In a move that surprises no one, Microsoft has officially put an end to it’s HD-DVD add-on drive. I actually bought one of these last summer from Gamestop as an impulse buy and immediately regretted my decision but couldn’t take it back because Gamestop draconian return policy. Word of advice – NEVER shop there. So I kept it and it grew on me. I never officially jumped on either bandwagon, preferring to rent from Netflix to starting a new collection. My only regret is I paid $120 for the Harry Potter set on HD instead of Blu. It was my only real HD purchase so I don’t feel too upset over it’s demise. I hope the inevitable Blu-ray add-on (replacement) is smaller, includes a smaller power cable (the one for the HD-DVD is ridiculously large) and includes HDMI with up-conversion. Last week I finally broke down and purchased the 120 gig hard drive and a pleasant surprise side benefit is it cut down the noise on my 360 by almost 90 percent! It’s still loud, but it no longer sounds like a jet airplane. Anyway, here’s the statement.
"As a result of recent decisions made by Toshiba, Hollywood studios, and retailers, Microsoft plans to withdraw from HD DVD. Xbox will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market. As we stated earlier, we do not believe this decision will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. 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."