Prior to the Tokyo Game Show Microsoft used a press briefing to announce a couple of Xbox 360 developments. Firstly, the long in development HD DVD add-on drive's release date/rrp and, secondly, the announcement of a software upgrade to allow 1080p high definition pictures.
The HD DVD drive, announced what seems like an age ago, will launch in Japan on November 17 for ¥19,800 (about £90) and will be bundled with a remote. This aggressive pricing strategy is obviously designed to compete against the blu-ray feature of Sony's PS3, but don't get too excited because there's NO WAY that the HD DVD drive will cost 90 quid when it's released here.
After repeatedly saying the Xbox 360 can't, and doesn't need to, do 1080p it turns out that pretty soon it will. With the help of a software update to be released later this year, the 360 will support full 1080p HD. As great as a software update can be, the one thing it can't do is add an HDMI port to the back of the Xbox. This creates a problem in so much as the highest definition signals from HD DVD, or indeed blu-ray, need HDMI to work.
In light of this you may wonder what the point of the 1080p functionality is and, you'd be right to do so. The point is this: 720p signals can be upscaled to 1080p which is more of a novelty for those with banging TV sets than anything else. It's still pretty cool though.
Via Ars Technica | Zoodex
