Microsoft Denies HD-DVD Game Plans

A senior Microsoft employee has once again used an online weblog to clarify policy for the Xbox 360, with the company's John Porcaro stating officially that there will be no HD-DVD format games released for Microsoft's next-gen console this year. Porcaro, communications manager at Microsoft’s global games marketing team, wrote on Gamerscore Blog that, “I'm seeing lots of speculation about our upcoming HD DVD Player, and whether we have plans to publish HD DVD games. The answer is no.” His comments were apparently in reference to the reporting of a Consumer Electronics Daily newsletter article, in which Microsoft Games Studios general manager Dave Luehmann is quoted as saying that the publisher has ruled out any HD DVD game titles for “this holiday”, but with the suggestion that a decision post 2006 had not yet been taken. Porcaro’s comments continued, “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.” “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,” added Porcaro. This announcement continues Microsoft's seemingly successful strategy of bolstering official press releases with weblog statements from senior Xbox 360 team members such as Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb - as well as more personal opinions from figures such as Microsoft director of games platform strategy, Andre Vrignaud, who recently stepped up to describe 1080 pixel screen resolutions as “meaningless”.