Make up your mind, Microsoft: Xbox group product manager Aaron Greenberg has said that Microsoft ISN'T in talks with Sony to incorporate Blu-ray into the Xbox 360 - despite the fact MS overlord Steve Balmer suggested it was.
"Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience," said Greenberg told Reuters, stating that instead the company is going to focus on digital downloads.
"We're the only console offering digital distribution of entertainment content," he added.
In related news Nikkei is reporting that Toshiba's set to take $1 billion hit for the loss of HD-DVD. Ouch.
It's a bit confusing what's going on then, because last week Microsoft boss Steve Balmer said, "Toshiba has moved on. We've moved on, and we'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense." Just not on Xbox 360, by the looks of it.
HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray? It looks like now it's Blu-ray vs. digital downloads, as it was inevitably going to be.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
Think about the next XBox maybe, but not the 360.
& what info have you got to be so sure it wont ever happen
b******s. Microsoft knows that the money is now in Blu-ray movies. Unless they want all their movie-watching 360 owners to pick up a PS3 they know they have to release the add-on.
The vast majority of 360 owners also only have a 20Gb hard disk (if any at all) so can't rely on the digital download method.
The only question is whether they'll relent and we'll see BR games in the future. That's a much more interesting debate.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
Think about the next XBox maybe, but not the 360.
Ooooooh, check out the expertise on 'Lord PS3' here. A man/child who shows incredible certainty in all matters X360, despite being proven wrong on every other subject so far.
If there's one thing that even you should know about Microsoft, PS3Boy, it's that they're predictable to a fault as far as chasing profits are concerned. If there's money to be made, MS will start sniffing, as sure as night follows day.
b******s. Microsoft knows that the money is now in Blu-ray movies. Unless they want all their movie-watching 360 owners to pick up a PS3 they know they have to release the add-on.
The vast majority of 360 owners also only have a 20Gb hard disk (if any at all) so can't rely on the digital download method.
The only question is whether they'll relent and we'll see BR games in the future. That's a much more interesting debate.
Actually, there's no money in Blu-Ray at the moment. Sony have taken huge losses on Blu-Ray, as they have to pay out a sum of money on each PS3 they sell to the Blu-Ray Consortium, (Which includes several large corporations other than Sony) and since HD-DVD died, prices have shot up on all Blu-Ray players by around 25%, in order to offset the money that sellers are losing on them.
I assume that's because a lot of people were like me and refused to commit to either format until the war was over. I also think that leading the Blu-ray format with a hefty priced console may have hurt them in the shorter term. But obviously this is passed.
But now BR is the only HD format worth bothering with. Are there sales figures available for VHS after Betamax was abandoned? I imagine it'll follow pretty much the same trend.
I assume that's because a lot of people were like me and refused to commit to either format until the war was over. I also think that leading the Blu-ray format with a hefty priced console may have hurt them in the shorter term. But obviously this is passed.
But now BR is the only HD format worth bothering with. Are there sales figures available for VHS after Betamax was abandoned? I imagine it'll follow pretty much the same trend.
I doubt it, not when most people are still happy with DVD.
I assume that's because a lot of people were like me and refused to commit to either format until the war was over. I also think that leading the Blu-ray format with a hefty priced console may have hurt them in the shorter term. But obviously this is passed.
But now BR is the only HD format worth bothering with. Are there sales figures available for VHS after Betamax was abandoned? I imagine it'll follow pretty much the same trend.
I doubt it, not when most people are still happy with DVD.
I am. Especialy at 1/4 of the price per film. & the difference isnt that great IMO. Not like the jump from VHS to DVD anyway.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
Think about the next XBox maybe, but not the 360.
& what info have you got to be so sure it wont ever happen
Wow.. what a surprise, no reply from him when concrete information is asked for.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
Think about the next XBox maybe, but not the 360.
& what info have you got to be so sure it wont ever happen
for once i agree with lordvonps3, i cant see blu ray making it into the 360, at least not anytime soon. MS said that it will use it in ways that make sense, adding blu ray to 360 doesnt make sense as they market it as a games machine only. also, it will go against their download facility in Live.
dont forget that the money is in software not hardware so selling an addon will likely be done at a loss or it will be expensive. also, Ms wont make any money from bluray film sales like sony do.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
Think about the next XBox maybe, but not the 360.
& what info have you got to be so sure it wont ever happen
for once i agree with lordvonps3, i cant see blu ray making it into the 360, at least not anytime soon. MS said that it will use it in ways that make sense, adding blu ray to 360 doesnt make sense as they market it as a games machine only. also, it will go against their download facility in Live.
dont forget that the money is in software not hardware so selling an addon will likely be done at a loss or it will be expensive. also, Ms wont make any money from bluray film sales like sony do.
It probably wont make it in but he's so damn sure so I just want to know where he got his concrete info from
b******s. Microsoft knows that the money is now in Blu-ray movies. Unless they want all their movie-watching 360 owners to pick up a PS3 they know they have to release the add-on.
The vast majority of 360 owners also only have a 20Gb hard disk (if any at all) so can't rely on the digital download method.
The only question is whether they'll relent and we'll see BR games in the future. That's a much more interesting debate.
The problem is that you assume that Blu-Ray is actually selling copies and making money--it really isn't, not over here in the States.
Until there's a higher proliferation of HDTVs (I believe it's something like 15% of households...), and their monthly sales aren't but a mere pittance (1-2%) of standard DVD sales, Blu-Ray won't be relevant.
Add to that the push for Fiber to the Home (Verizon is rolling this out in all of its areas, Qwest will be doing the same thing in the next year or two), and the broadband speeds will be there for digital distribution...likely ahead of the curve for mass-market HDTV proliferation.
While Blu-Ray is a nice-looking basket (though HD-DVD did have better codecs...), it's a rather shallow one at best in the largest media market there is.
I don't see digital downloads as a viable option for a long time. People like a sense of actually physically owning something. I want to go to the shops and buy the movie on disc, or the game on disc. Music downloads have been the rage for a while now, but the license is more flexible because you can burn it to a disc.
In the UK at least, broadband speeds are painfully slow, and until the network is upgraded (and BT and the govt have been dragging their heels over this for years), digital downloads of movies and software will never be a viable option for most because it takes far too long! We have started to see TV on demand, but this is streamed. How would you stream a video game? Apart from that, the consoles as they are now (x360 especially) need bigger hard drives, and the hard drives of the next-gen consoles would have to be huge.
I don't think MS should release a BR drive for the 360. For a start, add ons are dumb. Secondly, they want to push their download service for movies (which I think is also dumb, they are rentals, and too expensive at that). Thirdly, it would not serve the utility of the console - games would still be on DVD9.
I don't see digital downloads as a viable option for a long time...
I know what you're saying, and yet I know more people who download movies (perfectly legitimately I'm sure...) than who rent bluray films, and that's in the UK.
Personally, I'm not bothered by a bluray drive for 360 anytime soon, but I certainly wouldn't say no to it in the future. I don't think there's a problem with HDD space either for the 360, since it doesn't force massive installations for each of the games and you can always upgrade to an elite quite cheaply if you're bothered.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
Think about the next XBox maybe, but not the 360.
Ooooooh, check out the expertise on 'Lord PS3' here. A man/child who shows incredible certainty in all matters X360, despite being proven wrong on every other subject so far.
If there's one thing that even you should know about Microsoft, PS3Boy, it's that they're predictable to a fault as far as chasing profits are concerned. If there's money to be made, MS will start sniffing, as sure as night follows day.
Actually, coming to think about it, Lord Von PS3 normally only becomes that "sure" about anything, (or starts making stuff up and presenting it as hard fact) when something appears that makes the PS3 (and thus him) seem threatened in any way...
Oh, for shame Lord PS3! You don't really believe that an X360 Blu-Ray player would hurt Sony that much, do you? Oh, that's just embarrassing...
It just goes to show that even the biggest Sony fanboys appear to think that the only real thing the PS3 has going for it at the moment is it's movie playback feature, and they're even scared of losing that to Microsoft's machine, hence the 'assertions' of the loudest voices.
Seeing as I'm on a roll, I'd just like to take a second to compare the PS3 to the old Phillips CD-i machine, with it's VCD video playback. Quite apt, I think, considering that the best games the CD-i had to offer were also long movies with some barely interactive bits to break it up. (7th Guest = MGS4, anyone?)
b******s. Microsoft knows that the money is now in Blu-ray movies. Unless they want all their movie-watching 360 owners to pick up a PS3 they know they have to release the add-on.
The vast majority of 360 owners also only have a 20Gb hard disk (if any at all) so can't rely on the digital download method.
The only question is whether they'll relent and we'll see BR games in the future. That's a much more interesting debate.
yep we'll defo see a blue-ray add on because people aren't gonna go out and spend Ł120 on a bigger hard drive just to rent movies from the digital download service. until they put full ownable movies on this service it just ain't gonna work. and i still don't see why MS don't allow us to use other external harddrives to save info on. sony have let us do it with the ps3 but MS only seem to want us to buy their overpriced official products.
Sunscramble. I for one do not feel threatened by a non-existant 360 Blu-ray device. Even if Microsoft developed a 360 add on (which again - they WON'T), the a/v output would be mediocre at best and wouldn't be worth it compared to a cheap standalone Blu-ray player. Technology licensing, design costs, manufacturing, marketing, consumer RRP, damage to reputation... The list goes on.
EDIT - oh and as for "being proved wrong". Cite me. Where?
To that other idiot poster who seemed to think it likely, the 360 will NEVER play Blu-ray games. To repeat myself for about the 5th time, the 360 is hardcoded to boot from the DVD drive and is incapable of booting games from the HD DVD device. In fact, the HD DVD device won't even play CD's. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927406. Any Blu-ray add-on would be immediately in the same pitch, yaw and roll as the HD DVD device. We all know no games were ever made for the 360 in HD DVD format and that's because it was never possible.
Check your own contacts / sources - if you even have any, before blurting more spurious nonsense. Your posts are directly capable of qualifying for "fanboy" status purely because they're based on your ridiculous assumptions which amount to nothing more than what you want as opposed to what is. I certainly don't need to cite mine just to appease you and am more than happy to make my (valid and fact based) points just to see your ridiculous counter-claims.
MS could replace the now defunct HD-DVD drive with a combi BD/HD-DVD one, and maybe offer a trade in on the old HD/DVD drives?
Love the sarcasm. It just shows how some people are living in a dreamworld. I look forward to reading the hilarious replies of acknowledgement to this one.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
Think about the next XBox maybe, but not the 360.
Ooooooh, check out the expertise on 'Lord PS3' here. A man/child who shows incredible certainty in all matters X360, despite being proven wrong on every other subject so far.
If there's one thing that even you should know about Microsoft, PS3Boy, it's that they're predictable to a fault as far as chasing profits are concerned. If there's money to be made, MS will start sniffing, as sure as night follows day.
Actually, coming to think about it, Lord Von PS3 normally only becomes that "sure" about anything, (or starts making stuff up and presenting it as hard fact) when something appears that makes the PS3 (and thus him) seem threatened in any way...
Oh, for shame Lord PS3! You don't really believe that an X360 Blu-Ray player would hurt Sony that much, do you? Oh, that's just embarrassing...
It just goes to show that even the biggest Sony fanboys appear to think that the only real thing the PS3 has going for it at the moment is it's movie playback feature, and they're even scared of losing that to Microsoft's machine, hence the 'assertions' of the loudest voices.
Seeing as I'm on a roll, I'd just like to take a second to compare the PS3 to the old Phillips CD-i machine, with it's VCD video playback. Quite apt, I think, considering that the best games the CD-i had to offer were also long movies with some barely interactive bits to break it up. (7th Guest = MGS4, anyone?)
Fanboy Battle Super Combine Power +10!
If the PS3 were a CDi, I shudder to think what the 360 would be by comparison. At least the CDi played discs *well* to a defined standard.
The 360's DVD features are the worst available - even worse than many cheap standalone DVD players.
I'm sure that if Blu-Ray were to take off in any meaningful way, Microsoft would be there in a flash with an external drive.
On the plus-side, this wait-and-see approach should prevent a lot of people from splashing out on what could wind up being another dead format before long.
"You're sure"? No. You're not. You don't have a clue.
The 360 will NOT see a Blu-ray add on - or integration.
Think about the next XBox maybe, but not the 360.
To be honest, I really couldn't care less about this subject at all....but, you should really try not coming off as such a pompous, obnoxious little smart-a*** if getting challenges to your claims bothers you - maybe try addressing people like adults.
Yawn...all this fanboy stuff is getting incredibly tedious...
I don't think blu-ray on 360 will happen. Firstly, it would be a bit too embarassing for MS. How can they say "we f**ked up by backing HD-DVD, now we're going to our main competitor for a HD format". Not likely.
Also, I don't think Sony would agree. As the only HD format remaining, they don't need to do this, and they won't willingly help their competitor.
Sunscramble. I for one do not feel threatened by a non-existant 360 Blu-ray device. Even if Microsoft developed a 360 add on (which again - they WON'T), the a/v output would be mediocre at best and wouldn't be worth it compared to a cheap standalone Blu-ray player.
Please show me your wisdom oh wise one, As far as I know the PS3 is a petty good blueray player (true), The Xbox360 is a very similar spec'ed machine and can play HD DVD's to the same if not slightly better quality (codec's), Both machines output in HDMI (xbox also in vga)in various forms up to the magic 1080p with HDsoundtracks (DtsHD etc). Yet you say MEDIOCRE If that would be the case, Then wouldn't your mighty PS3 be MEDIOCRE at best to
EDIT - oh and as for "being proved wrong". Cite me. Where?
To that other idiot poster who seemed to think it likely, the 360 will NEVER play Blu-ray games. To repeat myself for about the 5th time, the 360 is hardcoded to boot from the DVD drive and is incapable of booting games from the HD DVD device. In fact, the HD DVD device won't even play CD's. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927406. Any Blu-ray add-on would be immediately in the same pitch, yaw and roll as the HD DVD device. We all know no games were ever made for the 360 in HD DVD format and that's because it was never possible.
Check your own contacts / sources - if you even have any, before blurting more spurious nonsense. Your posts are directly capable of qualifying for "fanboy" status purely because they're based on your ridiculous assumptions which amount to nothing more than what you want as opposed to what is. I certainly don't need to cite mine just to appease you and am more than happy to make my (valid and fact based) points just to see your ridiculous counter-claims.
. . . .
This is a special moment.
The ultimate fanboy has just pwned himself with his own words.
I don't see digital downloads as a viable option for a long time. People like a sense of actually physically owning something. I want to go to the shops and buy the movie on disc, or the game on disc. Music downloads have been the rage for a while now, but the license is more flexible because you can burn it to a disc.
In the UK at least, broadband speeds are painfully slow, and until the network is upgraded (and BT and the govt have been dragging their heels over this for years), digital downloads of movies and software will never be a viable option for most because it takes far too long! We have started to see TV on demand, but this is streamed. How would you stream a video game? Apart from that, the consoles as they are now (x360 especially) need bigger hard drives, and the hard drives of the next-gen consoles would have to be huge.
I don't think MS should release a BR drive for the 360. For a start, add ons are dumb. Secondly, they want to push their download service for movies (which I think is also dumb, they are rentals, and too expensive at that). Thirdly, it would not serve the utility of the console - games would still be on DVD9.
This may come as quite a surprise to you, but you can also burn movies onto disks. Yup technology it moves so fast these days.
Also I live in the UK and I'm on 20meg broadband, might even be 50meg by the end of the year, I wouldn't say that was painfully slow. I'd say you need to change ISP.
I don't see digital downloads as a viable option for a long time. People like a sense of actually physically owning something. I want to go to the shops and buy the movie on disc, or the game on disc. Music downloads have been the rage for a while now, but the license is more flexible because you can burn it to a disc.
In the UK at least, broadband speeds are painfully slow, and until the network is upgraded (and BT and the govt have been dragging their heels over this for years), digital downloads of movies and software will never be a viable option for most because it takes far too long! We have started to see TV on demand, but this is streamed. How would you stream a video game? Apart from that, the consoles as they are now (x360 especially) need bigger hard drives, and the hard drives of the next-gen consoles would have to be huge.
I don't think MS should release a BR drive for the 360. For a start, add ons are dumb. Secondly, they want to push their download service for movies (which I think is also dumb, they are rentals, and too expensive at that). Thirdly, it would not serve the utility of the console - games would still be on DVD9.
This may come as quite a surprise to you, but you can also burn movies onto disks. Yup technology it moves so fast these days.
Also I live in the UK and I'm on 20meg broadband, might even be 50meg by the end of the year, I wouldn't say that was painfully slow. I'd say you need to change ISP.
Agree with above, what some people don't seem to know is that ADSL2 isn't too far from being utilised by BT (no additional infrastructure is required) - it is really just new hardware in the exchanges, and that will allow up to 24Mb connections.
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