Overwhelmed

Okay, so it turns out that offering the emulator for free was WAY more popular than we had anticipated.  Josh (Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator Support Program Manager) is just a tad bit buried under all the emails right now, so please be patient with the delay while he sorts through the requests.  (And please don't keep sending the email over and over again!  Seriously...poor Josh).

Some things that I assumed everyone knew based on my original post on the Xbox 360 HD DVD emulator...

You need an Xbox 360 with a hard drive.   The emulator is software that runs on the Xbox 360.  We are not giving away hardware.  The software will only run on the Xbox 360.  It will not run on a PC.  And it won't run on the Xbox 360 Arcade because it doesn't have a hard drive.

You need the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on.   The software needed for HD DVD playback is on the add-on drive, so it is required to run the emulation software as well.  If you don't have one to go with your Xbox 360, you will need to purchase one to use the emulator.

This is a development and test tool.   If you're looking to make your own HD DVDs or play around with some HDi - have at it.  If you think this will allow you to playback ripped discs you have stored on a hard drive, it will not.  The emulator is a great tool for testing HD DVD projects.  If you're looking for something that will just playback content, use the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on (which you would already have), or buy a Toshiba HD DVD player for under $100, or buy the Cyberlink PowerDVD player that will play that other media format as well.  Seriously, I think the emulator is great (Andy does good work), but it's not much fun outside the context of HD DVD development.

As I learn more on the status of releasing tokens, I will post more.  In the meantime, sit tight and be patient with Josh as he sorts this all out.

Comments

• Anonymous
  March 05, 2008
  The Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator is now available as a free download on Xbox Live Marketplace when you request
• Anonymous
  March 05, 2008
  Do you know of a rough size estimate so I can start to make room on my hard drive?Thanks
• Anonymous
  March 05, 2008
  Okay, so it turns out that offering the emulator for free was WAY more popular than we had anticipated
• Anonymous
  March 05, 2008
  Sorry, I don't even have a rough estimate.  Josh is currently locked in his office and prohibited from coming out until he has this all sorted out.  I think he might be whimpering.  I'm not sure.  It's hard to hear him over the hum from his Xbox.
• Anonymous
  March 05, 2008
  Ha, poor guy, Id hate to be him now, or any other time similar to this! Thanks anyway, I can't wait to get this emulator in my hands to test it out and everything. Hopefully you along with Andy will still be updating your blogs when it comes to HDi.
• Anonymous
  March 18, 2008
  The comment has been removed
• Anonymous
  March 18, 2008
  Tokens were dispensed via email, though now they are all gone!
• Anonymous
  March 19, 2008
  Amy, how do you mean they are all gone?
• Anonymous
  March 19, 2008
  We had a finite number of tokens available for distribution and the emulator was far more popular than we had anticipated and we distributed all of our tokens very quickly.  For alternative solutions for working on HDi and interactive media applications, read:http://blogs.msdn.com/amyd/archive/2008/03/18/tokens-gone.aspx