The Xbox 360 HD DVD drive has clocked up 92,000 sales in the US according to market researchers at the NPD group.
42,000 of the 360 peripherals were sold in the US in November 2006 (its first month of sale). This was followed by 50,000 units being sold in December. The 360 has sold 4.5 million in the US, therefore the HD DVD drive's uptake is currently just over 2%.
These figures compare to 687,300 Blu-Ray-enabled PS3s sold to date in the US. That means that just shy of 600,000 more Blu-ray DVD players are sat in the homes of US gamers than 360 HD DVD drives.
What should be kept in mind, however, is that PS3 buyers were getting Blu-Ray capability whether they wanted it or not. It's reasonably safe to assume that many early PS3 adopters would have bought the system regardless of whether it was Blu-ray or HD-compatible. The buyers of Microsoft's peripheral, however, were obviously making a direct vote for the HD format.
The figures also come hot on the heels of the Porn industry adopting the HD format. Reports came from the adult industry exhibition in Las Vegas last week that all the major adult studios are standardising on HD DVD. Lower production costs were cited as the primary factor influencing the decision. German magazine Heisse was painted a different picture by German smut producer Digital Playground, however. It found that manufacturers are rejecting adult content on Blu-Ray due to fears that Sony would cancel production licenses with them.
Either way, love it or loathe it, the porn market's undeniably huge. Its studios' support of HD adds further weight to the format's position in the market.
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