In a response from the Microsoft run Gamerscore Blog regarding the recent news that Toshiba will be abandoning the HD-DVD format, the company writes:

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.  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.  We will wait until we hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans around 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.

I believe Microsoft is in an extremely vulnerable position right now, and is simply trying to deflect attention from the situation while it readies a response.  The demise of HD-DVD came along extremely quickly.  In early January Warner Bros. announced they would be phasing out HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray, followed by several other similar announcements by Netflix, Best Buy and, last week, Walmart.  In just about a month and a half, the situation went from about neutral, to a full collapse for HD-DVD.

Microsoft had long been in the HD-DVD camp, supporting it directly through the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360.  However, they had stated numerous times that if Blu-ray turned out to be the winning format, they would have a solution for it.  This was likely something that Microsoft hoped to avoid, but that time has come.

With HD-DVD dead in the water, the next generation movie format has officially been determined.  Now consumers can finally make a purchasing decision without worrying about choosing the losing format.  However, where will those consumers turn?  Their choices are to get a standalone Blu-ray player (currently the lowest price one is $399) or for the same price pick up a Playstation 3 that can play both Blu-ray movies and PS3 games.  The choice seems obvious.  Suddenly Microsoft, with their Xbox 360 is left on the outside looking in.  Until they come out with a Blu-ray solution, they are extremely vulnerable.

Rumors are flying that Microsoft will have a Blu-ray addon available by May/June.   These next three months could turn the tide in the console race.

In a move that is sure to disappoint many sports gamers, EA and the NFL have agreed to extend their exclusive deal to make NFL licensed games till 2012. EA’s Peter Moore assures gamedaily that it was the NFL who sought this deal, not EA.

The NFL lives in a world where it feels above the common ideals of competition and innovation. As a monopoly itself, it is exempt from many of the rules and regulations that the rest of corporate America must adhere to with congressional oversight supposedly keeping it in line. Somewhere in all of this, however, the NFL decided that having competition in the video game market, where several publishers would have to seriously innovate in order to succeed, was less important than raking in a huge amount of cash up front.

In the end, the consumer pays the price for these actions. The NFL and EA both get paid, while the sports fan consumer is relegated to pay $60 for what ends up being a roster refresh. Without innovation, the Madden franchise has stagnated, and true sports fans are stuck.

In following with the tradition that began in Soul Calibur 2, the latest installment of Soul Calibur will feature a special character that will be unique to each platform, says 1up. These are Yoda on the 360 version and Darth Vader on the PS3, which seem like a natural fit to their respective platform.

While it remains impossible to battle Yoda against Vader, this inclusion adds a fun, albeit uncanonical twist to the series.

Following on the heels of Chessmaster XI on PC and Chessmaster: The Art of Learning on DS, 360 gamers will soon have a chance to play the royal game against each other over Xbox Live Arcade. While the original rumor of this game (based on Gamestop’s preorder availability of Chessmaster on 360) turned out to be false, it seems as though Ubisoft is finally going tomake the game available in January 2008. I originally doubted they’d move to the Arcade for this game, but it appears as though they thought more units would be sold this way.

The details of the game remain to be seen, but it will feature various levels of CPU opponents, voice and camera support, and “message chess,” which seems to be an implementation of correspondence chess.

Along with the 360 announcement was news that the PSP version would also be coming in Spring 2008. No word yet on what features can be expected on this version.

[via TeamXbox]

1up got a hands-on preview of the PS3 version of The Orange Box, (Valve’s mega-package of Half-Life 2, its expansions, Portal, and Team Fortress 2) but were less than impressed by what they saw.  They cite a poor framerate, especially in the numerous vehicular sequences of Half-Life 2, as being particularly troublesome, saying they feel like you’re watching a slideshow rather than enjoying a videogame.

Valve’s founder, Gabe Newell, had previously proclaimed the PS3 as a “waste of everybody’s time” and based on the looks of the Orange Box, it seems we know why.  Whether or not Valve will be able to improve the framerate issues before launch remains to be seen, but a colossal flop on a port to the PS3 will put another dent into the shiny black console.

Australian site Gameplayer got some hands-on time with both the Xbox360 and the PS3 versions of the upcoming game Turok, and came to the conclusion that both versions look, feel and play just the same. This is a big step for Sony, as there has been quite a discrepancy between 360 and PS3 versions of a lot of games, namely the EA Sports games. Gameplayer says that both versions look great, and play smoothly.

Epic has concentrated their development of Unreal Tournament 3 on the PS3 version first, in order to get their Unreal Engine, the technology that powered Gears of War, running well on the platform. This same engine powers Bioshock, Turok, and many upcoming cross-platform games. Getting performance out of this engine is an important step for Sony to catch up with the 360’s big lead in the first-person-shooter category.

Spend some quality time with your loved ones today, because starting tomorrow it’s a going to be a crazy couple of weeks for gamers. While big titles on Wii include Super Mario Galaxy and on PC include a new Everquest expansion and Crysis, we 360 gamers can finally experience the highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed, along with Blacksite: Area 51, and America’s Army: True Soldiers. And this is just a preview before next week, when Bioware’s Mass Effect, a sure competitor for game of the year, finally arrives.

Xbox Live Arcade will be releasing two new titles this week, including the alien fighter Screwjumper by THQ, and Activisions Shrek and Roll. Have fun this week!

Gamevideos.com has a brand spanking new teaser trailer of Soul Calibur IV, the sequel to the amazing fighting games that have graced Dreamcast, Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox. Rumour has it that this game will be multiplatform (360, PS3), but no word yet if it will feature platform specific characters like Soul Calibur 2. (Sorry Spawn, but Link > *)

Soul Calibur III, which was a PS2 exclusive, was a bit of a let down for many, so we’ll have to hold our judgement for IV until more surfaces. Until then, check out the video, complete with Ivy’s boobs hanging out, but alas, no gameplay footage.

Hexus.gaming announced today that at an event in Paris, Ubisoft announced they are working on a game based on Beowulf. This would logically be released in conjunction with the Robert Zemeckis film coming this November. Beowulf is one of those things that half 0f us read and actually enjoyed in High School, while the other half hated.. but as I fall in the first category, I’m looking forward to this.

If you haven’t seen it yet, the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer has arrived on the tubes. See it here in SD or here in HD.

After a couple watch-throughs, it’s clear that Rockstar has seriously ramped up the graphics in IV. The increased horsepower of the next-gen consoles is really going to allow this genre to expand to bigger environments (as was seen in Crackdown) and from the looks of it, GTA IV will capture the feel of NYC with the busy, bustling activity.

The character you control is no longer a thug on a bike like in San Andreas. Instead it looks like you are a Russian immigrant.

Maybe GTA V will be in Boston and we can have some Irish influences.