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 living the dream since March 16, 2006 |
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Microsoft says they "lost in sales" to the PS3 in February due to console shortages. This is true that there was a shortage, but would that have changed a lot? Maybe!
Believe me, regardless of how much M$ have lost - they can afford it. Just looking at how much software our place sells on their behalf, it's astonishing. Every machine in our building pretty much goes out with windows on it.
M$ should just suck it up, pay the bluray fee and let people enjoy their entertainment consoles as they seem to be nowadays.
actually, his statement reflects on what MS is working on for the next coming xbox, M$ doesn't want to support Blu Ray due to the whole DLC distribution.
Question is, is the consumer willing to be enslaved on paying online services over and over to then buy online games and DL full games? Even dough developers would save on not wasting production costs, would gamers prefer this method? I for once enjoy box art, and when I buy something, I like to have it physically.
DLC for movies and games for consoles is gay. if i want to watch movies ill play a dvd or br disk on a machine made for it., im not about to sit and wait 10 hours to download a HD movie. and if i wanna watch it somewhere else? sorry but you will have to lug your 360 with you. lame lame lame. hard copies are the best format. period. think how long it takes to download a demo thats 1gig. now think about a game or movie that 25gigs. NOOOOOOOOOOOO THANKS
Maybe they feel that spending the money isn't worth it. Not yet, anyways.
Fact of the matter is, people don't care about HDDVD or Blu-Ray. HD is not the new standard and it probably won't be until late 2009.
PS3 didn't need Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray needed PS3 to get it's foot in the door. Remember that. In the long run, normal gamers who aren't constantly hitting F5 on their favorite video game blogs don't care movies. They just want Madden, GTA, and most likely some competitive FPS.
And honestly, bandwidth speed is increasing rapidly and so are HDD space limits. My MP3 player is the size of my wallet and can hold GB of media. Building a download service this soon is a great idea for Microsoft to pursue. They can layout the groundwork, and figure out how to do it. That way when the time is right, they're ready and ahead of their competitors like they are with their online.
Long post is long. Sowwy.
@ Vexed alex,
you are completely correct about the blu ray, now look how it payed off thanks to the PS3, HDDVD is no more, and all studios are supporting BRD.
About the bandwidth, USA likes to give shit connection and charge services up the ass. We have had DSL speed of 5-7mbps for the past 6-7 years with no real jump in connection... Japan's Hobos have T1 of 25-50mbps, and most of EU have 25mbps as the regular medium connection. So to what I'm trying to say, I don't think in 5 years we will hit 50mbps as a medium in the states, and Microsoft will have to be very very careful how they approach complete DLC. Besides, if games are all DL... wouldn't piracy skyrocket?
About BRD not picking up, asoon as the burners come around $100 or so, I will buy one and start backing my entire files collection in BRD, also burning movies, Ps1, Ps2, and even PS3 games in BRD then playing in the PS3 opens more doors than you can think. So Digital Distribution is far off than we can predict.
Regardless of what ties any HD format or movies have with video games is irrelevant. Downloadable video will not be HD until the average person in the US UK and Japan can download 50 (that's right 50) gigabytes of data in less time than it takes to watch the movie/show/video.
HD is WAY more than just a resolution. It is a compression ratio and a color saturation and luminance contrast technique. Just because you go to Xbox live and the video says it's HD doesn't mean it truly is. It is, in fact, compressed much more than a standard DVD. You are watching videos in higher resolution on xbxlive, but you watching videos with lower fidelity than dvds.
Digital distribution is all a lie.
Format Codec Resolution BPS
Blu-ray H.264 or MPEG2 1920×1080 1080i/p 40
HD DVD H.264 or VC-1 1920×1080 1080i/p 28
Digital cable MPEG2 1920×1080 1080i/p ~ 16
Verizon FiOS MPEG2 1920×1080 1080i 15
DISH HD MPEG2/MPEG4 1440×1080 < 10
DIRECTV HD MPEG2/MPEG4 1280×1080 < 10
IPTV H.264 ? < 10
Xbox Live Video VC-1 1280×720 720p 6.8
DVD MPEG2 720×480 480i * 8
Apple iTunes QuickTime/H.264 1280×720 720p 4
Web “HD” downloads H.264 1280×720 720p 1.5
NOTICE THE BITRATES!
Stop ignoring the facts, you CAN'T get HD online!
@Crunshii
Sooo, about 2009 like alex said? I won't be picking up anything BR for quite some time. Probably not until I am forced to in a practical sense. It just is not the jump that dvd was from vhs. Its more of a hop in my eyes. I am not in any regard saying that there is not a noticeable difference, there is an obvious one. But DVD added more than just resolution to the picture, it added extreme benefits in functionality over VHS. Blu-ray adds in functionality, but nothing that will really benefit my movie viewing. It still has chapters and does not need to be rewound. I imagine I will care as much about all of the added doo-dads in Blu-ray as I will about the extra features on DVDs. That is to say not at all. As for gaming, if it comes down to it. I don't mind switching disks at all. If a game forces me to get 30 seconds of "exercise" for 14 hrs worth of gaming, I won't be shedding any tears.
HD
Downloads
Are a lie
I'm with the crowd that dislikes downloading movies on my console... I use it to play games, but I can't say I don't find the option to stream from my PC convenient. That's all good and well, but honestly, the option to have the console as a movie player is a very nice one. In that aspect I find it unfortunate that MS has taken the stance that downloadable media is sufficient. I never bought the HD-DVD drive and I probably never would have, but now that it's gone...
Like Alex said, people don't care about blu-ray... yet. Now that there is no more competition on that scene you can bet that Sony and co. are going to do whatever they can to make the public want this. HD is being made the standard. Hell, the congress is giving people vouchers for digital tuners. When blu-ray is the only way you can buy/watch new movies outside of dlc I'd rather spend $100-150 on an addon for my 360 than $400 for a new player.
...so is my 360 going to get a hard drive with a reasonable amount of space?
I would be fine with digital distribution if MS had a better selection of movies available and I could actually, you know, purchase them rather than the shitty rental service. I do like the tv shows, as I got to enjoy the first season of Sarah Connor Chronicles without commercials and I like having a few episodes of Aqua Teen to kick around.
And yeah, a bigger hard drive couldn't hurt, but I've got the elite and I've only used about 40 gigs so far, so I'm not worried yet.
STFUABR
They need to get off that bullshit that 120 GB is worth $170.
"They need to get off that bullshit that 120 GB is worth $170."
qft
lol, at everyone here who prays for DLC content to be affordable soon.
So, how much you think Microsoft will charge for a 500g-1Terrabite HDD for all your DLC needs... lol, and when it gets full, then what? oh buy another HDD? oh great! so how much will that be to support your DLC?
Fact of the matter is you are all being fooled with the Digital Distribution, even if you get DD for cheap and lets say 50mbps connection, where you going to store all these games/movies? When good games like MGS4, GTA4, HD Movies will require allot of space (1-50gigs) than any possible HDD can offer. You still need a physical format to save them on.
So stop fooling your self, your thinking of digital distribution is far off from more than 5 years from today. Like I said before, hope you can find a rock to hide until air + electric cars starts becoming the new medium of transportation.
Crunshii, I'll probably store my DLC on a hard drive like I do with my STEAM games.
@ Crunshii: Do you not realize how quickly hard drive space is expanding and has expanded? When I was a kid, my 20 Meg hard drive was fucking enormous and big enough for everything I needed. Microsoft shoul allow people to add their own (cheaper and larger) hard drives, but at the same time, we'll continue to see hard drives get larger (in capacity) and smaller (in size and cost) as time goes on.
And it will eventually be more reasonable than keeping shelf after shelf of useless plastic boxes.
I still have records and that's awesome, but CDs and DVDs and even tapes never had enough time to establish themselves in a way that will ever make me long for them like vinyl.