Toshiba's decision to axe production of HD DVD drives is bound to have some effect on the consumer electronics industry, and one of the casualties will be Microsoft's external HD-DVD player add-on for its Xbox 360 video game console. Microsoft offered a reassurance to consumers and analysts in a carefully worded statement.

"We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace," reads a statement offered by a Microsoft spokesperson. "As we've long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry."

In all of its iterations, the Xbox 360 only utilizes a standard DVD drive for its internal optical disc mechanism. Microsoft also offered an HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360, but only as an external, optional accessory. Microsoft recently reduced the price of the HD-DVD drive from $179.99 to $129.99.

Comparatively, Sony's PlayStation 3 features a built-in Blu-Ray Disc drive. Some analysts attribute this as one of several factors why Blu-Ray has picked up enough momentum to ultimately win this format war over rival format HD-DVD.

Microsoft's statement came shortly after rumors circulated that Toshiba would stop production of HD-DVD drives, and the company said it would "wait to hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans for the Xbox 360 HD DVD player."

"HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room along with playback of the DVD movies they already own," reads the Microsoft statement.

Microsoft also rents 720p-format movies for download through Xbox Live, the online service that comes with the Xbox 360. It's similar to Apple's iTunes Store, in that users download a digital movie, which they have a limited time to view before it expires.

Article by: Yahoo.com

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By Daisuke Wakabayashi Tue Feb 19, 12:18 AM ET

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) unveiled a new initiative on Monday that will give college and high school students around the world free access to technology tools used to develop and design software.

The world's largest software maker said the initiative will allow students to use Microsoft's developer and designer tools to write software applications, design elaborate Web pages or create new video games to run on the Xbox 360 console.

The development and design tools are available immediately to college students in the United States, Western Europe and China, but Microsoft said it will eventually extend the program to other countries and high school students, potentially reaching 1 billion students.

Chairman Bill Gates, who co-founded Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen, recalled how, as a teenager, he would sneak in at night to a company that sold shares of time on a big mainframe computer to read the manuals and learn more about developing software.

These were the days before the personal computer and getting computer access was difficult and expensive. With that in mind, Gates wanted to give broad access to software tools that can be expensive and difficult to get for students.

"I can relate very well to these student developers," Gates said in an interview with Reuters. "For students, any fee is a barrier."

Gates will unveil the "DreamSpark" initiative during a tour of U.S. and Canadian colleges starting on Tuesday with a speech at Stanford University.

Using a broadband connection, students can download Visual Studio, Microsoft's main development tools used by professional developers, and Expression Studio, design software that rivals Adobe Systems Inc's (ADBE.O) Creative Suite offering.

Gates said many designers opt for Adobe's design software because they are more familiar with it and the company could benefit if students become more comfortable working with Microsoft's design tools.

Microsoft said it will also make available XNA Game Studio software development tools for writing video games and a free one-year membership to the "XNA Creators Club" so they can bring those games to the Xbox 360 platform.

"For the individual developer ... getting their hands on these tools hasn't been that simple," Gates said.

In the past, Microsoft has made development and design software available to students, but it was up to the universities to register for the program. As a result, most of the students who took advantage of the program tended to be computer science students at major universities.

Gates said he hopes this latest initiative will deepen the pool of potential developers as well as the fields of study where software can lead to breakthroughs.

For Reuters MediaFile blog see: http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/

(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Article by: Yahoo.com

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