bit pointless to release a secondary SKU just to enable the support of DVD.

After misprints from Nintendo and further rumours of 720p playback, Nintendo have confirmed the console will support 480p (via an optional component cable) as its maximum output.

The Nintendo Wii has had some additional support from the South Park team this week, with an episode dedicated to Cartman's desire for a Wii. He attempts to freeze himself so he doesn't have to wait for another 3 weeks for the console. We can identify with the feeling, but find a large bottle of scotch every evening eases the pain without the need for further defrosting equipment. µ

See also
Sony admits to importing grey market PSPs
Sony forces Lik-Sang out of business
Playstation shenanigans outed, dissected
Shortages of PS3s hit US/Japan