Xbox 360 Gets Built In HD DVD In 2008

Wow!!!

Now I'm getting a little upset!!

It looks like Microsoft will have Xbox 360 shipping with built in HD DVD drives in 2008. Mark Bennett who is Microsoft European business development director for HD DVD stated that the 360 will be upgraded. He goes on to say:

"The interactive features actually work on HD DVD whereas Blu-ray titles are six to nine months away from getting features that actually work."

Was that a shot over Sony's bow?

Xbox 360 to get new HD DVD drive [PCW UK via Crunchgear]

Paramount & DreamWorks Go HD-DVD

Paramount and DreamWorks are giving HD-DVD a much needed shot in the arm, by throwing their weight behind the new format. It will be an exclusive agreement, which will mean that their films will only be available on HD-DVD and not Blu-Ray.

This is huge for HD-DVD because the rest of the world seems to be shifting to Blu-Ray as the HD format of choice. This will begin with Blades of Glory on August 28th, but also will continue with Transformers and Shrek The Third all being HD-DVD exclusives.

I guess the HD format war isn't quite over yet.

G4TV

BJ's Drops HD-DVD

Well this doesn't look good for HD-DVD.

BJ's Wholesale, which is a major Eastern chain store is dropping HD-DVD from their stores. This is a big hit for HD-DVD, and if Wal-Mart and Sams follow suit, that could be 'all she wrote' for HD-DVD. BJ's Wholesale will continue to sell HD-DVD from their on-line stores, but will not carry it in-store.

Not even the price drop for Microsofts HD-DVD add-on will be enough to save it. And as Joystiq has pointed out, Microsoft always could make a Blu-Ray add-on.

Don't look good HD-DVD!!!

Hit the jump to read the article. [Joystiq via G4TV]

Microsoft Drops Price Of HD-DVD Player

Microsoft announced that they will be dropping the price of the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360. In addition, anyone who buys between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30 will get to pick 5 free movies, though out of a collection of only 15 popular movies.

Microsoft stated that the add-on would drop $20 to $179. This price change might appeal to Xbox 360 owners who just didn't want to spend the big bucks for a Blu-Ray player.

Hit the jump to read more. [press release via Gizmodo]

It's Legal to Break DVD DRM in Finland: Come on America, catch up

Do you here that? That's thousands of nerds cheering loudly, then coughing uncontrollably, then reaching for their inhalers thanks to a court ruling in Finland that rules CSS protection for DVDs ineffective. Why does this matter? Because under Finnish law, cracking DRM is only illegal when it's "effective", and CSS has become so ineffective that it's no longer illegal.

According to the court, CSS (the DRM on DVDs) no longer achieves its protection objective. The court relied on two expert witnesses and said that "since a Norwegian hacker succeeded in circumventing CSS protection used in DVDs in 1999, end-users have been able to get with ease tens of similar circumventing software from the Internet even free of charge. Some operating systems come with this kind of software pre-installed." Thus, the court concluded that "CSS protection can no longer be held "effective" as defined in law."

So how long do you think it will take before HD -DVD and Blu-Ray to get to this point? A year, Two years?

Read the entire article after the jump.