An interesting post appeared on the official Xbox Team blog as the week fizzled out, concerning the amount of development the team endured to ensure HD-DVD drive compatibility with the Xbox 360. The add-on drive has apparently meant a staggering 4.7 million lines of code have been added to the 360's OS in an attempt to bring the Microsoft backed HD-DVD standard to the Xbox. This software-update driving the Xbox's HD-DVD implementation apparently utitlises the full 'six hardware threads' of the triple core CPU, and is claimed to push the system harder than any game currently available, ensuring for some considerable fan noise one would imagine. It's also cost Microsoft 'millions of dollars' to add. Lets hope it's all worth it and Xbox fans don't end up with the runner-up in the re-run of the VHS/Betamax war.
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