Rumors persist on Blu-ray drive for XBox 360
CNET's Gamespot posted a news blurb today on a report that, "Microsoft has entered into talks with Sony to bring Blu-ray to the Xbox 360." The report comes from a Financial Times story that quotes an unnamed "senior executive," who says that Sony and Microsoft "are not simply discussing a successor to the Xbox 360's now discontinued, dirt-cheap external HD DVD drive," but that "there is also the possibility of an internal Blu-ray drive being incorporated into a new, more expensive 'premium' 360 model."
Cocept art for MGS4, which won't fit on a DVD.
(Credit: www.azeemalim.co.uk)At the Consumer Electronics Show in January Xbox group marketing manager Albert Penello alluded to the possibility of a Blu-ray option for the 360. However, Penello wasn't talking today and Microsoft denied that it had made any official move to Blu-ray.
While you could argue that having a built-in Blu-ray drive is now a competitive advantage for the PS3, Sony stands to make millions in licensing fees for the technology if Microsoft adopts it. That possibility presumably trumps the potential edge Blu-ray might give the PS3. As for Microsoft, at a certain point it has to consider going Blu--partially because premium game titles are beginning to push the limits of a DVD's 8.5GB storage capacity. The PS3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4, due out in June, apparently fills an entire Blu-ray disc, though it's unclear whether it's a single-layer 25GB disc or 50GB dual-layer disc.
What do you think? Will disc capacity force Microsoft to make the move to Blu-ray--or is it just so that it can say it's game console also plays Blu-ray movies? Let us know by posting in the comments.
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Game developing is where the money is at and porting from one console to another is a tremendous waste of time and resources that could be better spent on the next big hit and actually making the game feel next gen.
Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony should agree to a defacto standard for the next generation. Because so far only Nintendo has succeeded in doing something different, yes with less power but WII Sports is popular and Super Mario Galaxy feels next gen.
The 360 and the PS3 both still feel like Xbox 1.5 instead of next gen. Games like Grand Theft Auto are delayed because programmers at gaming companies have to port to different consoles.
Toshiba waved the white flag too early on HD-DVD, and Microsoft never gave them a fair chance by making the games mandatory HD-DVD.
So Sony won but they won't make a profit without mass adoption until they match prices to dvd and make it back on volume.
mean look at the patterns, consoles seem to rollover every 5 years or so, and i
have a pretty good idea, that at this years E3 we will probably see some concept
gaming machine slated to release 2009 or 2010, so for them to completely re-
configure the hardware from the original, is impractical, they may just throw
another add on, to it, but as far as being built in, i cant see it. now i would say
that the "next xbox" would assuredly have blu-ray built in, its a given, but to
me, for them to do everything so late in the game seems. Too little. too late.
It has been stated many times by the makers in different articles that MGS4 has filled more than the capacity of the 50GB disk and they are thinking of actually putting the multiplayer on a seperate probably lower capacity blu-ray disk. Sony shouldnt have this problem a year from now because the disk is upgradable to a high of 200gb with a simple firmware upgrade.
You also have to keep in mind that MS is probably beginning development on their new x-box, given the average console generation life-span. You can probably bet it will have blu-ray capability.
The bottom line, however, is that if it makes financial sense to do so, MS will give consumers a blu-ray add on.
If MS swercs around and delays Blu-ray adoption too long, people will leap to the PS3.
MS can't afford another Vista-like debacle with the X-Box.
I'm not sure they have fixed the overheating problem yet.
It will be like the way people are running to the Mac because Vista sucks so bad.
If you wait too long to fix a problem, there won't be anybody left to appease. They all be using your competitors' stuff.
I think it's time for MS to be knocked down several pegs so it can regroup and re-emerge as a fresh company that cares about the end-user and not profits.
360. For one, they aren't going to release games on it, because then not
everyone could play them. You fall into the "oh well....you need the blu ray
drive and this special thingy to play that game." This has never worked for a
console, non techie people just don't get it. And second, why give the Xbox
360 the ability to play Blu ray movies when they sell hi def movies on Xbox
live? Wouldn't that potentially hurt there sales? Why would they do that?
P.S. What ever happened to just using two or three discs if you needed more
space for a game?? I remember the first Metal Gear game had two
discs......that seemed to work just fine!
Better hardware incorporated, least a whole lot quieter then the DVD drive 360 has now, and more space to boot. Blu-ray is a proven and winning format. Sounds like a god send for a system that suffers 16% failure rate even after latest improvements.
The current 360 owners fear such a move would leave current owners behind but even they cannot play all older Xbox games, and those that can need a download patch.
Sounds like MS is coming out with a new gaming system, much to the fear of current 360 users, who fear change and their system obsolescence.
- xbox blu-ray
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by GreyOcelot
March 11, 2008 5:32 PM PDT
- will i agree with you the xbox 360 is inferior compared to the ps3 i have all three next gen systems and in my opinion the ps3 is a powere house its sales would be much better if it were released a year before but anyways onto the topic i think sony shouldnt let microsoft use the blu-ray microsoft can suck it.
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