E3: HD-DVD over USB on Xbox 360

This is cool and not cool at the same time.

I’m excited to be able to have a console that will allow me access to HD-DVD content. I’m definitely not excited at the prospect of having to buy a Microsoft-branded accessory to make it happen.

I hate Microsoft’s accessory strategy for the 360. It seems they’ve taken a page out of Sony’s playbook when it comes to console accessories. They don’t allow anyone else to produce wireless controllers AT ALL, and then they charge $50 for something that is rumoured to only cost $11 to manufacture (not counting marketing, development costs, etc.) $100 for a wireless adapter? Um… I recently bought a USB wi-fi adapter for my laptop that set me back all of $20. I could go on and on. I can’t think of a single Microsoft accessory that isn’t horribly over-priced. Oh yeah, and they don’t seem to be allowing 3rd-party memory cards either. So, as a result, you have to shell out $40 for a 64MB memory card. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

So, yeah, I won’t be looking forward to see what exorbitant price Microsoft will be charging for HD-DVD. It won’t be pretty…