Microsoft Corp. will release an HD DVD player for its Xbox 360 video game machine in time for the 2006 holiday season and will have 10 million of its next-generation consoles to market before its rivals debut their new systems, company executives said on Tuesday.

Microsoft got a head start when it released the Xbox 360 in November. Rivals Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. Ltd plan to debut their new gaming machines, the PlayStation 3 and the Wii, later this year.

But the PlayStation 3 due later this year will have a Blu-ray DVD player, which is a competing next-generation DVD standard to HD DVD supported by Toshiba Corp.

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