Microsoft holding off on HD DVD reaction, thinks "games" sell consoles
By Paul Miller 
posted February 18th 2008 11:40AM
posted February 18th 2008 11:40AM
Microsoft hit us up with a statement today regarding its Xbox 360 HD DVD player in light of the format's current woes. The company seems to think the news won't have "any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace." Microsoft goes on to reiterate its line about the largest next-gen games library and its belief that "it is games that sell consoles." For those of you hoping for some sort of Blu-ray attachment for the 360 -- or a sense of purpose for that increasingly obsolete HD DVD player currently hooked up to your 360 -- Microsoft does say that "we will wait until we hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans around the Xbox 360 HD DVD player," which seems to imply there's something to announce once HD DVD finally kicks the bucket, but at this point the prospect of a Blu-ray add-on still seems rather optimistic.
Regarding digital downloads of HD content... the quality just doesn't compare to optical HD discs. That may happen eventually, but for right now, HD discs (either Blu-ray or HD-DVD, take your pick) have an edge.
One thing though... MS needs to offer basic pricing for movie downloads, not use the goofy point system.
I just want to be able to return or get credit for the boat anchor called an HD-DVD drive I have hooked up my 360.
I don't understand why anyone would buy a Blu ray add on for 200 dollars, when for 400 (300 possibly, if that rumored price drop happens) you get a blu ray player and a ps3. Even at 400, to me ts a better deal to buy a PS3, the fact that HD-DVD is dead, just makes the PS3 that much more valuable. Its like the more evidence it becomes that the PS3 is the better option the more people try to hold on tight to their 360(s). Blu ray, games, and free online [in game messaging and HOME coming soon] and a system that's reliable, and you can replace the hard drive with any size drive you want.. I just upgraded to a 160gb hard drive (78 dollars), and the system doubles as a PC, once you install linux. What more does PS3 have to do...
But people saying that the 360 is for games is rediculous.. right now Call of Duty 4 is the most played game online for the 360, and that game is offered on the PS3 as well. I still find it funny that no one's talking about the future of 360, and what games are on the horizon. Mass Effect, Forza, Gears, those games are already out and whoever wanted one has already got one. There's ninja Gaiden 2... for the 360, but big deal, it'll be out on PS3 as Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma, and me personally I can wait.
Digital Media is great, but the truth is, it'll never trump disc based media because people want something tangible for their money. I don't want a xbox 360 hard drive full of Movies...what happens when we make the switch to xbox 720, all your movie collection is stuck on xbox 360. Or if your 360 breaks, MS isn't going to be very friendly about getting your media to the new 360. At least w/ blu ray they'll always be something to play the discs on, and as long as you keep your discs you'll have your content.
Amen Thomas. Not every one can afford to buy a console and a BD player (some people cant even afford both.Beggars can't be choosers) To me it seems smarter to get a console that actually runs a format that has a future rather then waste time and money on something which is already counting the days till it dies, and really the 360 having better game choices? Not every one loves FPS(which is best enjoyed on pc in my opinion) besides shooters and racers the 360 hasn't got much choice(XBL has nothing i want really) and besides it has nothing compared to some of the history (FF,MGS the list continues) i know for a fact i will buy a ps3 when Tekken 6 is released
"besides shooters and racers the 360 hasn't got much choice" Don't forget RPGs, sports games, action games, fighting games, hmm actually come to think of it there have even been some articles (back about August anyways) that show that the FPS genre only makes a small portion of the 360 library.
One article had it as "First Person Shooter 11%, Third Person Shooter 6%, Fighting 3%, Sports 26%, RPG 6%, Driving/Racing/Flight 13%, RTS/Puzzle 3%, Action/Action Adventure 26%, Family/Party 6%".
Also, if you compare the number of titles the 360 has in each genre, when compared to the PS3 you'll see the 360 leads in each. I know this has to do with the 1yr headstart but the games are out there.
Knowing MS they will go blu-ray then pretend they invented it and then make the damn crap compulsory..
From the various comments on this thread I'm starting to suspect that sony is the new apple.
List of top 10 selling 360 games so far
1 Halo 3
2 Gears of War
3 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
4 Forza Motorsport 2
5 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
6 BioShock
7 Assassin's Creed
8 Madden NFL 07
9 Mass Effect
10 Madden NFL 08
Now besides multi platform games how many of those are not shooters?? I'm not saying the xbox 360 doest have a variety of titles its just the strongest titles are all shooters. Sure only 11% of 360 titles are shooters but half of the best selling games are shooters. It still has yet to prove it strengths in other genres
Of course Microsoft will have to support a Blu-Ray peripheral, particularly given yesterday's announcement by Toshiba throwing in the towel. You can refer to www.inlethd.com/blog for more discussion. There has already been some rumor that support for a BD player for XBox was planned for this year, and I would expect such an announcement now to be sooner rather than later.
Frankly, the debate of digital download vs. physical media is a little silly. Consoles like XBox have the ability to support BOTH, depending on the business model and consumer preference, and that is what will drive revenues. Digital downloads now are feasible, but relatively new and therefore not prevelant....yet. It is obvious, however, that this will likely be the last physical media format war we will see, and digital downloads will rule in the future.
Question: If hooking up a regular BR player to your TV is so dependent on using an HDMI, wouldn't you not be able expect similar quality with a BR add-on that connects to the 360 via usb? I was under the impression that the quality ends where the HDMI cable ends.. Is this really nullified by the fact that the 360 runs to the TV via HDMI, I wouldn't think so
Also, I've read that because the BR in the PS3 is intended primarily for games, watching a lot of movies on it strains the laser and it has a much shorter life expectancy than a regular blu-ray player. Not sure if this is true, but if it is I couldn't see buying a ps3 for its BRplayer. Not to mention there's no way to build a complete entertainment system around the ps3 because it lacks tru-surround sound options.
360 will remain better for gaming. And I definitely think Microsoft will soon offer a BRplayer add-on, but essentially the 360 is a game console and so is the ps3. Therefore, it seems to me it's worth just having a 360 for gaming and a regular blu-ray player for watching movies.
Here's how I see it, the Dreamcast was released September 9th 1999 and was/still is a great console (I own one) The next year, the Playstation 2 was released. The Dreamcast quickly died, because of the PS2's ability to play DVD's. Soon the DVD became what games were put on, and the CD died out for the use of that purpose. The 360 was released September 15th 2005 (again, a great console, I own one) The next year, the Playstation 3 was released, and yet again, Sony releases it's console with the ability to play the "next gen" of media. Now the HD-DVD is dead, and things are turning to what Sony's entertainment system uses as a standard (Yet again), which is Blu-ray. Can you not see the similarities here? Am I the only one who has thought of this? And Microsoft, after looking at it this way, you can see that your statement is not entirely correct.
And yes, I know.. The Dreamcast used the "GD-ROM"