Microsoft Partners With Samsung For Next-Gen Xbox HDTV

Having already co-promoted the next-generation Xbox and HDTVs together by giving away 1,000 television sets during a 2005 Game Developers Conference keynote, Microsoft and Samsung announced further partnership and co-promotion to begin with the launch of the next-generation Xbox. Details are vague as to exactly how the HDTVs and game console will be co-promoted; the announcement makes several broad statements, but gives few specifics. The next-gen Xbox and Samsung's new 23" LCD TV will be "paired at retail," for example, but it's unclear whether this means something as minor as cross-promotion on the packaging of each piece of hardware or whether the two will be available together in one package. The announcement also states that Microsoft will "incorporate Samsung-branded products as well as instances of Samsung's logo" into its first HDTV-optimized game, which appears to be an indication that product placement will occur within that unspecified game. However, more concrete and laudable is Microsoft and Samsung's plan to continue their donations program to public schools in the U.S., providing classrooms with $2 million worth of Microsoft software and Samsung televisions.