According to my friendly neighborhood Shibuya sources, Microsoft will announce tomorrow (late tonight for those of you in saner time zones) that the Xbox 360 HD DVD player attachment will ship to its wee Japanese fanbase just in time for the holidays. Priced at a very reasonable 19800 yen (20790 yen with tax), my source was eager to mention its 1080p capabilities and Windows XP Media Center Edition compatability. Woo.
For those of you too lazy to type in "19800 japanese yen in US dollars", or your currency of choice, that's about 168 bucks, otherwise known as "cheap". As we all know, pricing in dollars to yen to euros to whatever is not created equal, so speculating other regional prices on current exchange rates doesn't always tell the full pricing strategy story.
We'll see what Microsoft has to say about worldwide release dates and cost at Barcelona, but it seems cheap ass 1080p-ers may have something to shout about. We'll follow up with more details following Microsoft's press event later today.