Almost a year ago at CES 2006, Bill Gates announced during his opening night keynote speech that an HD-DVD add-on drive would be released for the Xbox 360. That was back when we thought the PlayStation3 would be launching much earlier in the year, and well before consumers had access to either of the competing next-gen DVD formats. In the months since we've witnessed the launch of both HD-DVD and Blu-ray, and while neither format has managed to get off to a very smooth start, it appears that at least one of them will be here to stay. Microsoft seems intent to ensure that there are no PS3 bullet points that the 360 lacks. The fall update to Xbox Live enabled new 1080p support for the 360, and the HD-DVD drive gets the next-gen movie capability under control as well. The 360 is quickly proving itself a rather flexible platform, and though gaming console add-ons have traditionally been significant primarily for their rather spectacular failures, as Peter Moore should recall from his days with Sega and the Sega CD and 32X Genesis add-ons, the fact that Microsoft doesn't plan to make games rely upon the HD-DVD add on should make it a viable optional upgrade for 360 owners.