MS preps internal disc burner for second-gen Xbox 360?
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Archive your Zune-friendly movie downloads Microsoft has begun seeking manufacturing partners to make an internal HD DVD drive for a redesigned Xbox 360 console, whistle-blowers from among Taiwan's optical disk drive production community have claimed. And the software giant may be looking at incorporating disc-burning technology in the console.â¦
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The Vardia RD-A301 can record HD video to regular DVDs and transcode MPEG2 to MPEG4 on the fly.
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And Peter Jackson planning more Halo games Microsoft will ship the eagerly awaited external HD DVD drive for its Xbox 360 console into the US mid-November, the software giant has announced. The drive will set console owners back $200 and bundle the 2005 King Kong remake.â¦
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Register Hardware competition Register Hardware and Microsoft have got a brand spanking new 120GB Xbox 360 Elite to give away... plus six copies of Forza Motorsport 2 as seriously respectable runner-up prizes...â¦
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Microsoft announced at its E3 press conference late Tuesday that the Xbox 360 Elite will be coming to Europe on August 24. The souped up game console features a 120GB hard drive and HDMI connector. Microsoft also said it had no plans to drop the price of the Xbox 360.
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Toshiba&#39;s announcement to end production of HD DVD players and recorders will not affect the Xbox 360, even though Microsoft offers an optional stand-alone HD DVD drive for the game console, Microsoft said in a statement Tuesday.&quot;We do not believe&#160;Toshiba&#39;s announcement about HD DVD&#160;will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace,&quot; Microsoft said. The gaming function of the console is its main attraction, the company added.The company&#160;did not say whether or not it will stop manufacturing the HD DVD drive&#160;for the Xbox 360.Earlier Tuesday, Toshiba formally announced an end to its support of HD DVD, a high-definition optical disc format meant to replace DVDs. Toshiba was the developer and main backer of HD DVD, and its capitulation handed victory to rival format Blu-ray Disc, which has been championed by Sony.Toshiba said its decision came after careful analysis of the long-term impact of continuing the format war, and said a swift decision was called for to help the high-definition market develop.For game consoles, high-definition discs are growing in importance. Sony put Blu-ray Disc drives in the PlayStation 3 as a way to spread popularity of the high-definition discs. PlayStation 3 owners can play HD movies on the drives as well as advanced games. Blu-ray discs can hold far more data than conventional DVDs, and give players high definition graphics on games.At a recent game show in Taipei, Sony showed off a display of over 100 game titles created using Blu-ray Disc. A nearby Xbox 360 booth displayed the HD DVD logo and showed movies and just a few games made for the format.Recent&#160;changes in the market prompted Toshiba&#39;s decision&#160;to phase out HD DVD. Early this year, Warner Bros. said it would stop issuing movies on HD DVD in the coming months and rely exclusively on Blu-ray Disc. The Hollywood studio was one of three major studios remaining in the HD DVD camp, and its defection created widespread belief that the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc was now over.More recently, major U.S. retail chain Wal-Mart announced it would phase out the sale of HD DVD products, moving to exclusivity with Blu-ray Disc. Electronics retailer Best Buy also said it would back Blu-ray Disc, but it did not say it would stop offering HD DVD.&#160;
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Microsoft Corp., facing its second Xbox 360 headache of the summer, will replace parts of its Wireless Racing Wheel video game controllers after 50 reports that they overheated and released smoke.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft said Wednesday it will replace discs of its Halo 3 Xbox 360 game that were already scratched when users purchased them. On its Xbox 360 Web site, Microsoft said an Xbox Disc Replacement Program will replace Halo 3 Limited Edition Game Discs and Essentials Discs at no charge through Feb. 1, 2008, but only for Xbox 360 console owners in countries where Xbox is sold at authorized retail locations. Microsoft released the highly anticipated Halo 3 Xbox 360 game on Tuesday at midnight, but some users found that their game discs were already scratched upon purchase. Some attributed the scratches to the company's packaging of the discs, which did not keep them in place. Users did not report any performance issues with the scratched discs. To get a new disc to replace one that was scratched, people who purchased Halo 3 and meet the program requirements can fill out and print a program form and send it to Microsoft. They should receive a replacement disc in about two weeks, according to the Web site. Halo 3 is the latest installment in the critically praised and enormously popular first-person shooter series developed by Bungie Studios. Microsoft said it had more than 1 million preorders of Halo 3 before its release this week, and fans lined up Monday outside of a New York Best Buy retail outlet for the game's launch hours before the game went on sale.
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Triples Xbox Live Arcade game size too Microsoft will next month offer Xbox 360 gamers a 512MB memory module, a handy boost for owners of the hard drive-less incarnation's of the games console - they're currently limited to 64MB.â¦
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Microsoft Corp.  said on  Wednesday it will launch its Xbox 360 HD DVD player in Japan on  November 22.
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Microsoft will sell its Xbox 360 Elite games console and offer Xbox Live video downloads in Europe starting later this year.
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Plus: Microsoft to release three versions of Xbox 2. [News.com Extra]
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mithridate writes &quot;Microsoft has posted the Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 Release Candidate. eWeek has a short review of the service pack.
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The steady and inevitable descent of the DVD into technological obsolescence might have been accelerated this week by Microsoft&#39;s announcement that it is partnering with Disney to offer movies and television programs through the Xbox 360 Live Marketplace. The announcement was made Tuesday at a Microsoft press conference held at the E3 Media and Business Summit in Santa Monica, California.
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Microsoft told BetaNews that it will continue to push its HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, but did not rule out shipping a Blu-ray drive as well.
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Hardware manufacturers are in fix when it comes to settling down for a standard for DVDs. Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo are favoring a next-generation DVD standard called HD (high-definition) DVD while Sony and other
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SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. will send out replacement parts for its Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel after 50 reports that the video game controllers overheated and released smoke when plugged in, the software maker said yesterday.