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Xbox 360 says a big goodbye to HD DVD

Microsoft Co, the Japanese unit of U.S. computer software giant Microsoft Corp, said Tuesday that it will end the production of an external High-Definition DVD player for its Xbox 360 game console.The step follows a recent decision by Toshiba Corp to pull the plug on the HD DVD business by the end of March due to its defeat in the next-generation DVD format war with the Blu-ray camp led by Sony Corp. Microsoft will continue its customer support operations for those who have purchased the add-on player, it said.

Sony enjoys spoils of HD

Tuesday's announcement from Toshiba that it is pulling its support of the HD DVD format and ceasing production of the video players effectively stamps Sony as the new standard bearer of high-definition video.

Sony has long been associated with the Blu-ray Disc format, but HD DVD's demise brings new opportunity for the Japanese electronics maker to effectively take control of the future of high-definition in consumers' living rooms.

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Toshiba finally dropps HD DVD

Toshiba's struggle to promote the HD DVD format has become increasing arduous in recent months. First, Warner Bros. announced it was going Blu-ray exclusive, while rumours persisted that HD-DVD-only studios Universal and Paramount were also jumping ship.

Only days ago, another nail was driven into the coffin as US retail giant Wal-Mart announced it would stop selling the format and associated hardware, while Toshiba was forced to deny widely reported rumours it was about to drop its own format.

Today, rumour turned into fact when Toshiba has confirmed its withdrawal from the HD DVD hardware market. In a statement released this morning, the Japanese manufacturer announced it is planning to cease production of its stand-alone players and recorders by April, and will evaluate the demand for HD DVD laptop drives from there.

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Sony Sells 1.2 Million PS3 Units

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's largest maker of video-game machines, said it sold 1.2 million PlayStation 3 consoles in the U.S. during the year-end shopping season, boosting the adoption of its next-generation Blu-ray DVD format.The figure, for sales from Nov. 23 to Dec. 31, is more than double the 466,000 PlayStation 3s Sony sold in the U.S. in November, according to data from researcher NPD. 

``PlayStation 3 sales strongly contributed to the spread of Blu-ray,'' Tokyo-based Sony, which includes a Blu-ray player in the PlayStation 3 console, said in a statement today.            
The comment comes after Warner Bros. Entertainment said last week it will release movies solely based on Blu-ray, a move that may favor Sony in its battle against Toshiba Corp.'s HD DVD format. Still, increased sales of the game player failed to help Sony narrow the gap with Nintendo Co.'s Wii console, which outsold the PlayStation 3 by three to one in Japan in 2007.Nintendo sold 3.63 million Wii units in the country last year, compared with Sony's 1.21 million PlayStation 3s, Tokyo- based Enterbrain said today by fax. Microsoft Corp. sold 257,841 units of its Xbox 360 machine, the researcher said.

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Bill Gates Says Goodbye

Las Vegas -- Microsoft Corp. took a big swing at Apple Inc. and its popular iPod Sunday night by announcing huge upgrades to its Xbox Live service and that it would start selling its popular Zune MP3 player in Canada this spring.

The Zune is Microsoft's answer to the iPod. Until now, it has only been available in the U.S. This past Christmas, the Zune was so popular that demand was actually greater than for Nintendo's Wii console, according to expert gadget website Cnet.com.

Speaking for the last time at the Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates announced that not only will the device be made available in Canada, but so will movies from MGM, as well as TV and movie content from Disney Corp. and ABC in the coming months.

Until now, Apple's iTunes store has had largely exclusive agreements for most of the new content.

Gates has opened the popular show with his "state of the union address" for the past 12 years. Sunday marked his final appearance: He is leaving his full-time position at the company in June to focus on the charitable activities of his $33-billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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IPTV in Xbox 360

Microsoft hasn't had much luck keeping new announcements under wraps, so this weekend when rumors circulated from Xbox 360 Fanboy about a possible feature for the Fall Update, most weren't surprised of yet another leak.

This one came from a tipster who snapped shots of his Xbox 360 after getting it back from the Xbox Repair center. The screens showed hints at IPTV functionality, which set the internet ablaze with speculation the feature would be part of their upcoming major dashboard update.

But, not so fast. As it turns out, the screenshots were legit, but the feature isn't planned for the Fall Update. Microsoft issued a statement to clear up the misunderstanding. In it, they point out that the features "were inadvertently exposed while the customer's console was being serviced and is unrelated to the Fall Update."

The features are part of the Microsoft Mediaroom services and will be given to TV service providers by the end of 2007. After that, it's entirely up to those providers to determine when the feature becomes available. It could be next spring, fall, or beyond.

It looks as if Xbox 360 owners will have to wait a little longer to escape the cold clutches of VHS tape tyranny to record their shows.

[via PCMAG]

Dumb ASS Sony

Now it's all good that Sony wants to try and get back into the lead of the hardware wars but taking away features to cut cost is just wrong. People please don't buy into this and do not buy this gimped system. The one feature that they talked about for months before the release of the PS3 was that it was backwards compatible with all your PS2 games and how you would only need one PS3 to rule them all. Now in a effort to compete in the price wars they are selling this dumbed down version. WACK WACK WACK.

Sony PS3 Price Cuts

Home theatre providers are divided over whether Sony's decision to cut the U.S. price of its PlayStation 3 model by $100 will have an impact on the video-game maker's -- and their own -- businesses.

On Thursday, Sony cut the price of a PS3 with an 80-gigabyte hard drive to $499 from $599, effective immediately, and announced plans to introduce a $399 model with 40 gigabytes on Nov. 2.

Scott Yoder, manager of Wee-Bee Audio, a Lancaster, Pa.-based solution provider, said the $100 discount may tip the scales toward end users upgrading from a previous video-game platform and buying a bigger, flat-screen display or home theatre system to go along with it.

"I see that as an opportunity to generate more business. More people having it, means more people getting plugged into [high-definitioin] games, Blu-Ray movies," Yoder said.

But Jon Layish, president of Red Barn Computers, a Binghamton, N.Y.-based solution provider, said he can't give PS3s away.

Apple's Fall Updates: New iPods and More

What, you hadn't heard this was coming? Apple rolled out a lot of new stuff today. Welcome Apple fanboys and haters alike. Here's the gist of what's new with the iPod, iPhone, and iTunes, straight outta Apple!

      

• Ringtones Come to iPhone - For an extra dollar you can turn 30 seconds from a song you buy from iTunes into a ringtone for your iPhone. Not every song, mind you, but about 10 percent of the iTunes catalog. Outrageous ripoff or brilliant marketing scheme? You be the judge.
• iPod Shuffle Available in New Colors - $79 gets you 1GB of screenless music. Now in red, silver, blue, lighter blue, and greenish blue.
• Redesigned iPod Nano - This is the device that was widely leaked last week. The new Nano is shorter and more squat, but with a larger display. A new UI shows you cover art and extras on the right side of the screen (you can get a sense of this in the pic to the right), but the operation of the Nano is largely the same, with the traditional scrollwheel where you expect it. Still the same capacities: 4GB ($149, silver only) and 8GB ($199, colors available).
• iPod "Classic" Gets Tweaked - Now known as the "iPod Classic," the old hard-drive-based iPod gets upgraded to 80GB ($249) and 160GB ($349) models, and it's a bit thinner than previous models, too. The 30GB model is gone. Same UI as the Nano.
• Introducing the iPod Touch - As everyone expected, a new iPod with the iPhone touchscreen interface arrives. It's the iPod Touch, basically an iPhone (almost exactly the same size) without the phone (see the pic above... looks exactly like the iPhone, only it's not). It's also the first iPod with Wi-Fi, which you can use to watch YouTube videos and browse the web. $299 (8GB) and $399 (16GB). (Wait, where's your 16GB iPod Nano?)
• iTunes Goes Wi-Fi - Now you can give Steve Jobs more of your money, without even having to use a computer. iPod Touch and iPhone users can browse the full iTMS selection wirelessly and purchase music without a PC. No wireless sync from the looks of it.
• iPhone Price Cut - 8GB model now $399. The 4GB iPhone? Dead!
     

   Get additional coverage at Gizmodo.com. Thanks, Giz, for the pics!

Want to see how they compare to each other?  Here's the complete lineup

Nokia Relaunching N-Gage

Hoping to revitalize its failed mobile gaming platform, Nokia has announced that it is relaunching the N-Gage as a games service that will be available across a wide variety of its “N” series of mobile phones. This service will allow users to try all N-Gage games for free from compatible Nokia handsets. Those interested will have a download a free N-Gage application from the service’s website and install it on a range of Nokia phones including N73, N81, N93, N93i and N95. The company also announced that it has added more publishers to its platform, including the titan EA who will publish FIFA 08, The Sims 2 Pets, Tetris and many of its games for the platform; Capcom and Vivendi have also signed up. The new N-Gage service will launch this November.