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Microsoft will end production of the external HD DVD drive for its Xbox 360 video game console, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The company said it would, however, continue to offer warranty support for the peripheral.

(Credit: Microsoft)

"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," Blair Westlake, a corporate vice president of Microsoft's media and entertainment group, said in a statement.

The drive, which currently costs about $130, was intended as Microsoft's answer to Sony's PlayStation 3 console, which contained an integrated Blu-ray Disc drive.

Microsoft is just the latest top-tier tech company to abandon the failed high-definition disc format. Along with Toshiba, Intel, and NEC, Microsoft was one of the most prominent supporters of the standard. Toshiba said last week it would no longer make HD DVD players. Wal-Mart Stores, Best Buy, and all the major movie studios have all now said they will exclusively support Blu-ray.

The biggest proponent of Blu-ray, Sony, now stands poised to become the standard bearer of HD video mostly because of its strategy in including Blu-ray playback capability into the PS3. It's unclear if Microsoft now plans to make an attachable Blu-ray player for the Xbox 360.

The Xbox 360 Premium now includes an HDMI output.

(Credit: Shacknews)

The Xbox 360 is getting to be a better deal all the time. Hot off the news of a price drop, Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox 360 Premium--which now retails for $350--now includes an HDMI output. The confirmation comes after Shacknews posted photos of a newly purchased Xbox 360 with the telltale port, essentially proving that the rumored upgrade was already available in stores.

So what's the big deal? HDMI provides a single-cable, all-digital connection to compatible HDTVs and AV receivers, delivering far fewer wires, higher quality, and better 1080p compatibility than the combination of component video and analog or digital audio cables. (More on component versus HDMI.) HDMI is available on all PlayStation 3 models, but Microsoft had previously made it a step-up feature, requiring users to purchase the more expensive Xbox 360 Elite, which debuted just a few months ago.

Do the new 360s also include the cooler-running 65nm CPUs and quieter DVD drives that have also been long-rumored? Microsoft isn't saying. When interviewed by GameSpot, the company representative said only, "We are constantly updating the console's more than 1,700 internal components and therefore will not comment on details of specific components or manufacturing processes." The new CPUs are a crucial detail: the current heat-intensive 90nm chips are said to be a major contributor to the Xbox 360's high failure rate, which has dogged the popular console with a high return rate and accompanying customer service headaches.

The HDMI-equipped 360s have already begun to hit the retail channel. They're distinguishable from their HDMI-less predecessors by an HDMI logo on the box. (Online shoppers, presumably, may need to haggle with their e-tailer of choice to guarantee an HDMI-enabled model.) Microsoft further stressed that it "has not announced any plans" to add HDMI to the $280 Xbox 360 Core system. That's yet another reason to avoid that entry-level model; unlike the other three Xbox 360 models (the $350 Xbox 360 Premium, $400 Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition (due in September), and the $450 Xbox 360 Elite), the Core system lacks a hard drive, wireless controller, and--now--HDMI output.

So, is it time for you to finally pick up an Xbox 360? The price drop and HDMI output is certainly a nice one-two incentive, especially with the likes of Bioshock and Halo 3 hitting in just a few weeks. But savvy shoppers looking for an even better deal might want to hold out until later this year, until we find out when (or if) we'll see that cooler--and presumably more stable--CPU.

In a recent blog on CNET News.com it was learned that modders in 16 states were brought down for allegedly selling and distributing "circumvention devices."

While federal agents, including U.S. Customs officials, are heralding the capture of these "criminals" as a mark of significant progress in the fight against modding, I'm not so quick to agree.

At its very core, what is so wrong with modding, or modifying, one's gadgets? While I admittedly don't know as much about the techniques involved, because I don't own any modded devices, I still have trouble understanding why companies (and officials) have such a hard time with people making products better.

Now, I'm not saying that individuals should be allowed to sell and distribute a modded Xbox 360 to the highest bidder, but I am saying they should be able to mod the system for their own benefit. Yes, I can hear DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) proponents crying out in disgust already, but to be honest, I think those folks need to get a strong lesson in logic.

Banning modding is nothing more than a business ploy. And although organizations like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the U.S. government claims that it raises our prices and maintains an unhealthy business environment, I'm not sure where John Doe, modding his PlayStation in the comfort of his home so he can play overseas games, is contributing to the "facilitation of multiple other layers of criminality, such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering."

Isn't John Doe buying that software from an American importer? And isn't that American importer paying taxes on the profit it makes at the end of the year, which, in case you were wondering, comes from guys like John Doe?

I am strongly against the sale and distribution of modded video game consoles, but I can't help but be a proponent of modding video game consoles for your own pleasure, as long as you use it for the benefit of those who hold the software copyright. In other words: buy the legal software, not the pirated stuff.

But what makes modding so awful? Is it because you agreed to an implied contract upon breaking the shrink wrap that you wouldn't own the rights to the system, no matter how much you paid for it? If so, that's a bunch of garbage. If I paid my hard-earned money for a game system, then I should have the legal right to open it up and make it do whatever I want. And if that means that my American Xbox 360 will be able to play a Japanese Xbox 360 game, then so be it.

The never-ending copyright protection that can be found on just about every kind of media today is simply outrageous. Does it serve the purpose of protecting the copyright holder's material? Obviously not. If it did, we wouldn't have pirating that, according to the Entertainment Software Association, costs the video game industry billions of dollars each year.

In fact, you might be surprised to know that pirated material typically sells better than something that isn't pirated. You know why? Nobody wants the stuff that isn't pirated. Besides that, I believe that most people are honest and want to have both copies.

Maybe it's just me, but I believe that the DMCA and government officials at home and abroad underestimate our ability to be pillars of society. If you read the DMCA, you will find a law that protects businesses and abandons all trust in the average citizen--it's sad, to say the least.

Sorry ESA, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony; I trust people. Maybe you should too--it might help your bottom line.

Sony said Wednesday that it is considering putting out a new version of its struggling PlayStation 3 game console in the United States with an 80GB hard drive. That's the storage capacity that will come on the South Korean version of the PS3.

To date, the PS3 has come with a 60GB hard drive. A 20GB version was discontinued in the United States but still sells in Japan.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

According to the Associated Press, Sony Computer Entertainment representative Satoshi Fukuoka said that the company is thinking about adapting the storage capacities of the PS3 for different regions.

"Increasing capacity for models is one of the options," Fukuoka told the AP. "We make such decisions depending on the needs of the market, and every country is different."

Sony says it will begin selling the 80GB PS3 in South Korea on June 16, and Fukuoka told the AP that the company may well bring that version to the U.S.

"No decision has been made on other markets, although the company is considering selling it in the U.S. and elsewhere," Fukuoka told the AP.

But in an e-mail to CNET News.com, Sony spokeswoman Kimberly Otzman said, "We haven't confirmed any plans to bring the 80GB model to (North America/the United States)."

Otzman also included Sony's official statement on the matter: "We are constantly looking at new technologies, services and configurations to meet the evolving needs of our PlayStation gamers, but at this time we have no announcement regarding any changes in our PS3 product offering in North America."

Either way, it's hard to know if adding capacity to the PS3's hard drive would solve the problems that Sony is having with the console in the U.S., where it is third in an increasingly bitter next-gen console battle with Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Nintendo said Friday that it would address shortages of its hit Wii video game console by ramping up production.

According to the Associated Press, the video game giant's president, Satoru Iwata acknowledged that "we have not been able to properly foresee demand."

The company said it would boost sales of the Wii--which has dominated the next-generation console battle against Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 since it was released in November--so that deliveries would increase by next month.

The news came a day after Nintendo released fiscal 2007 results showing that revenue had jumped 89.8 percent and profit 77 percent on the strength of the success of the Wii and also because of impressive sales of the Nintendo DS handheld device.

Four months after its release, the Xbox 360 has had its firmware hacked, according to Xbox-Scene.

What does this mean? Well, it doesn't mean, for now, that people will be able to run homebrew games on their Xbox, but it does mean, according to the site, that players will be able to run bootlegs.

It's not easy, apparently, requiring some experience with assembly language. But for those for whom hacking is a way of life, beating the new Xbox at its game should be possible.

For now, and until Microsoft fights back. Though it's unclear how the software giant could stop hacking progress from moving forward.

Gamers' enthusiasm for the newly released Xbox 360 quickly waned after the first reports were posted online of problems with the machines crashing and overheating.

No word yet on how widespread the problem actually is, or what, if anything Microsoft plans to do about it.

But the heat is on, and not for the first time. In February, Microsoft recalled power cords on the Xbox following reports of injuries due to defective electrical components. And a couple has sued Microsoft in a Texas court and claimed that the faulty design of an Xbox caused their house to burn down, according to an Inquirer story.

Blog community response:

"Up until today I was pretty much an Xbox fanboy, but after spending 6 and a half hours outside uncontrollably shivering for something that doesn't work right and makes me pay ridiculous sums just for basic functionality, they just lost me and a bunch of people I know."
-- Kulanose on xbox-scene

"...I came back with a couple of buddies of mine, turned on the 360 and it worked fine...for maybe a half hour then it turned off again. This happened about 3 more times. The only thing that is different is that the light is now orange. So I looked in the manual and it looks like it's an overheating problem...Man this suck...and to think I was #7 on the preorder list until I won my 360 and gave my spot to some kid that was at the store when I was about to cancel it."
-- Makaveli97 on teamxbox

"As I have been playing my Xbox this past week, I have noticed that not only is it very loud because of the fans, it is also by far the hottest running piece of equipment in my electronics rack...I personally have had no problems with it so far. But I am wondering what the long term effects of running such a hot device will have on the unit."
--Ben's Tech Blog

"Not trying to downplay anything, but I just think it's funny that we hear the same story at every system launch."
-- Bjorn kare Myskja on CNET News.com's Talkback

Why would somebody of sound mind wait 36 hours on the street just to be first in line when a store opens its doors for business? "It's fun," Richard Roth told our very own sleep-deprived reporter David Becker, after being the first person in San Francisco to buy a Sony PlayStation Portable. Then again, you should consider the source. Four years earlier, Roth said, he also was first in line to buy a PS2. "It's my 15 minutes of fame. You don't get on CNN for putting in a preorder at GameStop."

Such is the power of marketing to convince people of otherwise sound mind to act like goofs and spend as if their lives depended on it. Sony's quite good at this. Apple is even better--witness the expert way the company generates advance buzz for upcoming products.

But nothing holds a candle to the mania that settled upon this country in 1983 when Coleco's Cabbage Patch doll mania sent moms and dads across America into a months' long scavenger hunt--and the toys were butt-ugly, at that!