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Xbox 360 HD-DVD dated, 1080p promised News

Xbox 360 News by Tom Bramwell

20 September, 2006

The Xbox 360 HD-DVD player will be released on 17th November in Japan and cost 19,800 yen (EUR 133 / GBP 89).

The drive, which Microsoft maintains will be used to play movies only, will also come bundled with a Universal Media Remote.

Meanwhile, the company's autumn software update for the Xbox 360 dashboard will allow the console to output movie and game content in 1080p resolution. 720p games will be able to upscale to 1080p, although there will be no HDMI output.

Speaking in Japan ahead of the Tokyo Game Show this week, Microsoft also unveiled new titles for Xbox Live Arcade from Konami and Namco Bandai, showed off game trailers and offered release dates for titles including Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

DOAX2, in development at Tecmo's Team Ninja studio, will be released on 22nd November in Japan following a 15th November US release - although European gamers were told simply to expect it "soon".

Trailers for several titles were shown, while recently announced Tri-Ace RPG Infinite Undiscovery and Namco Bandai's Trusty Bell were offered as examples of Japanese developers getting behind the next-generation format.

The first fruits of Microsoft's collaboration with Hironobu Sakaguchi and his Mistwalker studio will become apparent this year too, with Blue Dragon set for Japanese release on 7th December.

Lost Odyssey, Mistwalker's other title, remains in development, although Sakaguchi showed off both titles during Microsoft's Japanese event, and said playable demos of both would feature at the Tokyo Game Show on Friday.

Konami and Namco Bandai continue to offer their support to the 360 platform, specifically Xbox Live Arcade, with a number of new titles from each promised.

Konami will bring Contra, Gyruss, Track & Field, Rush'n Attack and Japan-exclusive Yie Ar Kung Fu to the service (the latter in 2007), while Namco Bandai has pledged Dig Dug, New Rally-X and Ms. Pac-Man.

Microsoft also plans to put on a Pac-Man World Championship in early 2007 to celebrate the game's August release on Xbox Live Arcade. At the event in New York City, the top ten worldwide players will be brought together to compete.

Finally, Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani, now a lecturer at Tokyo Polytechnic University, spoke eloquently on the appeal of XNA Game Studio Express, which he said were "attractive and effective because they create a development environment that matches the skill level and area of expertise, widening the entry of future developers into game development".

Microsoft then announced that Tokyo University, Tokyo Polytechnic University, Ritsumeikan University and Osaka Electro-Communication University have joined the ranks of institutions supporting XNA as an educational tool.

Yesterday Microsoft said that it would release content including playable demos and trailers to Xbox Live Marketplace between 20th and 29th September to coincide with TGS and its own X06 event in Barcelona, the first elements of which should appear today.

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Comments: 1-50 of 164 Next →

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Tejstar
20/09/06 @ 09:23
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At last, now MS is true high-def!

;)
RickHard
20/09/06 @ 09:26
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Wow ! 1080p output ! So it seems that x360 will be able to handle full hd as well :-) Too bad for sony's marketing campaign...
Foxclose
20/09/06 @ 09:28
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If Xbox 360 can output to 1080p, then I am sure the PS3 certainly can.
easy_lee
20/09/06 @ 09:31
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Yay! More old tosh confirmed for XBLA, how can we not be happy now that we know Gyruss is on the way ? *sigh*
login_name
20/09/06 @ 09:32
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*Waits for all the two-faced posts about how 1080p now pwns*

Good news for 360 owners, might be a worth while purchase after all.
Steroyd
20/09/06 @ 09:37
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Oh so NOW 1080p is revelant MS?

you know at this rate there ARE going to be HD-DVD based games.

/wonders if this will reach 200 comments.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 20/09/06 @ 09:40
Aretak
20/09/06 @ 09:42
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I think you'll need to raise your standard of trolling to get it that far. :-)
JediMasterMalik
20/09/06 @ 09:44
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It's not real 1080p as far as the article is concerned, it says it'll scale 720p to 1080p.
Darkedge
20/09/06 @ 09:46
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"Oh so NOW 1080p is revelant MS?

you know at this rate there ARE going to be HD-DVD based games."

Nope just like Sony it'll be upscaled for the 10 TVs in the UK that can actually run 1080p (10 sold, not models that is..)

Marketing - pointless for consumers but it certainly does stick it to those wankers at Sony.


zoidberg
20/09/06 @ 09:46
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1080p is still irrelevant. like someone said... marketing is involved and nothing else.

i went hunting last week and barely found a GOOD 720p TV set, but NO 1080p... sure 480p and 720i (yeah, that's wierd) and even some 1080i but NO 1080p.

who's gonna use it at 1080p?
kangarootoo
20/09/06 @ 09:46
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"It's not real 1080p as far as the article is concerned, it says it'll scale 720p to 1080p."

The article said it was able to do this, but that doesn't mean that is the limit of its capabilities does it.

Although for context, I agree with this comment.

"Which is that it's a vacuous bullet point on a retail box."
IMO
20/09/06 @ 09:51
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It was said a long time ago by an MS exec that the console could easily do 1080p, it's just that this was not a requirement because they thought that 720p was sufficient.
linkster
20/09/06 @ 09:51
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£89??? I thought it was supposed to be around £200.
bivith
20/09/06 @ 09:52
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Most if not all HD-DVD movies are encoded in 1080p. So now the 360 can play them at their native resolution.
bivith
20/09/06 @ 09:56
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"£89??? I thought it was supposed to be around £200."

£89 is the jap price after currency conversion.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 20/09/06 @ 09:57
jonsaan
20/09/06 @ 09:57
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Who cares! I play games on my 360. Couldn't give a stuff about films. That's what SKY+ is for.
Sid Nice
20/09/06 @ 09:57
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19,800 yen = $168 = £150 in the electronic goods currency transfer rate.
alpha-0ne
20/09/06 @ 09:58
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"yellowtruck
20-Sep-06 09:49:32 Welcome to the half assed world of Microsoft. External X360 HD-DVD for movies only lol! "

the cages are rattling, small point i bought my 360 a year ago and have been enjoying it, the blue ray albatros has meant a delay from spring 2006 to march 2007 in europe... and guess what less than 5% of europe have HDTV's...

i may buy the hd-dvd addon if i see watching movies as a benefit to ME, i have a choice..

I beleiev it is still the case that 1080p has little reevance to gaming heck the hdtv i will be buying the end of the year will be 1080i

Edited 2 times, most recently on 20/09/06 @ 10:01
tonynibbles
20/09/06 @ 09:58
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So all that crock from Microsoft about how 1080p is ridiculous and 'cant be played on most HDTVs'... was just that - utter bullshit.

Good to see they've done it though.
darkmistx
20/09/06 @ 09:59
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Yep, we pay the inflated prices, so the Japs can get it for half the price.

Edited 2 times, most recently on 20/09/06 @ 10:04
Eighthours
20/09/06 @ 10:01
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Can someone just answer me this: when you play a DVD movie on the 360 with your dash set to 720p, it doesn't currently upscale to 720p, right?
alpha-0ne
20/09/06 @ 10:02
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"Can someone just answer me this: when you play a DVD movie on the 360 with your dash set to 720p, it doesn't currently upscale to 720p, right? "

Technically it is not allowed to over compoent, buy it does over VGA at present..
Eighthours
20/09/06 @ 10:03
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Can someone just answer me this: when you play a DVD movie on the 360 with your dash set to 720p, it doesn't currently upscale to 720p, right?

Oh so NOW 1080p is revelant MS?

From Joystiq: "First off, Kim clarified that, while the software patch would upscale all content to resolutions as high as 1080p, Microsoft themselves had no plans to produce gaming content taking advantage of this ability. He was similarly convinced that very few other developers would see the value in producing 1080p games, with the singular exception of Sony's first-party studios, eager to validate the value of the capability. "

So no, they don't see it as particularly valuable. Just giving the option, presumably as a PS3 "spoiler", to say "Look, our console can do this too."
Mugwum staff
20/09/06 @ 10:05
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With regard to the £200 price claim, the story we had said the thing would be out in November, and would be bundled with two HD-DVD movies for that price. Here's the relevant paragraph:

"Retail sources have indicated to GamesIndustry.biz that Microsoft is currently planning to price the standalone HD-DVD drive at GBP 199 (293 Euro), and to package it with two HD-DVD movies. The sources also suggested that Microsoft will bundle the Premium console and next-generation movie player together for under GBP 400 (589 Euro) – and that the price could even be as low as GBP 375 (552 Euros)."

Mind you, I'd be surprised if it got as high as £200 now though if they're saying 19,800 yen.
Eighthours
20/09/06 @ 10:06
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Technically it is not allowed to over compoent, buy it does over VGA at present.

Not allowed to? How so?
alpha-0ne
20/09/06 @ 10:07
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Eighthours , your right its just a 'its there' update for hd-dvd and the 1000 people worldwide that actually own a 1008p tv, every single hd-dvd produced so far is encoded in 1080p so this will be backwards compatible with those

but its not a bog isue for most, even though sony would say it is 'true hd' ;-)

re; technically you are not allowed too...

Part of the dvd spec states that you cannot upscale dvd content over non digital connections higher than 768p?? look at all the dvd upscaler they require a dvi or hdmi connection to upscale, i have both and couldnt see any dofference between a 768p imahes over compenent and and upscaled 1080i image
Edited 2 times, most recently on 20/09/06 @ 10:12
Darren
20/09/06 @ 10:12
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Yeah VGA displays DVDs at the resolution you're using so if you're using 1360x768 then it'll play at that resolution. With component video, regardless of whether you have the display set to 720p or 1080i, DVDs will only play at 576p (720x576).
Darren
20/09/06 @ 10:14
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About DVD players not being able to upscale via component video... my Samsung HD-DVD850 upscaling player plays DVDs at 720p and 1080i as I've tested it by checking the resolution using the Info button on my Samsung's TV's remote which shows 1280x720 50Hz for 720p and 1920x1080 50Hz for 1080i.

I'm now using HDMI though as it gives a better picture and I needed component video for my 360.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 20/09/06 @ 10:15
Yossarian
20/09/06 @ 10:14
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nobody cares about 1080p. it'll probably be used for XBLA games
SCiARA
20/09/06 @ 10:15
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http://www.247electrical.co.uk/epages/tw...

Shouldn’t be too long before this drops in price
JediMasterMalik
20/09/06 @ 10:19
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Hey I posted that. :P
Roachdog
20/09/06 @ 10:24
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@ Zoidberg

If you want 1080 output, check out the new Panasonic Viera range. Some of the best plasmas currently on the market, and very reasonably priced.....
zoidberg
20/09/06 @ 10:30
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thanks Roach. I'll look into it. I hope there's a display somewhere, 'cause I've seen some crappy TVs lately.

I walk into a store, and they'll all be playing the same thing and you can clearly see which one looks "off", both colour-wise and contrast-wise, especially since you can see the difference.

when spending 2000 or more on a HD-TV I'll be really picky with quality; no matter what xbox360/ps3/future-HD-console I plug into it.
oreillymj
20/09/06 @ 10:33
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What you need to remember about HDTV Plasma & LCD is that each set has a native fixed resolution (i.e. no. of pixels) that an image has to be scaled to fill.

If you send a 720p image to a set with 1080 capability, the chances are that it will do upscaling for you.

Whether the scaling is done on a console or DVD layer or within the TV itself is really a moot point. The only possible difference will be down to who has the bettter scaling alogorithm/silicon.
I'd leave the upscaling to the TV and not be using any CPU cycles on the console. The end result in terms of 720p coded games will be the same. The image has to be stretched.

1080p coded games are a different matter.

Les
20/09/06 @ 10:34
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"the cages are rattling, small point i bought my 360 a year ago and have been enjoying it"

I understand that it's not beneficial for Sony to lag too much behind the 360 introduction. But in itself, I don't see why the early release of 360 is a good thing. Maybe the marketing people got to you. Personally, I do not need next gen gaming. Eventually I will, because new games will not be released on the old platforms anymore. So I've bought my GC and PS2 5 years ago and enjoy them still. Big deal.

"and guess what less than 5% of europe have HDTV's... "

Yeah, but they are the target audience for the PS3 launch. If they all want a PS3 (which of course they don't) Sony will reach it's sales target easily.
Edited 2 times, most recently on 20/09/06 @ 10:36
Gurgeh
20/09/06 @ 10:37
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"So all that crock from Microsoft about how 1080p is ridiculous and 'cant be played on most HDTVs'... was just that - utter bullshit. "

Nope it's still true, 99% or more of HDTVs cant play 1080p - even most of the ones that claim they can, can't.

This is just a marketing move, taking away a PS3 "unique" feature.
stx
20/09/06 @ 10:41
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:(
Yie Ar Kung Fu is really the only one I'd want from Konami.

Maybe Track & Field if I can get it working with my arcade stick. Otherwise, booo.
drumbaby
20/09/06 @ 10:49
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Abooouuuttt TURN!
Darren
20/09/06 @ 10:50
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The reason that Microsoft have announced 1080p for the 360 is simply because HD-DVD movies will display at true 1080p and so it would have been silly releasing an HD-DVD drive addon that couldn't play them at their best quality even if few people can actually use it anyway.

Having said that the Xbox 360 still lacks HDMI which would have given the best image quality, although how much better is down to personal opinion.
mattigan
20/09/06 @ 10:51
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Will this update allow upscaling of DVD content to 720p then?

Also, does anyone here know if the player will be region locked, or if the Xbox takes care of that side of things, as I may be in Tokyo around that time. And while I won't pay £200 for a HD-DVD drive, £90 is within the impulse buy range for me.
Steroyd
20/09/06 @ 10:54
#41
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Doubt the HD-DVD drive wil be £92 MS gives Japan the special treatment by selling stuff uber cheap over there, expect the usual £150-£200 United Kingdom Shaft.
Hench
20/09/06 @ 10:56
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Couldn't microsoft just add a HDMI port on the console on later models?

Similar to the way that Sony removed the iLink port from the front of the PS2 on later models
Garulon
20/09/06 @ 10:57
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"I'd leave the upscaling to the TV and not be using any CPU cycles on the console."

It's done in hardware on the RAMDACS on the GPU. There's no CPU/GPU cycle cost other than drawing to the higher resolution (=fillrate) which is going to happen anyway.

"although how much better is down to personal opinion."

Sony have said the image quality between HDMI and component was indistinguishable.

Anyway, for the tiny tiny tiny fraction of tellies that can eat 1080p over VGA or component, and the tiny tiny tiny fraction of 1080 60FPS 360 games (Um, Dead or Alive 4 _maybe_) this is great!

More importantly it takes a sledgehammer to the nuts of Sony's marketing campaign. Haw haw haw!
Edited 2 times, most recently on 20/09/06 @ 10:59
kangarootoo
20/09/06 @ 10:59
#44
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@zoidberg

"I walk into a store, and they'll all be playing the same thing and you can clearly see which one looks "off", both colour-wise and contrast-wise, especially since you can see the difference."

I would be wary of judging a set purely by how it appears in a store. When I got my TV (Samsung LE32R41BDX) I was a bit shocked by the colour and contrast as it just looked garish and saturated. A quick search on avforums.com using "LE32R41BDX xbox360 component" brough me a bunch of user recommended settings. 10 mins of tweaking later and it looked great.

http://www.avforums.com is a good place to start if you are thinking about getting an HDTV. There are very knowledgeable posters on there and they have a lot of coverage.
Garulon
20/09/06 @ 11:00
#45
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"Will this update allow upscaling of DVD content to 720p then? "

Yes. Even without the HD-DVD. The 360 Core becomes a cheapish upscaling DVD player.

"Also, does anyone here know if the player will be region locked"

HD-DVD (unlike BluRay) doesn't have region locking.
penhalion
20/09/06 @ 11:00
#46
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This bloody thing had better not come in at 200 quid when it get's here otherwise I'm gonna be pissed. that would be over a 100% markup!
mattigan
20/09/06 @ 11:04
#47
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avforums.com is a very good site, and I would recomend anyone to go there before making a big AV purchase, they certainly saved me some heartache, and cash!!!
Pooley
20/09/06 @ 11:08
#48
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So you've bought your Xbox 360 Premium pack for £280, and now you're paying an extra £200 or so to add nextgen HD-DVD. Total price £480.

Makes the PS3 look cheap at £425 (ish).

I can't believe people aren't moaning about the price...

How will the Xbox 360 output 1080p without DVI/HDMI connectors and still keep the movie industry happy about content protection? Still some unanswered questions methinks.
king_skins
20/09/06 @ 11:10
#49
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I can't believe people aren't moaning about the price...

Maybe that because it hasn't been officially announced yet?
JediMasterMalik
20/09/06 @ 11:15
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The price here will be at least 150 me thinks.

They are only selling to Japan so cheaply because the market will not buy so many of them, even in the US and EU few people are going to get this. If in Japan stock is very high, couldn't they move the stock to the US or Europe if their stock runs out, and charge more?

Bah, I am rambling...

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