With Blu-ray marching ahead in the next-generation DVD format war, Microsoft have cut the price of the Xbox 360's external HD-DVD drive in the United States. The peripheral is now available for a paltry 129.99 USD.

Larry Hryb - or Major Nelson, if you prefer - announced the cut via his popular 360 blog, with 50 USD also cut off the price of the drive in Canada, Australia and New Zealand too.

Microsoft Europe have yet to reveal any comparable price slashing, although we assume similar plans must be afoot with the platform holder trying to inject what is potentially a last lease of life into the format.

Blu-ray sales have been out-stripping those of the HD-DVD format in most regions, helped along by burgeoning sales of the PS3, although the HD-DVD promotion group point to a stronger attach-rate, despite the high-profile move of Warner Bros. to support Sony's format exclusively.

More soon.

This news is taken from our sister site tech.tm.

By Luke Guttridge

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  1. digriz Unregistered 11 months ago

    How many 360s exist without the HD drive already? Seems a very large market could appear from undecided consumers who will take a punt on these cheaper players, or even the cheaper toshiba machines. The profit is in the films and the intellectual properties of the disc, HD really could make some good gains here.