Microsoft: 'We have no plans for Blu-ray on Xbox 360'
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Oct 23rd 2009 1:49AM
posted Oct 23rd 2009 1:49AM
A recent Gizmodo sit down with Steve Ballmer led with a headline exclaiming a Blu-ray add-on for Xbox was coming. See, when Ballmer was asked about making the Xbox a home theater companion of choice and where Blu-ray might fit in, the Windows 7 wild man said, "Well I don't know if we need to put Blu-ray in there -- you'll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories." He then added that on-demand is the future of movies, not physical media. Now our bud Major Nelson, Director of Programming for Xbox Live, has stepped up to lay the conflation to rest. The Major says that Ballmer was referring to Blu-ray accessories for the PC and reiterated Microsoft's focus of bringing instant-on 1080p streaming movies to the Xbox 360. So... that should end speculation of Blu-ray on Xbox right? Not if history serves, nope.
Kind of glad they went with this decision. I prefer they focus on online distribution. BTW kind of wish they supported NTFS for external Hard drive.
I agree too. Blu-ray standalones are so cheap nowadays ($150~) I don't see the point. Why spend so much on a Blu-ray addon for the 360 when you can have a full fledged BD player for the same price anyway.
I love their direction with Netflix and the like, I really think that's the future. Physical media will be around for a while longer but I like the on demand concept.
I agree that online distribution is the future.
But it's just that... the future. There is no release date for when every movie and TV show will be available online... or which service will have the most titles; Netflix, Amazon or Hulu, etc... or if you'll need a special box, or if people's ISP will even allow it with bandwidth caps... or if studios and networks can ever get their heads out of their asses. So what exactly are we waiting for?
And you can ponder all of that while Blu-Ray is a real product right now, and movies are available for rent or purchase at your favorite store.
There are so many issues with moving forward:
1. Some people want to physically hold a disc... have it in their possession. And they hate DRM'd files.
2. Unless your internet connection is 35Mbps... Blu-Ray is about the best you can get.
3. And the biggest one... DVDs and up-scalers are still good enough for most people.
So I don't know... but it makes my brain hurt thinking about it!
Gizmodo is full of sh*t! Those guys love taking stuff out of context. It's like the FOX news of blogs. Die Jizzmodo Die, Engadget FTW!
You're right Michael, it is the future but probably not the present. There is clearly a lot of work that needs to be done before it can seriously challenge physical media. A lot of the problem is bandwidth - many, many countries around the world simply do not have the bandwidth to stream 1080p. Online distribution has many benefits and it will become more common place just as the infrastructure around it becomes ready. TVs with Netflix/Amazon inbuilt will start popping up next year at CES (Samsung have already anounced theirs I believe) so it's just a step towards the future.
I think BD standalones are great - they're cheap, they're versatile (LG BD370 as Netflix streaming and 1080p MKV support). That's why I think an Xbox addon would be useless. The Xbox is great at what it does but it doesn't need a BD addon. There is little advantage to it really, you wouldn't save any money (it'd be about the same price as the cheapest standalones) and you're tethered to the 360 just to use it.
DUM, DUM, DUM! Xbox owners will end up marveling at those intense, rich, near reality, expansive, immersive, 40gb IPs (Games) that PS3 owners will be enjoying. Let me say again, DVD's 8gb limit and our current slow ass pipes will end up crippling Xbox and their digital distro dreams. Music and Movies are one thing, but no one is going to tolerate a long wait for a 40+gb IP to be downloaded. And even if you had the "patients of Jobe" there goes a large part of your overly priced MS hard drive. The other down side is game Dev houses will gimp IPs so that they fit that 8gb max for physically media. You also loose the ability to trade in used game titles. So you see this digital distro dream especially for a next gen 40+gb rich gaming experience at this point in time, is, well, DUM!
PS So please stop pressing your nose against the bark and see the forest past the tree...
Given Microsoft's outrageous pricing structure for Xbox add-ons, an external Blu-ray drive would probably cost $399.00
Good. 'Cuz I have no plans buying an Xbox 360.
What, no "bag of hurt" witticisms for today?
Well if you have a 360 and were getting happy about this idea, don't be sad, even though the 360 lacks blue-ray, internal wifi, browser and other things, you got a nice option, PS3!
it'll be cool if there's an adapter to turn a PS3 into a BluRay drive for XBOX360.
Well if you have a PS3 , don't be sad, even though the Ps3 lacks netflix, cross-game chat, a party system, demos for all downloadable titles, and other things, you got a nice option, 360!
Both consoles have their pros and cons, stop trolling.
It wasn't trolling, he said "option"
Pros and Cons, You are kidding me right?
Cross game chat? I come home tired and just want to relax playing a game by myself, I don't want to talk to friends and I certainly do NOT want to hear a bunch of 13 yr olds.
It's just an overhyped feature that most people don't need. The PS3 will get it just to shut your mouths up and leave you nothing to brag about.
Single player experience is much better in the PS3, and that is what I care for.
Don't care for netflix so much cuz I can rent a bluray version and I also have Mininovs.
Demos? we have plenty. in fact I am downloading a Ratchet and Clank (AAA exclusive) demo right now and it weighs a whopping 2.4 gb a quarter of a DVD9. 360 can only hold about 4 levels of this game.
with Uncharted 2, GT5 and all the other exclusives, why would I need a 360?
I just finished Uncharted 2 and I have not been this satisfied since Donkey Kong country days.
So the pros and cons don't exist just because they don't apply to you?
Cross game chat is not for talking to 13 year olds. It's so you get on your xbox after work, join the party where all of your friends are playing. They might be playing different games, but you can talk, then decide you want to play Gears. Someone starts up a lobby, and a button click away everyone in your party is sent an invite and in a few seconds you're all playing together. Maybe if you don't care about multiplayer, or you don't have friends, this doesn't matter, but for those of us that do this is a hugely useful feature.
Netflix doesn't matter because you're a thief? Good for you.
My problem with demos comes from downloadable titles. With a retail game you can rent or whatever to see if you want to buy it, but not when it's a downloadable title that's $10-15 with no possible chance of a refund. Every XBLA game has a free playable demo. You never waste money on a game you weren't sure if you'd like. Some of the most popular PSN games: Flow, Shatter, Burn Zombie Burn, Fat Princess, Flower; have no demo, they just expect you to blindly throw your money at a game you know almost nothing about.
As for the storage space, oh no, it would have to be 2 or 3 dvd's on the xbox, that would totally lower the quality of the ga-- no, it wouldn't. It doesn't matter. It's certainly nice that you can fit so much data on a PS3 disc, but it doesn't effect the actual games one bit.
And yea, Uncharted 2 is easily one of if not the best game this generation.
Of course you don't need a 360, you're not interested in the features it offers, but saying there aren't pros and cons just because they don't fit your specific needs is just silly.
The 360 has had a ton of HD content including movies and TV shows for a long time now. HD content used to be in 720p which by the way looked great and most people would never be able to tell the difference between the 720p content and Blu-Ray 1080p.
All this being said...in just a few more weeks the new Zune video update will come to the 360 which offers not only 1080p movie and TV downloads...but they are "instant on" streaming. Which in reality means your movie begins playback after about 5 seconds or so after you click on the Play button.
So the reality is, this totally trumps Blu-Ray. I don't have to get off my ass and head over to Blockbuster to rent a Blu-Ray movie. I can just rent or buy content directly on the 360. Just think about that for a moment...how many times have you driven to Blockbuster only to find the movies you want to watch aren't in stock and are all rented out?
The 360 also has a corresponding website to browse all the content and you can even purchase or rent it via the website and then your Xbox 360 will automatically begin downloading the content.
This is all very well thought out and it works very good. This service plus Netflix watch it now completely blow Blu-Ray out of the water. Quality HD + convenience.
@Bobo
It doesn't completely blow Blu-ray out of the water. The fact of the matter is that physical media is still very relevant. Just because they say 1080p streaming doesn't mean it is the same quality as a blu-ray. I am guessing the bit-rates are not the same and also would that include 7.1 ch audio. It is a question of quality vs convenience. Also PS3 exclusives use the extra space allowed by blu-rays.
The PS3 merely requires a firmware and PSN upgrade to match the 360's convenience whereas the 360 requires hardware.
Also the PS3's browser and flash opens it up to a multitude of streaming services.
I hope people know that it is possible to both rent and download movie and TV titles from the PS store. I do not know how it is compared to Netflix but it is just as possible to download video.
@Poke
Actually physical media is not as important as you and many others think it is. Why? Because the industry is demanding a higher proportion of the profits from their content, this is counter productive in a physical media world because Blu-ray suggested retail is higher than most people want to play, and DVD costs have bottomed out (They can't go any lower). So the only way to make either media profitable is to package them in such a way to where the cost of production doesn't go up but the SRP can be adjusted to favor the consumer while maintaining profit margins, DVD has been getting double and quadruple feature packs on older less profitable films, while Blu-ray is "fattening" their content up with extra features which don't add anything to the experience trying to make that $30-40 SRP seem worth it, because on all these discounts you get on Blu-ray and DVD movies at the stores the only company taking the hit is the retailer, and if retailers don't show a profit they just will simply cut back on what they carry, take CDs for example, most retailers who were go to stores for CDs have simply started pushing iTunes cards and Zune Passes, and carrying a small selection of CDs for the pig headed consumers who are under the delusion that CD is a better quality, digitally downloaded music has come a long way since it was introduced. DVD is on its way out, in 5-6 years time its going to go the way of VHS, and optical media is dying because of the fact that Digital Download/Streaming content is cheaper and easier to distribute, with the perk of being more profitable for the distribution/production companies. Given time... say I don't know... 5-6 years the quality will be what is expected of high end home entertainment, this time last year the pig headed supporters of physical media were stating that we within a year (BY NOW) almost no one would have cheap uncapped high speed Internet, when in fact no company actually implemented the capping limits because of consumer demands, and in fact many companies are increasing the bandwidth of their available services to create new premium options. The consumer has the last say in how home entertainment gets distributed because they are not the ones who make the decisions, if that was the case Blu-ray would have died in 2007 and we'd be dealing with HD DVD now, because the home entertainment market favored HD DVD over Blu-ray, because it was the PS3 which made up, and still makes up, the largest portion of the Blu-ray market, and gamers are notoriously cheap when it comes to buying movies, and if it wasn't for back boardroom deals going on the only fence rider probably would have went the other way. If you need more proof of the direction that the market is going in, look at all your players being developed and many of the existing players out there, what are they all trying to offer? Well that's simple, and alternative form of media playback, many newer DVD players are offering playback options from external devices through USB, and almost all Blu-ray players are trying to garner contracts with Netflix, or the soon to be defunct Blockbuster, and Hulu because people just aren't buying physical media as much as they use to. What is the point of spending at least $15 up to hundreds of dollars on physical media you might watch once or twice? Streaming is cheaper in the long run and as it progresses you'll find more and more of that content you'd spend a lot of money on will become permanently and readily available through the streaming services at a much higher quality with more and more options.
Also, don't expect to sell those physical medias, many of the "used" physical media markets for DVD and Blu-ray are closing up shop because of the lack of profit margin available to them because of the industry dropping the price on the optical medias, the exact same thing that happened to the used CD market several years back. The problem is to get a decent profit off of a DVD they can offer no more than $5 store credit, half that if cash, on new releases so they can afford to sell the movies at $10-15 and still stay in business, Blu-ray they may go up to $10-15 depending on the title but still there is very little profit margin the get the person to buy used over new, because if it comes within a few dollars between the new and used copies most consumers will go new. Remember Optical Media movies aren't like games, they aren't going for $50-60, they are half that at most, you can't get away giving $20-25 for the used copy then knocking off $5-10 off the new copy price to sell a used copy with the movies. And people selling these movies privately don't happen as often as you think for every copy of a run of the mill movie that's sold on ebay probably 10-20 copies equally priced don't sell, there is no market for used anymore, at least not for movies you can go down to the local best buy and spend $10-20 and get any version of the movie you want, DVD or Blu-ray, and then you don't have to deal with the potential of being conned, at least being conned by someone who doesn't have a business licence.
whatever. I want more choices for the consumer. If microsoft chooses to have a different path in delivering movies, so be it. Let the best man win.
if xbox live were free i could see this going a lot further
yeah, yeah i know $50 annually isn't much, but the fact that you have to purchase something in the first place will deter a lot of people, regardless of price.
Xbox Live Silver... the level you need to get on demand movies... is free... ya silly goose.
Actually, you need a Gold membership to use Netflix.
He said nothing about netflix... and this article has nothing to do with netflix. Anyone with a Silver account is able to access the on demand movies of the Video Marketplace and the upcoming Zune Marketplace.
you need down-ranking so bad for that
Would you like to to be next.. (Evil Genius Laugh)
Stupid. HDDVD is dead, long live BlueRay.
Though, soon it will be, "Physical media is dead, long live purely digital"
They may not be making new HD DVDs, but the 800+ titles already on the market (now the cheaper clearance or used market) all still work and look great on my HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360.
Personally, I'd love a Blu-ray Disc add-on for my Xbox 360, but stand-alone players are getting cheaper every day, so I can just wait and grab one of those.
What I'd really like to see is a huge drop in the price of Blu-ray Disc drives for PCs, especially laptops. I have an option to get one for my ASUS, but their price is really bad (over $200 for JUST a drive, when I can get a whole stand-alone player for less than $150 these days?).
The next Xbox will probably have Blu-Ray.
You know? I already have a great blu-ray player which doubles as a great game console (or the other way around?). Also, I just got paid so I am running out and putting a pre-order in on a Modern Warfare Xbox 360 bundle tomorrow.
But with the whole 1080p instant streaming on the 360 coming soon, I have to wonder, will Microsoft really do Blu-Ray on the 360? I don't know, but digital libraries are taking over, and that's not a bad thing. I could live without discs; they get scratched, lost, and stolen (I had at least 20 xbox games stolen along with my first 360 (4th if you count repairs)).
Now I know there are people who want a hard copy to hold, and I understand. That's why we have a choice. We can choose from 2 excellent gaming systems (360, PS3) with 1080p movies. Some may choose the PS3 for Blu-Ray and a growing selection of top-tier games, or choose the 360 for digital instant 1080p downloads and a larger selection of games. OR, you could be like me, and buy both consoles, and use both for movies and games and motion-sensing tech (when released).
Becuase in the end, the consumer wins.
That's the most sensible thing I've ever read on Engadget. Well said.
I concur. While I don't own both consoles (mainly due to the price here in AU), I do believe they both have pros and cons, both are excellent machines. I know there's a lot of gamers out there like me that aren't into the whole platformisms, you see the value in all platforms, consoles or computers.
The issue with Blu-ray is that no one wants to replace their still valid collection of DVDs. The jump from VHS to DVD was far greater than the jump to Blu-ray. If Sony pushed prices for PC burners down, and discs, we'd see a massive uptake of the format. It not being on a 360 isn't a huge deal at if you look at Blu-ray as a storage medium rather than a content delivery method.
I welcome the move to digital downloads but this is not great for all consumers as a whole. People have different internet speeds - some are even moving to 3G internet at home. Then there is the trade-in market. Would you be required to pay full price for a game you would normally sell once you are done with it - and you can't pay a reduced price for a used game.
They need to work these things out - but hey please do.
Let's just wait and see how that supposedly 1080p streaming really performs.
It doesn't need Blu-Ray. Netflix just needs to extend their instant watch selection.
Except that netflix streaming, even in it's highest quality HD, doesn't look and sound nearly as good as a Blu-ray disc.
At our house we have multiple Roku players that streams Netflix and Amazon HD content, a WD TV Live, a BD player (non-PS3), and Media Center Computer with the Netflix plug in, Hulu etc. and I there is absolutely no comparison between steamed 1080p content and an actual BD on a decent 1080p HDTV.
Digital distribution is indeed the future and at my house we have fully embraced it in the form of purchasing all of our content through Amazon's VOD service, Steam for video games, Netflix Streaming and so on, but that doesn't mean that we can't tell the difference in visual and audio quality between these and the BD's that we originally purchased.
We have just excepted the lower quality in exchange for the convenience of not having to worry about our three children scratching disks, hunting through five rooms with DVD players looking for a certain movie only to find the empty case with no sign of the disk, there are some products with great interfaces that you just look for the cover art and press play and away it goes.
That said the way internet service providers are talking about metered internet usage, doing away with unlimited internet as we know it, or throttling of high bandwidth content i can see the digital distribution method taking a major nosedive in the future for heavy users like ourselves. There is no way I would pay additional internet fees for bandwidth to stream content, we have streaming users in four rooms plus a den with three computers. The bill for staying all digital would make physical media the preferred choice once again.
Heaven forbid M$ having to pay Sony royalties for something their customers would want...
Everything is so intertwined in royalties to other companies, saying MS (sorry I didn't do the anti-Microsoft fanboy $ thing) does not want to pay to Sony is false. First, it has always been the BRD fan thing to say that Sony does not own the format, that was your first mistake. Then, MS owns the VC-1 codec which is one of the official formats of BRD along with MPEG and AVC so they get a cut from players and disks, so it would be to their advantage to sell players. But most importantly, players do not need to pay big royalties for the hardware, the money is paid on the disks. For example, you pay about $4 per player vs. 7.5 cents per disk for DVD. Being MS does not own a movie studio unlike Sony, they do not need to pay huge amounts to license the formats.
While there are reasons to buy a BRD player - I have 3, a PS3, a Sony BDP-S301, and a Combo BRD/HD DVD drive for the WMC - such as being able to watch your favorite movies over and over, for the movies that are only good for a rental, there is more money to be made by MS through downloadable rentals, while there is little to no money for them to be made in selling a BRD player.
Hmm.....I'm gonna let this one slide
There's really not a benefit to adding it to the 360. If they made it an add on, it would only support movies, like the HDDVD player, and it would be so expensive that you might as well get a stand alone player. They wouldn't be able to use it for games unless they wanted to screw 5 years worth of customers, and even if they did the advantage for blu-ray games of DVD is just shipping a game with less discs.
It really wouldn't make sense for them to add it to the 360 at this point. The next xbox, sure, but it wouldn't really help the 360.
I have no idea why anyone would want to go out an buy a blu-ray player at this point. As an add-on or stand alone. You'd be investing in technology that will disappear in the very near future. I have a house full of HDTVs, but not one blu-ray player. Am I supposed to go out and re-buy all of my favorite flicks at $30 a piece? You can stream at 720p now, and my current DVD players upconvert nicely. I can live with that until 1080p is available through Xbox live and Netflix. I have a feeling that won't be too long.
I thought you had Netflix? Just wait one day for your favorite Blu-Ray movies to show up in the mail.
It's going to be YEARS before downloads equal the quality of a Blu-Ray.
getting a game together that requires the capacity of a blu-ray disc seems egregious.
Is this even worth a spot here? What a big DUH.
I like having physical media for back-up purposes and just in case something happens to my internet connection. Plus, there are no extras or commentaries that are streamed. I like to have my additional content and will pay for it with my physical media.
I've got a PS3 and 360 (with HD-DVD add-on). Honestly, I use the 360 a lot more than the PS3. I like the Netflix streaming and the connection to XBox live is a lot faster and cleaner than Sony's (and I like the game selection better). For the most part, my PS3 is used for watching Blu-Rays because it's one of the best players around, especially with the availability of its firmware upgrades. It also has more compatibility for file formats across my home network than the 360. But, if Microsoft would release a Blu-Ray add-on, my PS3 would likely be more of a dust collector than anything else.
no way in hell can xbox live stream native 1080p it will be upscaled from 720p
I don't want 'on demand' movies. I want to OWN and KEEP an actual DISC. What is MS did allow you to buy movies and not rent them, what would happen if your entire collection was on your 360 and it died? What if you have The Matrix Trilogy on the hard drive, but you want to take it to your friend's house to watch it on his 108" screen imported from Japan? You can't.
I've said this loads of time, but, I like to actually get something after sending money. With downloads there isn't any 'getting'.
MS must be feeling that "bag of hurt" also?
I won't miss it for the 360. I'm one of the old-skool who prefer something tangible when it comes to my movies. My main worry with streaming is interruptions due to low bandwidth etc. It ruins the whole experience for me. Sort that out and I may be interested.
Just my opinion
Tebor123 - http://www.freestuffgiveaway.co.uk
what? wake me up when america's "high speed internet" bandwidth can even keep upto a subpar bluray. the average household has a 1.5mbps downlink connection while a standard bluray is in the 20mbps+ range. instant 1080p is more like a pipedream.
i agree that downloadable/on demand content is the future, however the future is very far from now with the current state of "high speed internet"
I'll only agree with the comment about on-demand digital media streaming is the future when EVERYONE can afford broadband internet the same way they can simply go to a store to buy a DVD.
I find it absolutely foolhardy and wishful thinking to expect every person to afford new technology and call it the future when the majority will realistically not afford them. And, this applies to stating on-demand movie streaming is the future. If you look at the infrastructure of the US compared to say Europe or Japan, we are severely lagging behind them in terms of broadband services.
Streaming and downloadableHD media!
Woooooo!
Hear that? That's the sound of quality being flushed down the toilet.
Just like downloadable music, but much worse, since it's easier to tell with video :x
Oooooh, he's nay-saying the boss?! Someone will have his desk clean by the end of the day.
when ever engadget posts any thing about ps3 or xbox its like light the blue touch paper then run. if there ever was a troll magnet it was a computer game console.
A message to any body about to post mines better than yours, please bear in mind real gamers have both.
I have to agree that Blu-Ray will probably not survive the Internet and online distribution.
If you even look at Blu-Ray as a pure distribution Medium, there are already major factors that soon will make it extinct. The main being portable storage/flash prices and capacities, let alone speed (which is why MS even avoided HD in the XBox as HD media speeds were significantly slower than cheap DVD.)
Imagine this, in a couple of years you will be buying movies on SD/USB/Mini-SD 32/64gb cards if you want a physical copy.
For the 'rental' market for people without high speed internet, imagine taking in your Store certified USB/SD Flash drive to the local Redbox or Blockbuster and picking out your movie, and have it put on your card, and you don't have to return it.
Optical media doesn't have the capacity advantages, and until they are producing 50TB Optical drives in the next couple of years we probably won't see Optical return, as Flash will become disposable cheap, and it almost already is, even at the 32gb range today, which more than competes with Blu-Ray.
Microsoft was smart on this, as they have always had a strong online Video marketplace, and services from Media Center and home media sharing to services like Netflix, etc. - And this is not even counting the new Zune Marketplace coming to the XBox, which convergences the online stores and subscriptions and adds a ton of content.
When even on a crap DSL connection you can do instant on 1080p with Silverlight streaming technologies, there is no reason to focus on other distribution or media options at this point. (And yes this even works on crap DSL bandwidth as the quality ramps up, so it starts out about DVD quality and then buffers on to 1080p.)
Right, Blu-ray will not survive... because widespread online distribution will happen only in 10 years.
He's right. Psychical media, e.g. Blu-ray, DVD, CD etc is 'so last century'.
The best choice I made was to buy a blueray burner for my PC so I can
Anydvd + Blueray DvD + MovieStyle = WMV (Blueray Quality) on my WHS
Streaming Blueray quality movies to the Xbox360 has been just as easy as the standard dvd's minus the (at the time) $200 blueray burner for my computer. Physical media is outdated and I think many companies are seeing this. Even though, I like to buy physical copies of my movies, I still utilize Xbox 360's netflix streaming feature more often than I thought I would have due to its availability and movie selection, this is truly going to be the way of the future....
-Chris
Indeed, I 100% agree with you there.
o'rly? then i have no plans of purchasing a 360.
Retro iPod. High school flashbacks, lol.
I wouldn't trust anything Nelson says. He's commenting on something outside of his division anyways. That guy's an ass.
I wonder what the next gen MS console will use as its medium for games? Will they go Bluray? Will they buy up the patent for HDDVD from Toshiba and have slightly proprietary discs? Will they go highly proprietary and support perhaps Red Ray? Or maybe one of those crazy theoretical standards like holographic discs?
No, the next gen consuls... ALL OF THEM... will primarily support downloadable content. Unlike the movie industry which doesn't really get all that much competition from the 2nd hand industry, the game industry is looking for ways of shutting down the used game market. EA, Activation, Sony, SEGA, Square ENIX and almost all other companies are pressuring the game industry to go that way because of the major hit they are taking from companies like Gamestop selling used games as a main form of profit and the trend of major retailers like Best Buy and Toy-R-Us looking into selling used games. The XBox 360, PS3, and Wii all support digital content, and the 360 and PS3 are going to selling old titles across their market places, and potentially selling new titles as they come out, by-passing the retail industry all together. If the next gen consuls do have an optical drive it will be to support the older systems, don't expect this from Sony who has no interest in backwards compatibility of their old systems because this causes stagnant sales of the new system software.
So people without internet or broadband (maybe even people with shitty broadband) will all be without next gen systems? I'm not so sure. Personally, I count myself lucky in the internet department, I had good 15/2 Mbit with Optimum Online, and recently switched to 35/20 Fios, but I don't think the majority of people would be so lucky. What minimum downlink speed would you think is reasonable for next gen to be solely downloadable?
No disc, at all. did you read the story? online distribution is the only way to go in the future. No one wants to go buy/rent physical discs much anymore
You did not address the questions I posed, you just said the same thing as the other person.
"No discs, online only," ::grumble::
no shit sherlock, the Xbox does not even have the proper audio hardware for truehd or dts ma. Why would Sony give theri trojhan horse to Microsoft????
This is such BS. "It's an accessory for your PC". And how exactly does that help your xbox? Windows Media Center won't stream a blu-ray movie, so what the F Chuck?
Either allow streaming to media extenders or give me a blu-ray "accessory" for my 360.
@CaramelZappa PlayOn gives me Netflix and Hulu on my PS3, my Wii, and my WDTV Live.
my prediction is that the wii is probably gonna reign big again, and that the ps3 will be last again because they let out the slim too early with little improvment (but its still cool i have the slim myself) and xbox will be second again
Um, this isn't a console ware. We're talking about the future of movie rentals. Nintendo is not a subject in this matter at the moment. LOL
Who has DVD's anymore? I must admit that Microsoft lost in the HD DVD and Blue-ray Wars but nobody I know still has DVD's we are Streaming so this article is useless, Microsoft had to switch up there strategy when it backfired on them, they are looking to stream everything cutting out the middle man completely
Microsoft will lead the "nail in the coffin" on this. I too agree that online distribution is the ***almost*** current way to go. I actually rent movies more on Xbox Live & Netflix "Watch Instantly" more than I use physical media now. It's a lot more convenient. With optical Internet service and high speed cable (20MB) more available these days blu-ray's days are numbered very soon (in the next 2 years). That's why I never bought a blu-ray drive. Not necessary in my opinion u know?
You ignorant loser why must you compare the 360's HD to the PS3's Blue-Ray? Its obvious Blue-Ray is better and has more support http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/19/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-state-of-the-s-union-s-division/
I guess if Ballmer wants to take the "differentiation" path with xBox 360, he's entitled to think that way. Personally, I think Blu-Ray is still the future of home entertainment, and kudos to PS3 for realizing that.
I can't see myself buying a Blu-Ray add-on for my Xbox, I'd rather just buy a stand-alone player or a functional external USB Blu-Ray burner for my laptop or desktop. In fact, I have one right now - ( http://www.digistor.com/Digistor-External-Blu-ray-Burner-USB-2-0-Tray-Load ) - and it's much more functional for the price I paid for it (watch movie or burn to Blu-Ray discs).
I guess Microsoft kinda sees that, and if I were them, I'd rather put an internal Blu-Ray drive for one of the future versions than have an add-on that would be singularly costly AND impractical.
honestly if blu-ray is not added to the 360, HD buffs will probably just buy a ps3 slim because it is a better investment than a standalone blu-ray player. as a movie buff i can tell you this; streaming is nice, owning is much nicer. i really don't mind walking the 10 feet to change a disc. it takes more time to buffer a HD movie anyway.