Microsoft Taiwan: No 360 HD-DVD For Asia

A report from Asian IT news site Digitimes is citing Microsoft Taiwan officials' comments that the forthcoming HD-DVD addon for Microsoft's Xbox 360 will not be concurrently released in Asian markets. The add-on, slated for release before the end of the year in North America, adds no gaming functionality, but gives the console the ability to play back HD-DVD movies, a small selection of which are already available. According to Microsoft Taiwan, though, the supply and selection of HD-DVD movies in 'Asia' (presumably defined as Asian countries outside of Japan) is currently small enough to not warrant the marketing and release of the player for the time being. Representatives of the Taiwanese branch also indicated to Digitimes that Microsoft was still monitoring the battle between HD-DVD and its competing Blu-ray format for next-generation adoption and standardization. The website suggests could be a sign that Microsoft could eventually adopt Blu-ray if HD-DVD fails to take off, though this seems relatively unlikely in the short-term, as Bill Gates and other senior Microsoft figures have been aggressively promulgating HD-DVD in public speeches.