VP of Marketing at Microsoft Paints Rosy Picture for Xbox 360

Peter Moore, vice president of worldwide marketing for the Xbox, predicted a rosy and bright future for the Xbox 360 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Moore stated that there will be at least 50 new Xbox 360 titles by years’ end. As far as the Xbox 360 shortages, he said that the situation may soon turn for the better. Microsoft has signed up a deal with another manufacturing company, Celestica, in order to ramp up the production of more 360s. As already reported by GamerNode, Gates made a surprise announcement of an external HD-DVD player for the 360 at the convention. Moore stated that the drive will be released later this year. He did not indicate what price point the external next-gen DVD drive would cost, but some estimates of HD-DVD stand alone player prices by electronics pundits have put the price point of these units to be in the neighborhood of $300. To those who have already committed to the purchase of a fully loaded 360, the news of an external HD-DVD unit must be totally unexpected. The rumors of a HD-DVD-enabled 360 for this year were denied by Microsoft officials just a scant few weeks ago. GamerNode speculated, in light of the denials, that something still might be in the planning stages. Little did we know that the plans were already finalized. To those who were looking forward to a HD-DVD equipped 360, the news of the external drive is great news. The downside is that they will have to invest more money into their machines. With the news of the HD-DVD capable 360, this will open the door for games based upon the next-gen DVD technology, another bit of very good news for Xbox 360 gamers.