Balthazar

It's all about the games, Microsoft has said in a statement on the end of the HD-DVD format war.

"We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace", the company has said.

"As we've long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry.

"We will wait until we hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans around the Xbox 360 HD DVD player.
"HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room along with playback of the DVD movies they already own."

Toshiba has now officially confirmed it "has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders".

So there'll be no chance of watching a history of Fidel Castro on HD-DVD then.

Yesterday we reported that Microsoft could be planning a stand-alone Blu-ray player for Xbox 360, which might release as early as May 2008. Time to bring those plans forward...

http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=182716