MS: HD-DVD player 'will not play games'

August 17th, 2006, 17:05 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has been quick to pull the teeth from recent speculation that the forthcoming HD-DVD drive will be used as a games platform in the future, saying that it would negatively impact the game experience.

Addressing the speculation in his corporate blog, Microsoft's John Pocaro explained, "Since announcing the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player accessory at E3 2006, we've been clear that it is designed exclusively for playing HD DVD movies. It will not play games on HD DVD."

He continued: "At this point, we haven't seen anything to suggest that next-gen DVD formats offer a better game experience than current DVD. What we do know is that these formats will bring added cost to game developers, disc manufacturing, and could even result in added costs and longer load times for the consumer, which would negatively impact the game experience."

We are focused on making great HD games available to consumers now, and games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion clearly show that beautiful high def graphics and huge, immersive worlds to explore are possible on the DVD9 format," Pocaro concluded.

Quite right too. To start releasing games that require a device that may well only be adopted by a limited number among the entire installed Xbox 360 user base would be downright silly. We'd never, ever want to be forced into a situation where we have to purchase the HD-DVD drive now, would we?

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