Xbox 360 Blu-ray player rumor returns right on cue
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Feb 18th 2008 5:41AM
posted Feb 18th 2008 5:41AM
Two years and 1 month ago today we saw the kibosh come down on the Xbox 360 Blu-ray player rumor. This morning it returns with the prospect of a Microsoft player as early as May. According to Smarthouse, their "insiders at Microsoft" claim that a standalone Blu-ray player is already working in-house. With the appropriate approvals it could be on sale within 3 months. A 360 with built-in Blu-ray is also being worked on although the possibility of moving it out to retail is less clear with HD downloads on the horizon. Not that any of this is unexpected given the circumstances. We never expected Microsoft to go down with the HD DVD ship -- they're just passengers on this ill-fated voyage, not the captains.Update: Microsoft carefully responds to the rumor.
[Thanks, Oakie]
Wouldn't having a BluRay player be bad for Sony? There's not much to differentiate the consoles at that point if they both contain the BluRay drive, other than a few minor exclusives on each.
a few minor exclusives.. lol yeah
xbox 360 has the exclusive 'kick ass' factor.
Except Sony (and their partners) will get paid big licensing fees.
xbox 360 HAD the exclusive 'kick ass' factor
Now its the PS3's turn
Lets see:
Blu-ray
Games not limited to DVD9
PlayTV
Internet Browser
Card Readers
No "power-brick"
PSP Remote Play
Ability to upgrade the HDD on the cheap
Tiny failiure rate
Very Quiet even at full spin
Folding@Home
Built in Wi-Fi
Playstation Home (Soon)
Great games (Contrary to popular belief) with more on their way
So with this amazing Blu-ray media why does Devil May Cry 4 require data to be installed to the PS3 hard disk (taking around 20 minutes) so that in can perform at the same speed the Xbox 360 version does running from a DVD? Something to do with not being able to pull data off the Blu-ray disc quick enough maybe?
@ James Ollier
Ha.. I couldn't give half a crap about 95% of the things you just listed.
Oliver, it's because the Blu-Ray drive in the PS3 is slow as Hell (2x) and in order to have even bearable loading times throughout the life of the game, it must cache information onto the drive (install, I suppose you can call it)so it can have quick reference info.
Even then, loading is very slow compared to the Xbox.
OK. Everyone take a deep breath and repeat after me. SONY DOES NOT OWN BLURAY!. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association
I got news for you. Samsung is huge Sony competitor and guess what they sell...that's right! Bluray players! It was never 360 v PS3 is Microsoft v Sony. BR v HDDVD is many v many. So Sony does not decide who does or does not get to make a BR player. Whoever coughs up the fee gets to make one.
Zeus.:God, I find that statement funny since many of the games that I have played on the PS3 load faster than on my 360. The exclusives like ratchet and clank and uncharted have invisible loading times, so i guess any loading the PS3 does is thanks to those MP ports that have to compatible with the 360. To be compatible with the 360, devs have to take into account the amount of 360 owners that do not have a harddrive and then load most of the assets into memory. The PS3 exclusive don't need to do that and pretty much embarrass every other game in this generation with their non existant loading screens.
But by all means, if you enjoy spreading your fud around, have fun.
staic i beg to differ about the invisible loading times...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa5jg0LgRDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF7Q0xLRJ-8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb5YJW1UgDc
.....
yeh... invisible times... so much quicker then 360, yup i can really see that.
Now im a fan of both machines but please, stop spreading YOUR fud
Liam if you're going to call someone on something then at least call him on what he said and post something relevant. He SAID that the ports didn't load as fast, so what do you do? Post videos of ports.
If the PS3 runs a badly ported game then the loading will be there because it's a port and the devs have had to take into account the lack of HDD on some 360 and the BD slows up the loading. When the game is native and written for the PS3 properly like R&C or Unchartered there is next to no loading at all. Hell the 360 can't even get its native titles down to decent loading times, I was watching most of the ending of Mass Effect with no textures because they wouldn't load fast enough.
Anyone that runs Uncharted next to Mass Effect can clearly see the 360 is starting to slip in terms of hardware, the PS3 is only going to get better right now.
Your videos are of old ports, and are nothing to do with the situation on the PS3 right now.
That is so funny, that when ever someone supports a microsoft anything, you guys rank it low. sheesh. talk about fanbois. It's like 1984 in here.
LOL and what's funny a few posts later is a pro sony fanboi. and wouldn't you know it, highest ranked. hmm.
I still only care about the games
wow... these replies are gone way off the initial post. i'd have to disagree with you jared. even if xbox gets a blue ray drive it still needs to ship its games on DVD. the idea of a console is that it remains compatible with all new software and hardware during its life.
the fact that dedicated BD players are starting to hit the market at under 300 is a sign that you don't just buy a console for a cheap HD player anymore
How can you use Mass Effect as an example of 360 loading times! That game is famous for tons of technical issues, it's a great game, but certainly not what you want to compare loading times or anything else with. Anyway, it's not some imaginary difference between PS3 and 360 loading times. It's a fact that the 360 has a overall faster drive, but again, loading times are usually the developers fault. They can be hidden if coded for properly.
I find it hillarious the programed Microsoft FUD that Xbox owners spout. How much are Microsoft paying you for that...
Blu-ray is indeed 2x, but it's not on the same scale as 8x DVD, 2x DVD transfer rates roughly equates to 8x DVD, meaning when on the same scale, they are the same HOWEVER, Blu-ray is CAV, meaning the data transfer rates are always 2x (or DVD 8X if you want to talk like for likes), the 360 DVD9 drive is CLV, meaning it drops as low as 3x on the inner of the disc, as it only actually 8x on the outer part.
Why DMC4 needs installation? Lasy developers springs to mind, and a platform that's been out a year shorter than the 360. The benefit however, is level load times are non-existant on the PS3 version, and become tiresome very quickly on the 360 version.
Oliver:
Why does Devil may cry need an update to run the same speed as 360? Because 360 being released early is development platform for next gen console. Which means all testing and streamlining is initially done on 360 and later ported to other consoles. Reason some of EA's game can't match 360 frame rate. And if time permits, companies might take advantage of PS3 special feature...which is not likely the case. I work in the industry and I don't know one company that uses PS3 as their main debugging kit.
not all of us have the bandwidth for HD movies, i never thought i'd say this but.. bring on the internal Bluray drive or internal betamax drive, we still havnt given up on you betamax!
Hey, Microsoft, you might as well do this. More $$$ coming your way, for sure!
Totally agree. I was debating between Xbox 360 (I like the games) or PS3 (Blu Ray). If MS came out with a Blu Ray add on for 360 I wouldn't buy a PS3.
Well my 360 just froze up and is now showing the 3 rings of death! Looks like I will be getting a ps3, unless I get my 360 fixed for free. Its just over 15 months old.I refuse to buy the same thing twice after one broke through no fault of my own.
Do you realize that MS extended the warranty to 3 years?
360s have 3 year warranty now, u shouldn't have an issue getting it repaired.
Don't feed the PS3Fanboy Troll.
Thanks for the warranty info. Its just died like 10 minutes before I posted, so I haven't rung any numbers yet. As for feeding the fanboy stuff? Nah I was just kinda bummed out it died.
@Vergs,
Right, because who ever gets a RRoD?
your 360 breaks so you buy a ps3? thats the stupidest thing I ever heard. what do you do with all your games? sell them? Then what do you do when your ps3 breaks, buy a wii? and then your wii breaks, stop gaming all together? lol.
Microsoft fixed my RROD'd 360 in less than a week, no questions asked, and gave me a free 1-month pass for Xbox Live Gold for my trouble. If that isn't service, I don't know what is.
r3loaded, its called a CYA policy. MS themselves confirmed that 100% of 360's have this defect and are liable to go at any time. Because of that they extended the warranty because it would give you less of a leg to stand on if you try to sue. And they started giving out live passes as a result of those who were complaining about losing a service they payed for.
MS didn't do you any favors. They just try to cover themselves for a defect that shouldn't be this bad in the first place.
What you call "not doing any favors", some call owing up to a mistake and taking responsibility.
No it probably wasn't pure altruism, but they did the right thing in the end. No need to spin it.
@ Zak
There is a 3 year warranty and free repairs on 3 red lights. mine did it too.
Or your machine could, you know, not break. 3 year warranty still only covers half the problem. What about DRE errors and it ruining game disks. Not covered.
@Static: wow, did you get your user name right...
anyway, i too got the rrod, and like r3loaded mine was back in less than a week. yeah, micro$oft messed up; the failure rates are higher than usual, and it probably comes from rushing the 360 to get it out in time for xmas a year before the competition. these are not new ideas.
i don't care if sony "owns" bluray or not, they're invested heavily. and don't try to tell me they didn't jam the bluray drive into the ps3 to try to advance the bluray agenda. they knew everyone else's bluray drives would cost nearly twice the ps3's price at launch, making them look good to non-gamer hd-ophiles, and they knew that there are plenty of gamers blinded enough by fanboyism to pay any price for the next version of the playstation. (right, static?)
i used to love the sony, particularly playstation, but after the psp sucked for the first year it was out, after the rootkit debacle on sony cds, and after the mandatory inclusion of the bluray drive in the over-priced ps3 (a feature i didn't want), i've gone on a little hiatus from purchasing sony gaming products.
when they show me more games that i can't live without but can't get on my 360, i'll consider buying a ps3; but that ain't happened yet.
One thing you can't say about the PS3 is that it was overpriced. Hell, it was outrageously UNDERPRICED for the hardware it has. If you remember, the original manufacturing cost was over $800, most of which went towards the blu ray drive. Blue lasers (405.5 nm) were incredibly expensive to produce in 2006 and if the 360 came with an internal HD drive (doesn't matter which format, same technology) it would have cost as much or more than the PS3 did.
This one makes a lot of sense. Heck, I wouldn't be all that surprised if Microsoft came out with a new high-end SKU that has blu-ray built in to help prevent PS3 from surpassing it in sales.
Engadget is cool.
Microsoft doesn't lose at the end.
HD DVD and BluRay uses their codecs.
Digital Distribution uses their codecs.
Its Microsoft that wins at the end of the day through licensing of the codecs they made.
They only get money from BluRay if using the VC-1 codec. I think that they have switched over to using the AVC codec for the majority of new releases.
Eh?! Well what about licensing for the overall format?! Likely to be much more than a codec which is not always used (and decreasingly so too).
Internal Blu-ray? Way to piss off early adopters... If they do it, I will sell my (2005 manufactured and still kicking) XBOX 360 "Premium" and buy a PS3... One thing is to make it thinner and more power-saving, but changing the optical drive is totally another story, especially since they promised they won't do it (yes, I still remember 2006)
Now a Blu-ray add-on, that's something I wouldn't mind buying (if they get 2.0 and the price right, that is)
So you would sell your Xbox if they added a Blu-Ray drive into newer consoles, and had a Blu-Ray drive dongle for those with older Xboxes? Of course, these Blu-Ray equipped consoles wouldn't be as cheap as one that was equipped without.
Microsoft MUST do this to remain competitive in the console market. Once Blu-ray is the absolute winner, many people are going to choose the PS3 over other consoles because it comes with a "free" Blu-ray player.
The next xbox is expected to be released in 2010, whereas Sony claims a ten year lifecycle for the playstation 3. That puts the next playstation to be released late in 2016. Microsoft could decide to just eat the loss for now, then release a device loads more powerful than the PS3 a whole six years before the playstation 4 comes out. Sony will in all likelihood move up their schedule, but combining microsoft's year head start with the intended longer lifespan of the PS3, and microsoft could gain back any ground they lose in the meantime and more.
Blake
A ten year life-cycle doesn't mean a 2016 PS3. The PS2 has not yet reached the end of its life-cycle - the different versions overlap.
I have news for you, there is nothing "free" about the Blue-Ray player in the PS3, ever wonder why its starting price was $600. The only reason it costs less now is they cannibalized the machine and are probably still taking more of a loss then they were before. Trust me you are paying for Blu-Ray capabilities.
its truely incredible to see how much influence the gaming world has had on the format war. I hope if Microsoft do add a BluRay drive to the arsenal of the Xbox 360 (be it internal or an add-on), it forces Sony to focus more on the PS3's gaming side.
Sony has been focused on the gaming side. Pay attention to the first party titles that have been released and that are about to be released this year. Then look at the applictions. Sony has had nintendo and MS beat in developing games (not just publishing) so this game arguement is wasted. Sony hasn't been wasting time on BR (other than to get it working on their consoles and stand alone's because they are not in charge of Blu ray, they are not the head of Blu ray, they do not have to pony up the resources to advertise Blu ray (unless it is directly related to sony) and they are not the Head of the BDA. Please let this "focused on blu ray" myth die.
woo nice picture change
They'd be stupid not to bring out a Blu-ray add-on for the 360. I'd certainly buy one and would prefer it over buying a PS3. Although it will be interesting to see if it will work along side the stand alone HD-DVD drive which I intend on keeping. What would be even better would be a Blu-ray/HD-DVD combo add-on, there are already PC drives out there and considering they would be sourcing the drives from a 3rd party like they do with the HD-DVD add-on, it would be plausible.
This could also explain why they never brought out a 360 with HD-DVD, waiting to see which format one the day. I can see PS3 sales increasing a lot with Blu-ray winning as it's currently the safest Blu-ray machine to invest in. If Microsoft want to steal some of these sales a 360 with built in Blu-ray would be a good way to go.
I'm still considering buying a PS3 just for Blu-ray, so if Microsoft did either of the above they would get a few more of my penny's.
The only way I can see Microsoft winning here is to go with an internal dual blu-ray/hddvd drive on new units and offer the external blu-ray drive as an inexpensive option for current 360 owners.
"Microsoft MUST do this to remain competitive in the console market. Once Blu-ray is the absolute winner, many people are going to choose the PS3 over other consoles because it comes with a "free" Blu-ray player."
So people aren't going to buy the wii, because of a lack of a Blu-ray player? It doesn't even have a DVD player and its still selling like hot cakes. Now, I do believe microsoft needs to bring out a Blu-ray attachment to "compete" with the PS3, but I don't see that happening till Toshiba starts making their Blu-ray players. Microsoft and Toshiba are pretty close, and I doubt Microsoft is going to turn to Samsung to produce the add-on. You can expect a Blu-ray add-on when Toshiba gets Blu-ray production in gear.
"Microsoft MUST do this to remain competitive in the console market. Once Blu-ray is the absolute winner, many people are going to choose the PS3 over other consoles because it comes with a "free" Blu-ray player."
So people aren't going to buy the wii, because of a lack of a Blu-ray player? It doesn't even have a DVD player and its still selling like hot cakes. Now, I do believe microsoft needs to bring out a Blu-ray attachment to "compete" with the PS3, but I don't see that happening till Toshiba starts making their Blu-ray players. Microsoft and Toshiba are pretty close, and I doubt Microsoft is going to turn to Samsung to produce the add-on. You can expect a Blu-ray add-on when Toshiba gets Blu-ray production in gear.
except the wii is not in competition with the xbox and the ps3, as a home entertainment system it fails hard, its just a casual games console for women and casual gamers to play
@ Daniel D -
I'm guessing Nintendo loves how the Wii "fails hard", since they're mopping up both the Xbox and the PS3 in not-so-important stats like number of units sold and profit per units sold...
@ badqat
I said it fails hard at home entertainment, People can stream music, movies and watch their HD Discs etc on the PS3 and Xbox, compared to these the Wii does fail hard but yes as you pointed out as a games console it self if is doing very well.
@badqat
Daniel's comment says "as a Home Entertainment System" the Wii fails hard. There's no doubt that the Wii has had incredible success in sales/profits, but it is not in the same feature category as the 360 & PS3. The Wii is a great video game console, but not quite a home entertainment system (in the figurative, not literal).
There's a lot of questions you have to ask yourself about this. How much will it cost? Will it be upgradeable to 2.0+? What will it cost? What will it cost?
My dad recently got a pretty nice Blu-Ray DVD player which was about $300 and the current HD-DVD 360 players are at fire sale prices of about $100. Could they sell a Blu Ray add on for $150? If so I'd be a buyer probably.
PS - Do you need a 1080p HDTV to get the full effect of Blu-Ray? I have a 1080i rear-projection LCD (42").
Well, since ALL Blu-Ray movies are at 1080p, yes, you do need 1080p native on your TV to get to its full potential. It's not gonna be ugly but 1080p is win.
Theoretically yes, but I never believe anyone who says they can tell the difference.
;o)
I personaly don't believe that a 42" 1080p and a 42" 1080i/720p tv look much different at all. I suppose that if you sit close enough, you may be able to notice the difference (but you'd need to sit 5-6 feet away) Since most people sit futher away than that...
In reply to your PS. You don't *need* 1080p. The larger your screen the more you will benefit from 1080p. With a 42in TV 1080i or 720p will look just fine.
"I can see PS3 sales increasing a lot with Blu-ray winning as it's currently the safest Blu-ray machine to invest in."
That doesn't seem logical. I mean the ps3 wasn't doomed if Blu-ray died. Just because someone bought a ps3 and Blu-ray didn't come the standard, I know I really wouldn't care. Unless the person bought it solely as a Blu-ray player and not for gaming then I see that being true, but the PS3 also plays games and most people bought it for gaming first and Blu-ray second.
I never said the PS3 was doomed if Blu-ray failed and agree that it wouldn't have been. I just think there will be people who will be more likely to buy a PS3 because of the Blu-ray support now that Blu-ray has won the format war. I also think it is one of the safest players to buy due to the price and the fact it is one of the few players that is guaranteed to fully support all future profiles. I own an Xbox 360 and as I said in my post would consider buying a PS3 "just" for Blu-ray, without the intention of ever using it for games.
I don't know how representative I am here, but my recent PS3 purchase was definitely the result of Blu Ray's recent "win". If you're even a semi-casual gamer, the PS3 is far and away the best deal going for a Blu-Ray player, since it's the only current player I know of that will be compatible with Profile 2.0 . The inclusion of wireless networking and the good reliability were also major selling points for me, but Blu Ray made it a no brainer since it saved me another $200-300 investment. I should add that I'm a semi-casual gamer who will probably play at most 15 games over the course of this system's life, so PS3's deficit in the "killer exclusives" category wasn't a huge issue for me.
*sadface*
Guess they wouldn't let me trade-in my old HD DVD adapter for a Blu-Ray one?
Epic fail. Haha. Pretty mift, just need to find another £100 for the Blu-Ray player if/when that comes out.
Microsoft has no choice but to develop their own BR-D technology anyways, if only for Media Center to be competitive. It's not crazy to think that they might want to leverage it for the 360, too.
Microsoft's decisions to include a Blu-Ray player in the XBox 360 may not seem surprising, but so far there hasn't been much speculation if games will take advantage of Blu-Ray DVD memory capacity. Hell, Xbox 360 games haven't taken advantage of HD-DVD's benefits, so whatever they're going to include, the short term is going to be pretty much the same old song - only with higher priced accesories.
Look, I loved the HD Downloads from the Marketplace but too expensive, too big and not enough clarity/ease of use with MS points. The reason I bring this up is that I really hope digital downloads are the near future (yes, I'm aware of the logistics/replacement issues). Regardless, I refuse to invest copious sums of money on optical formats. I have found I rarely watch the DVDs I own and would rather not spend so much money on play.com anymore! I shall dedicate my life to downloading! :P
Ever heard of Netflix?
Anyone who thinks "HD" downloads from the marketplace are true HD is sadly mistaken. Doesn't come close to a blu-ray or HD-DVD...
I disagree badqat. I have the HD-DVD drive and I think that the quality of the HD downloads is certainly comparable.
"With his Blu Ray and HD DVD attachments stacked to the right, Kyle gazed at his 360 with attached USB keyboard and quick charge controller and realised a futuristic Apple II was staring back at him"
http://st.blinkenarea.org/pong.mythos/originalimages/apple.ii-01.jpg
(Silently, in the dark, someone boots up photoshop with a smirk...)
Heck yeah, I feel old seeing that thing under glass, I used to use them when I was young (at least I'm not old enough to have used them at work! :) )
If your going to do it please make it $99! My problem is that I find that I don't even buy or care too much about dvd's let alone blu-ray or even HD-DVD's since I only can watch a movie once or twice then i'm done. But options are nice since any HD format is welcome on my TV. You do have to admit that you do get spoiled with HD in any flavor that it comes in.
theres no way a new xbox console is coming in 2010. 360 came out in 2006 and is still the #1 console worldwide. Why would it last only 4 years, shorter then the original xbox? if anything, the next console is coming in 2012 (4 years from now) or later. Dont let sonys 10 year plan fool you either. the second MS comes out with their next console, you can bet the ps4 will be out in the same year or the year to follow. As for the wii, they may come out with a new console in 2010 simply because the wii will not last long with no hd resolution support and the increasing number of hdtvs sold. I cant even play the wii on my tv. its way to blury. I dont care about graphcis but I need hd so my picture is sharp and visable.
I'd rather buy a 360 with built-in Blu-Ray or the external drive than a PS3 to be honest. That might change when Little Big Planet comes out, but we'll see.
mike: Maybe you don't buy a PS3 the FIRST time your 360 breaks...but after my sixth RROD I did indeed switch.
As far as differentiation, as mentioned by the poster above, of COURSE the PS3 will still have a differentiating factor - multiple in fact, even if the 360 has a BR-equipped model.
First off: Reliability. The 360 is, without any doubt, the most unreliable console in history. I've owned four of them, so I know, and I know that the Elite seems no better. Big fans of 360 games (as I was not too long ago) seem willing to 'take it' when their console is out of commission for a couple of weeks due to a RROD....I'm pretty sure that John and Mary Q. Public aren't going to feel the same way when they can't watch movies for weeks because MS can't be bothered to test a design before shoving it out.
I won't list all the differentiators, but that's the biggest. The next will likely be sound levels, which the 360 has helped a bit, but still not fixed. And of course they'll need to stop making them in white, they will probably have to change the obtrusive lights on the front, other design aesthetics stuff.
But I still know a lot of 360 owners, and they're none too eager to make the 360 their primary movie player, adding additional hours/load on a machine that can scarcely handle games without melting its own innards.
Some 360 fanboy over at Giz has just posted the following in a BD/HD DVD article:
"We'll, it's always been the 360's advantage over the PS3 - it has the ability to be switched from the one format to the other, should the need arise.
I called this years back, before the format war really got going."
So wrong, so funny and so desperate on so many levels.
The 360's advantage over the PS3? LOL. Awesome.
Xbox 360 Elite SKUs have gone dark on store shelves because a built in BD version is coming soon. Mid year for xmas, watch!
the in built blu ray drive will be REALLY GOOD FOR SONY.........they will make money for every movie and game sold for the 360. Plus the 360 has a very high attachment rate so sony will make a profit both ways.
See Maestro's post earlier.
HD downloads, is engadget on crack? I just downloaded an HD movie through Live and we couldn't even watch it until the buffer built up, which took about 3 hours (I have a 3mb connection). Then, you are not allowed to fast forward or rewind until the download finishes. You also have to watch it within 2 weeks and finish watching it within 24 hours once you start or else the usage license locks you out. The quality was NOTHING compared to HDDVD, and it cost about $4 to download. Remind me why I would want to download movies vs. Netflix?
Eric, I have downloaded about a dozen HD Movies off Xbox Live. The buffer is usually full with the movie ready to play in 5 mintues. The quality is comparable to HD-DVD. Also, I believe with the last dashboard update, you can fast forward/rewind as soon as the movie starts as long as you don't try and fast forward past the buffer.
I don't know if somebody else has said the same, but there should be a reason for MSFT to put a BR in the market, and of course it has nothig to do with games, loading times, and all that stuff.
MSFT shall put that XBOX+BR in order to be present in our living room, next to our TV's and our Home Cinema's, that's one of the reasons why nowadays (that the war is over) PS3 looks a better thing to be positioned there, not only to play, which it does poorly in comparision to the online thing XBOX does, but to play movies and media content. That thing was also done better with the XBOX compared to first rounds of firmware of the PS3.
Till the day that digital HD downloads become mainstream, losing that space to PS3 or others will be a shame for them.
What it should not be is a separate add-on. Men, it really sucks. For early adopters--- I am sorry, we've been playing for years now. I think we have already enjoyed the piece of hardware enough.
They, as you have commented in the past, will build a new case, do a revision of core components, and if cost permit it, embed a BR drive.
For the same pricing level of today's Elite, I will buy a second one before buying a second lame PS3 just to see movies (which was my main reason anyway for the first one)
I know others think that PS3 is just for gaming, but men, take that BR out of the picture for gaming, and what you've got?, a cell black gaming device to play DVD's? or to play alone in your living room?.. that should go directly to the basement.
"The 360's advantage over the PS3? LOL. Awesome."
Yea, it was an advantage. While PS3 was still trying to jam the BluRay into it, 360's had a year of Selling time.
Advantage, first to market.
While I know this will never happen because Engadget needs their ad revenue as well... but perhaps, just perhaps we could relegate all gaming related article comments to Joystiq? Nvm let the FANBOY FLAMING BEGIN! (I know I'm late to the party)
Irrespective of any format affinity, what do you think the future holds? Day by day games are getting more and more complex/realistic and that means great video and audio effects, etc. Now to support those enhanced graphics you DO need higher storage space for the games on a media (which they run from).
In a few days there (if not already) will be games that can't be run using just a DVD drive and would need more space which HD DVD or Blu-ray can provide. Now for a company like MS whose gaming bets are on the 360, they will want to provide users with the ability to play those games. It makes perfect sense for a gming console to have a high capacity media drive compatible with it. Till now for MS it has been the HD DVD add-on but for the immediate future they will need to look into the other media drive which happens to be Blu-ray. If anything else comes up in another 2-3 years (which it will), then MS will probably look into having that media drive integrated into their consoles.
It is possible that gamers "may" not care about watching a HD film on their drive (either HD DVD or Blu-ray) but will definately want to play games with great HD graphics and effects.
Orion,
Will gamers also want 20 minute installs that use 5 gigs of Hard drive space? Cause that is what you get with a blu-ray drive for games.
Does it seem obvious to anyone else that the lack of integrated HD-DVD was Microsoft hedging its bet against which format would win? It was obvious from the beginning that whichever game console had an integrated next-gen optical format would have an edge.
Recent events that transpired (Warner's exclusivity announcement less than a day before CES was a very strategic blow to HD-DVD which left them reeling the following day) surely tipped the scales in big Blu's favor.
The whole format war should have never happened. While HD-DVD initally had a technological advantage because the stamping plants could easily be upgraded to produce the new discs, Blu-Ray had the capacity advantage....[for dual-layer discs] 50 > 30 GB guys, you can't argue that less is more in this case.
Anyways, I hope that Microsoft does develop an XBOX 360 with built in Blu-Ray and an external drive so current XBOX 360 owners can choose to add that feature to their machines on the cheap.
@Liam: For Burnout Paradise, is 96 seconds really that much better than 73 seconds? And I wasn't timing it myself, so we'll assume that the guy who put the video up actually took an accurate count (unlikely). Honestly, if it took 2 minutes or something, I could see where you have an argument. The 2x BD drive probably isn't helping the PS3 though.
@James Ollier:
1. I actually like the power brick, my Xbox 360 powerchord with a ground also works as my PC chord when I forget it, AND if a power surge were to occur it'd just knock out the brick (which is an inverter), and not the whole machine. It's already happened once that a surge made my 360 go down, but I just got a new brick at GameStop and it worked again.
2. "Great Games." Sure, what games? Just MGS4 and (if you are a japan-o-phile) JRPGs. Shooters? If you say Killzone you deserve to be lonely for the rest of your life.
3. PSP Remote Play. This is a function for people who weren't wise enough to buy a DS.
4. Upgrade the HDD on the cheap? Certainly isn't easy though, the 360 one just pops in and out and the Playstation needs an operation to do it. Similarly, I can do just as much work on a 360 as with a Playstation and get a "as-large-as-I-build-it" RAID array on it, or just a 1 terabyte HDD. Look it, the Xbox 360 is basically a PC with custom graphics card and processor, and its internals are so that you can add stuff to it (provided you are willing to crack into it like you would on a PS3).
5. Tiny Failure Rate. Can't argue that, only that most PS3's are not on as often as a 360. Because, you know, the PS3 hasn't had any worthwhile games yet.
6. Why would you buy a game system for Folding@Home? Sure, its noble, but I'd just use the money and buy a Skulltrail system instead, that'd do wonders (thats probably all its going to be used for in fact, considering there is no real gain in applications with dual quad cores other than if you boot tons of them).
7. Very Quite. If you play games so softly that your 360 can be heard over them, then turn off the damn subtitles and crank the volume already.
I agree, the PS3 is nor quiet, not cool.
With a disc in, it makes the same or more noise than the XBOX, and for the heat that comes out of it I won't even bother to comment.
Without disc, it is quieter, but who cares, as a Blu-Ray player it is very "noticeable" in quiet scenes.
Anyway, it is a "cool" piece of hardware, but as a gaming experience machine it can't compare with XBOX nor WII, full stop.
You know nothing about Playstation at all, aside from what you have read on the Xbox forums by fellow idiots.
I suggest you actually look at one. Every single argument of yours is flawed.
@mAdAk 2 games now have installs, and that's suddenly a trend?
It took Microsoft 5 million failed 360s before they accepted that is a trend...
I don't know if Microsoft can release a Blue Ray player for the original XBox 360. I think that HDMI with HDCP protection is required in order to play 720p and 1080i/1080p via component analog output on Blue Ray. Originaly Sony was going to relase the low end PS3 with analog output but went with HDMI on all models at the last minute. Every PS3 that has ever been sold has had HDMI. Microsoft would have to add a HDMI connector to the Blue Ray drive itself. That will be a real mess. It will also need a video cable from the XBox to the Blue Ray player so that users can play games over the same HDMI cable. This will add cost to the unit. In the end users will be better off if they just buy a $400 PS3 to play Blue Rays.
Microsoft may win at the end of the day because they still tout their system as a "game" console and you will eventually have a "choice" to play BD/HD DVD & continue to download HD content. BD/HD DVD PC combo drives are coming down in price, last time I checked about $250, this will continue to drop. Mass PC adoption in the form of readers from the beginning would've saved HD DVD and led to more dual format players. So I gotta tip my hat to Blu Ray for coming with the first albeit expensive burners and readers. HD DVD is and was nowhere in site, except for crippled external drives. Keep in mind that PS3s are counted as "Blu Ray players". So lets say about 11 million sold worldwide, compared to a few hundred thousand standalone HD DVD players. Thats a hell of a battle, standalone Blu Ray players sold far less #s. If MS would've included HD DVD at $150 loss (which I bet was originally planned but in order to beat Sony to the market and take the lead they chose DVD9), the format war would be very different now. It would have been 18M HD DVD to 11M Blu Ray not counting standalones. MS makes $$ off the software whether its encoded on BD or HD. It makes money from you running its OSes complete with the goofy DRM required to play either format. To the one guy who said Sony's been concentrating on games, that has to be the most ridiculous statement I've heard in a while. The PS3 is a Blu Ray player, Disease Fighting, ET Searching, Home media server machine and has been touted as everything but a game console, its even been called a computer by some. Hell, even the PSP is hardly being used for games anymore,skype,cameras,media whatever. If it were not for the homebrew scene that would've died a year ago. All said and done neither format has had the market penetration of DVD, period.
hey guys
This blog has been a damn good morning read! As a gaming noob i clearly dont understand some of the technical jargon, however, the points of view expressed hear allow for 'uneducated' individuals like myself to make better decisions when forking out the cash for a new system!
On the issue of which consle to buy i am still undecided. The blue ray/ hddvd battle is over and still ia unsure as the platforms are hard to destinguish between(to the untrained eye) for me the battle kinda hindges on the online capabilities of the two. Again i am not really in the know hear so whats the crack guys??? dose the ps3 keep up on this front aswell if so then im screwed as for deciding!
Keep on doin what your doin guys ;)
With a bit of research it seems that the BDA did indeed develop the Bluray disc of today, however it was Sony and to a small extent Pioneer that created the technology that Bluray of today was built on. So if anyone has the right to say who has what bluray licence I do believe it's Sony.
that would be a new low evin 4 Microsoft
i love my 360. i upgraded to the elite and it rocks. but if microsoft gos with a ''internal'' bluray drive, i am done!
just what the 27 million of us with 360's need. to upgrade
again. i would chuck my hd-dvd drive out the window and replace
it with a blue ray drive but not the whole 550$ unit!
not for a sony developed movie machine that is slow and over
rated. huray for sony, those manifacturers of third world hype
actualy out mastered the master.
I think it is a great idea for xbox to come out with a blue-ray player. It would open up options for xbox owners. I thought about buying a PS3 just because of the BR player, but I have been hearing rumors that watching a movie on the PS3 is the same wear on the drive as 7.5 hours of gameplay. Since the main reason I would buy it would be to watch movies, I think I will just wait for the players to come down or wait for the xbox add-on. If they use update to an internal drive I will just live without blue-ray.