8 Biggest Xbox Risks (That Totally Backfired)

Famously, one of the stroke of geniuses of the PlayStation 2 - and an unsung reason for its wider success - was the inclusion of a DVD Player. In many ways, the decision is responsible for games systems heading towards being total entertainment packages.

Sony then followed the DVD with their own format, a little thing you may have heard of called "Blu-ray". Most importantly, Blu-ray players in 2006 were going for well over a $1000 as is so the PS3 including one as standard made it an attractive machine.

To combat this, Microsoft picked a competing format called HD DVD. Suddenly, the fight for high-def video centered itself around video game consoles.

The Xbox 360 didn't come equipped with an HD DVD player but an optional disc-drive accessory was produced. Problem was, many gamers opted for the 360 based on its competitive price as opposed to the PS3. Also, they didn't want to shell out another $200 especially considering that most TVs at the time weren't good enough to show high-definition in its full power.

The miniature war between the formats was quite a short one, with certain movie studios aligning on either side. However with Blockbuster, Walmart and the nascent Netflix choosing to exclusively stock Blu-ray, HD DVD was not long for this world.

Thankfully, this is one unfortunate choice that didn't do lasting damage to the Xbox brand, it was just a case of backing the wrong horse.