Pretty much everyone by now knows that there wil eventually be a HD-DVD addon. What you might be wondering is how they are going to show that on your television correctly as the Xbox 360 lacks a HDMI connector.
Well, the folks at spiegel.de got to talk to Chris Lewis, the Microsoft executive in charge of the European market of the Xbox 360.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is the HD-DVD-drive for the Xbox 360 still in the pipeline?
Lewis: Absolutely, yes. We’ll say a little bit more about it at E3. It will give people access to HD DVD.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: But the 360 doesn’t have an HDMI-Interface — so you won’t actually be able to watch any HD-DVD Movies on it because the obligatory copy protection mechanisms are missing.
Lewis: All I can say to you is — there are interesting developments in the pipeline. We will make sure that the HD-DVD-peripheral device will meet all the requirements for consumers to enjoy high-definition DVD playback.
Now if only I could magically get to E3 to play with whatever they are bringing out…. While I am excited I must say something though about all of this, and unfortunately it is a point for the PS3 fanboys. With everyone harping on about how the PS3 is going to be super expensive, it will include a Blu-ray drive and HDMI out of the box, while Xbox 360 owners will yet again, have to pay for another component. I am pretty sure, with the addition of the HD-DVD drive and the HDMI abilities, Xbox 360 purchasers will be paying pretty much the same.