Just as Sony was busy supporting itself in the next-gen format wars (see this article), Microsoft announced at CES that an external HD-DVD drive would be available for the Xbox 360 by the end of the year, a rival format to Sony’s next-gen Blu-ray technology that will be used in PlayStation 3 systems. No price or release information was announced. Furthermore, Microsoft announced that 50 Xbox 360 games would be available by the end of 2006, which seems pretty low, but we might see some more announcements by E3. Updated projections from Microsoft say that by June 2006, the company expects to have shipped 4.5 million to 5.5 million 360s worldwide.
