Microsoft’s announcement this week that–surprise, surprise–the Xbox 360 really does support high-end 1080p HD output must have come as something of a shock to Sony, which, let’s face it, has had enough bad news to deal with lately. Publicly, Sony was all bluster in the face of yet another PlayStation 3 “advantage” being casually wiped away. “Microsoft’s announced HD games patch is really just a compatibility feature–upscaling lower-resolution content does not make it full HD (1080p), something that PlayStation 3 can do out of the box,” said Dave Karraker, the senior director of corporate communications at Sony Computer Entertainment America. Too bad he’s incorrect: Although the Xbox patch will indeed upscale 720p content, it will also let the Xbox 360 output games developed in 1080p at their native resolution. (Side note: Some people have said that 1080p requires an HDMI connection; Microsoft says that’s not true and that the Xbox 360 will support 1080p over both component and VGA connections.)

There’s also a bit about Sony adding HDMI to the lower priced PS3 and lower pricing for the *home* market as well.

I am basing my TV choice on the 360, but not for the promise of the 1080p, etc. It is because of the 8ms response time it supports, which is good for games and good for TV in general, not to mention the size. At this point, for the amount of money it is going to cost and the size I want, I might as well go all out. I don’t want to buy one now and another in five years.

As for the HDMI, I don’t see why MS doesn’t just release an HDMI cable like they did with VGA, S-Video and the Component versions. If the hardware supports it, then all they need is the new cable.

With respect to games, yeah, most are gonna still be 720p, but there are some coming that are 1080i and eventually there will be 1080p — I’m betting on Halo 3 — so it will just take time. Also, anyone stupid enough not to change the rate to match the game deserves the experience they get.

Finally, my 360 sits on the cart in an open space and so does the power brick. I ain’t stupid and I ain’t had shag carpeting since living in the Rockland ‘jects, yo!

As of right now, 360 has the games I want to play. That’s all it comes down to for me. I mean, I don’t want my 360 breaking, but as long as it functions, I’m good.

But as for HD and cool graphics and whatnot, it takes a lot to make my eyes bleed. I just spent two weeks playing my old N64 and had a grand old time. I can easily play the old Street Fighter II and enjoy myself, because the game is fun. Good graphics are nice, but the greatest, highest-definition graphics in the world won’t save a shitty game–while a great game with mediocre graphics is often worth playing.

Microsoft’s 1080p plans may be more flash than substance, however. Because the 360 lacks an HDMI output, the only way to get the improved HD resolution will be via the system’s default component outputs or (presumably) by adding a VGA cable (sold separately). The problem: almost no HDTVs actually accept 1080p video signals via their component inputs. VGA/RGB inputs tend to fare better in this regard, but they’re not as prevalent on HDTVs as the ubiquitous component inputs are. Also, movie studios have the option of adding a so-called Image Constraint Token to their HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies, a copy-protection option that delivers less-than-optimal resolution through all outputs but HDMI. They have yet to do so, but if they reverse course, watching HD-DVDs on the 360 would deliver a movie-watching experience that’s little better than that of standard DVDs. Similarly, while the software update may enable the 360 to upscale games and videos to 1080p resolution, most games will still be optimized for a native resolution of 720p.

I wouldn’t base your TV purchase on the HD-DVD.

As for the HD-DVD option – by purchasing that (in addition to a $400 360) – MS is now only $30 cheaper than Sony’s top-of-the line model – and Sony’s $600 unit comes with a 60GB hard-drive – compared to Sony’s 20GB. Suddenly, Sony doesn’t look so crazy.