Report: Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360
Microsoft has denied that it plans to integrate Blu-ray high-definition DVD drives into its Xbox 360 game console.
(Credit: Microsoft)Rumors have circulated recently that Microsoft was considering a Blu-ray replacement for the Xbox's now-discontinued external HD DVD drive.
Last week, the Financial Times, citing an unnamed senior executive, reported that Sony and Microsoft were in talks to integrate Blu-ray into the game system.
Not so, says a Microsoft executive. "Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience," Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, told Reuters on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, reports indicate that Toshiba will likely take a nearly $1 billion loss this year, stemming from its decision to abandon the HD DVD format.
distribution format.
So there
live is really pretty good. Many of the top titles are also avalible in
HD formats (720p) and look really good. I have recently been
watching more and for the couple bucks it costs it seems like a
better deal than some other services. I might not need an HD drive
if they contiune with this. So far all the movies I have wanted to
see but not pay for in theatres have been released on xbox live and
HD so they are already way a head of sony in that field.
The xbox is the only one of the Big Three that is stagnant, while the others are gorwing by huge margins (little wonder MSFT slashed prices on them, which seems to have little effect on the pounding that it's taking when compared to the other two...)
The PS3 has the higest price, but it also has HD and Blu-Ray, as well as solid graphics gear. The Wii gets its mojo from a low price, a unique controller, and an all-around fun stable of games. The xbox has... well... there's Halo 3 I guess.
w/o HD playback, and w/o the lowest price, and w/o any real differentiation in exclusive games outside of Halo-warmed-over, xbox is losing, and the sales are beginning to show it.
/P
* see past two weeks of figures here: http://vgchartz.com/hwtable.php?cons%5B%5D=Wii&cons%5B%5D=PS3&cons%5B%5D=X360®%5B%5D=Total&start=39509&end=39516
Many like to own hardcopies of their favorite movies and not worry if their hard drive crashes. Companies like Disney make massive profits from selling their movies to buyers in the DVD world today. I can't see that stopping anytime soon and would not suprise me that Xbox jumps at the blu-ray somehow soon.
Second mistake M$ made is not embracing Blu-ray. The PS3 will continue to outsell the 360 this year, due not only to it's superior hardware specs and games, but because it is the best Blu-ray player available.
If M$ wanted to wise up they'd embrace the format that the consumers have already chosen, and M$ would stop being so stubborn about trying to make downloadable movies happen before the bandwidth exists to do so.
There are so many various reasons why they wont and I will only give a few for you. First, you cant just force 17 million people to buy an addon to play some new games because people arnt going to fall for that kind of **** honestly, and neither will gaming developers. Nobody is going to make a game for blu-ray on xbox 360 for 900 thousand people without HUGE payoffs by Microsoft. Another reason is if you really want to get gaming capability for the drive, the price is going to skyrocket because of the connectivity needed. Loading times would be horrible on external also, just like the hd-dvd add on took forever.
I can see why Microsoft would want a blu-ray drive for games. Memory is the main thing holding the 360 back from being truely next gen. Why was the halo 3 gameplay so short, and the graphics just ok? memory. Why are games starting to ship with multiple disks? memory. Games like Metal Gear Solid 4 have already taken up all the space of the 50gb disk for ps3. Now the online multi-player will have to be on a different disk for that game. This problem shouldnt exist in a year considering blu-ray is expandable to 200gb(firmware update required). This is just an example of how far ahead the gaming industry is over the 360. Some people dont mind switching disks but the majority of people hate it and most programming companies will refuse to for many reasons. (people hate it, extra costs, harder to program, requires more space for files that usually just share between parts of the game ect.)
So my solution? Wait for the xbox 720 or whatever you want to call it. It really isnt that far ahead and is sure to have blu-ray.
That way I get a High Definition DVD player too. Xbox doesn't give you that, so it is less competitive.
It's interesting that he's so quick to point out that Microsoft have been channel stuffing, but less keen to highlight that the allegation he's referring to stems from only one blog post by an out of work analyst who was in all likelihood trying to raise his profile and find himself a new job.
Since December the PS3 has been outselling the 360 by around 15% each month and that's taking into account the 360's supply problems in January and the surge following BluRay's 'victory'. Averaged out over a full year, that equates to an extra 1.4 million PS3s sold than Xbox 360s. The 360 currently has a 6.7 million console lead over the PS3, so at that rate the PS3 will overtake the 360 some time in 2012.
Penguinisto, if you're going to start throwing numbers around then you should probably look at the market at the whole. Monthly console sales themselves only mean so much, the install base is more important. This is especially true of games consoles, where units are either sold at a marginal profit or even as a loss leader. Games sales are where the money is made and with a 6.7 million and a stronger game catalogue, the 360 is still a major player and will be for some time to come.
You may have come here to try and wind up the MS fanboys, but you're just proving to everyone that you don't know what you're talking about.
i read this some where online
MSFT says no Blu-ray for the 360...they DIDN'T say anything about the NEXT-generation replacement for the 360 not having Blu-ray.
It's one of the scenarios other analysts have already painted...the NEXT next-gen console from Redmond.
The PS3 sales are absolutely smashing Xbox 360 sales and are expected to continue for the next 9 months. Nintendo Wii sales are slowly going down as more and more people are getting slightly bored of it.
Right here are the facts:
Microsoft don't want blu-ray as they feel that downloading movies is the way forward that would probably be correct however most people's internet speeds just ain't ready for HD Movie downloads and would you like to know your movie is on a hard drive that could corrupt or crash at any moment. Unless you live in Japan USA and UK internet speeds just ain't fast enough for example USA has around 20 million internet customers on dial-up or slow broadband it would take ages to download HD movies. If Microsoft really wanted to push movie downloads they need to help Cisco out laying down new fibre cables so that we can have internet connection speeds of 100mbps just like the whole of japan if this was true for the UK and USA i wouldn't be saying this.
Other facts:
PS3 has 60GB of hard drive space not great but you can always buy a bigger one and plug it in. Cell processor, USB ports, upgradable blu-ray, upto 1080p HD. Wireless motion sensor controllers not the most comfy controllers but this is a problem Sony are working on and have a better design coming soon which will also be included in the PS4 in 2014. 256mb of RAM for graphics and another 256mb of RAM for the machine. Memory stick drives and loads more stuff. I will admit that Xbox does have some of this but i feel that they are miles behind and Microsoft need to do something about this. I feel the only thing keeping Xbox going is the price. Which isn't going to keep it going for ever especially as more and more people are beginning to see that the PS3 is actually better. So before buying a console or replying or emailing me saying the Xbox is better read through all the features that the PS3 has and then tell me that - remember you can play online and download HD 1080p movie content from the internet on the PS3. Just if your interested 2180p Sony LCD TV coming out in a couple of years. Blimey technology is moving fast.
- Report: Downloadable content is the future
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by Fil0403
March 25, 2008 12:24 PM PDT
- Who needs HD-DVD or Blu-ray when you can download anything you want HD in the comfort of your home with all the known advantages it has over physical media (like compatibility)? No one, I say.
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See all 128 Comments >>Want it or not, downloadable content is the future and only Xbox 360 trully offers it.