Blu-ray for the win!

Microsoft, in all its wisdom, has decided that the Xbox 360 will be compatible with HD-DVD. But it's not what you think. Rather than screwing over early adopters of the Xbox 360 and release a new version with a built-in HD-DVD drive, they screw over everyone and have them buy an external HD-DVD drive for at least $300.

Naturally, it'll be an awesome peripheral as it is attached to the console via USB 2.0 and its blazing fast throughput. Yeah, right.

As any gamer should know, external perihperals are supported immensely by 3rd party developers. Granted, not all of the peripherals I linked to were accessories intended to be a major part of that console's gaming, but keep in mind that some were. The HD-DVD peripheral falls into the latter category.

For an extra $300, Microsoft is going to have a hard time influencing people that they need that drive. Especially if they want to further promote the Xbox 360 as the wave of the future. Hmm... I wonder... $400-500 would get me a PS3 that already has the latest optical disc technology while for an additional $300 (on top of a $400 console) you could get the other format for your year old Xbox 360. Yeah, tough choice there.

How much you wanna bet that Microsoft will screw themselves over and release Halo 3 only on the HD-DVD format? I can only hope... I'm dying to see the Halo series die. If not Halo 3, definitely Halo 4. Keep up the awesome work Microsoft! Way to let Sony walk all over you.