Microsoft Corp. has officially cut the price of its HD DVD add-on player for its Xbox 360 game console to about $50 following the recent decision to discontinue the drive because of Toshiba’s withdrawal from the format war. While with the drive from Microsoft it is more affordable than ever to watch high-definition movies, the pending lack of HD DVD titles in the following quarters does not make it a good investment.

Microsoft HD DVD drive for Xbox 360 system can playback HD DVD movies provided that it is plugged to the gaming system from Microsoft or a personal computer running Windows operating system using USB bus. From now on the device is price at $49.99, a price-point of an advanced DVD burner.

Despite of the fact that HD DVD standard may see its dusk soon, there are several hundreds of movies available on such discs, many of them are exclusive to HD DVD. As of mid-February, over 380 HD DVD titles have been released in the USA, over 210 Japanese HD DVD titles have been released and there are hundreds of HD DVD titles available in Europe with tens more incoming. Therefore, HD DVD playback capability seems to be a truly valuable feature now and in the forthcoming quarters.

But while there are loads of HD DVD movies available now at a discount price, given the fact that the vast majority of them are expected to be available on Blu-ray disc eventually, it may not make sense for many customers to grab an HD DVD add-on now.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disc drives for PCs and video game consoles in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements.