14 DAY TRIAL // It didn't take long for the first effects of the partnership between Microsoft and Toshiba announced yesterday to appear.
According to the statements made by Bill Gates in Japan, Xbox 360, the new gaming console may include HD-DVD drives.
Considering that such a decision would postpone the launching date, Microsoft will equip the initial models with classic DVD drives, and only after the new HD-DVD are ready, the Xbox will incorporate them.
Xbox 360 going into the HD-DVD side is an important advantage for Toshiba and in the same time a response to Sony's announcement that the new Play Station 3 will incorporate the Blu-Ray standard.
Up until now, the Play Station sales exceed Xbox's, but the fact that Microsoft will be launched before PlayStation 3 makes some analysts say this situation will change.
Gates also said that the Microsoft-Toshiba alliance is not a unilateral partnership and that many of the equipments manufactured by the Japanese company, such as the Tablet PCs will be based on Longhorn, Microsoft's future operating system.