When Microsoft made the announcement of their plans to release an external HD-DVD player for their Xbox 360, rumors ran wild concerning the possibility of HD-DVD games for the next gen machine. Microsoft has constantly refuted these speculations and has again reiterated their denials.
The latest comments were made by John Porcaro, communications manager at Microsoft on Gamerscore.com, a web blog site used specifically by Microsoft employees to air their opinions and concerns. Porcaro addressed the rumors and said, “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 and specified why HD DVD games were not in the works at the Big M by stating, “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.”
While Microsoft is strongly stating that there will be no HD DVD games for the 360, the company also heatedly gave denials regarding the very existence of an external HD DVD machine earlier this year. Several months later, Microsoft unveiled their plans to release such a device. Will there be HD DVD games for the Xbox 360? At the moment, even among the denials, the answer may be, “let,s wait and see.”
