News written by Matti Robinson (July, 2006)

Analysts at the DFC Intelligence shocked quite a few eyepairs when it reported last month that the upcoming war of next generation consoles is half over before it even started. The San Diego-based company stated that Sony would end up last because of the high price of PlayStation 3 and leave Microsoft and Nintendo fighting for the gold.

Now DFC has released an industry briefing which continued their theme. In the briefing the company said Sony is giving up one of consoles' strengths if they'll stick with the plan of providing upgrades to the PS3. DFC was refering to Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi who implied that their next-gen console would be more like a computer than a traditional gaming console. "We believe that under Kutaragi's techno-elite PlayStation 3 strategy, the PlayStation 3 could end up with a market share more resembling Apple products as opposed to the dominant PlayStation 2 market share," stated DFC.

Further into the war, DFC will expect Xbox 360 take the hardcore video game markets and even though the start in Japan has been somewhat sticky, it might be the future market share leader aswell, while Nintendo's Wii could be taking the win with the advantage of the lowest price.

The speculations started off by Toshiba's general manager Mark Whittard, who told the Australian press his personal opinion whether Microsoft will produce a Xbox 360 with an internal HD-DVD drive. Shortly after Whittard had expressed that he thinks it will happen eventually, the Internet was filled with rumors and speculations.

Microsoft quickly corrected, in its statement, that they have "no plans to release the Xbox 360 with an internal HD DVD drive" and that they "feel that offering the drive externally is the best way to give consumers the ultimate choice to create their own high definition experiences."

Also Ceaser Mendez, community manager of MS, added his snappy message to his own blog saying, "Saw a few stories online about an Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD drive: not true. We have no plans to release an Xbox 360 with an internal HD DVD. What we showcased at E3 was an external HD DVD drive, and we're sticking with that."

As the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray war is closing in, the fact that Xbox 360 users are able to choose HD or not, is a step closer to winning it, or is it? Will the future determine whether gamers have the choice of not choosing high definition?