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Admid cautionary tales from retailers and homeless men carrying cardboard signs decrying that the end is near for the HD-DVD format, comes news that Microsoft has already long since started work in-house on a standalone Blu-ray player for the 360. insiders at the big M claim that the unit could hit retail as early as May, and that the possibility exists we could even see a 360 with built-in Blu-ray capability. Hearing that Sony may have managed to squeeze a successful format from the same womb that brought forth Betamax, MiniDisc and UMD is a bit like seeing Wile E. Coyote catch the Road Runner, with the rest of us looking on in utter amazement, scratching our heads and saying "Well whattaya know..."
Could this be why Microsoft has been so hesitant to release a console with a built-in HD-DVD player? Is it possible they've been waiting it out much like the rest of us? More importantly, how do you think this will affect PS3 sales if Sony can no longer pimp their black box as a movie machine? [Via Engadget]
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I hope the rumor is true... They need Blu-ray.
I would expect that to happen. Isn't Toshiba dropping HD-DVD soon or something?
Quick...start an online petition to keep Talladega nights ps3 exclusive
It would DEFINITELY be the smartest thing they could possibly do at this point. Blu-Ray has most certainly won and they really gotta get their act together.
If Microsoft put a Blu-Ray in the 360, it's price will be higher than a PS3, Sony will benifit from this and also has royalties on the Blu-Ray player so it wins.
Yet another reason to hold out on buying a 360... *sigh*
I don't see this happening. MS wants to push their downloadable stuff a la Apple TV. They don't want discs. They're happy with their DVDs.
They will never "put a Blu-Ray in the 360." Ever.
Sony better not let them have a BR drive...
One of the main selling points of the PS3s right now is that it plays BluRay movies. The second Microsoft releases an add-on BR player, how many people will just buy an extra drive over a whole new console.
And yes, I realize that this is referring to an add-on drive like the HD-DVD drive.
It would seem strange if they would do that. Wouldn't you think Microsoft is more concern about making their next console than adding in a blu-ray player?
Contrary to what Lightthrower believes, I think Microft, if they did this, would be intelligent enough to make the price competitive if not cheaper than buying a PS3 outright. In this way they would be adopting one of Sony's biggest touted bullet points on their corporate PowerPoint slides AND make consumers happy.
Plus, with the (arguably) stronger list of games coming out for the 360 versus the PS3, this would honestly make buying a PS3 a decision based solely on the games. And, according to all the NPD attach rate data, would mean that a lot more people would go the way of the 360.
This could potentially be a huge DETRIMENT to Sony. Let's hope Microsoft is ballsy and business savvy enough to do it. The irony of Sony winning the format war only to lose the console generation to the 360 BECAUSE of Blu Ray would make me piss myself with glee (only as an early adopter of HD DVD, not as a console fanboy... come on, I hafta look for the silver lining SOMEWHERE at this point... my HD DVD collection is begging me, haha).
I lol'd hard at the picture.
It's a good move by the 'Soft. They planned for this possibility all along, I'm sure.
Dear lord baby Jesus...
"a 360 with built-in Blu-ray capability."
may not be the best idea, as Lightthrower suggested, as EVERYONE would have to buy a new console if games were being made on Blu-ray, well it would be good for MS. An add on movie player would be the smartest move.
That would be very smart if they did because sony is probably going to see a big sales increase over the next year now that blu-ray is pretty much the winner, and they are still one of the cheapest BR players.
THE PICTURE IS A WINNER! Talledega Nights and 360 FOREVER!
:)
I feel sorry for the guys who bought the HD-DVD addon... Now they'll have to shell out the cash again for the blu-ray addon.
@ F Whipple
comment of the week,
good one
MS would be helping sony if this happened. The PS3's on solid footing now and its future exclusive games should at least counter if not outclass the 360's exclusives so the PS3 can sell on its merits as a game system alone, especially after more price drops.
HD media and players normally follow the razors/blades buisness model. Sony and the other blu-ray partners would get royalties from every disc sold while MS would only get money if they sold the add on for a profit.
I think that MS will probably stick to digital distribution. They stand to make more money that way. Which kinda sucks since it only works as a rental option and in no way replaces disc based media.
I doubt it.
That would be funny lol.
That would be a great move for M-soft, but I think could potentially hurt Pstriple's sales figures.
I call bullshit. Sony won an insignificant pathetic little war and in the process killed any chance of hi-def winning anything except the paltry little market share they have now. Blu-Ray is an utterly pathetic format. They think they won a war? The real war will be in trying to push DVD away fast enough to get a foot in before DLC wipes the floor with you. Microsoft would never get in bed with the enemy, and Sony is definitely their enemy.
screw digital distribution. im not waiting a day to download the same game everyone else is trying to download at the same time. think if lost odyssey was only downloadable. how long would that take? also the space being used on he HDD. and if something happens to the data. corrupted some how. you have to re-download it. instead of just putting in a disk. hard copies are here to stay. leave the downloading to music and porn.
@SubOrbital
Hate Blu-ray much? The big thing behind Blu-ray is the large amount of data it can store and for video games this is a bonus (see Lost Odyssey)
I don't see DLC becoming huge for video format for quite some time. I would, personally, rather own a hard copy of a video than having it saved on an HDD.
I doubt we'll see a 360 with built-in Blu-ray, since that would go against the 360's marketing plan of allowing consumers choice in what components they want in their system. Otherwise, we would have seen the death of the core/arcade units by now. At best, there might be another add-on, which I'd have to think about buying. I plan to get a PS3, and the 360 is so loud when it's on compared to that.
If this happens I am going to be fairly pissed off. I only bought an Elite 2 months ago after my Launch Xbox died.
Oh please be true. Microsoft, I want to give you more of my money. Make this thing for me. I will buy it.
I already have a blu-ray player (PS3), but I am very excited to hear this news. Once HDDVD officially dies off, we can see the format become more accepted and affordable. $30 for a movie you can only play on one screen in your house is pretty crazy.
SubOrbital, wake up. Blu-ray IS DVD. They're physically the same discs. They aren't completely incompatible formats like VHS and DVD. In a couple years the price of Blu-ray hardware will have come down to the point that most "DVD players" will be Blu-ray players as well. It won't make any sense for CE companies to continue to make DVD-only machines because Blu-ray players will play standard DVD's anyway.
After that, it's only a matter of time before DVD movies are phased out too. Retailers aren't going to want to stock both Blu-ray and DVD movies any more than they wanted to stock BR and HD-DVD.
Besides, prices on Blu-ray movies can only come down so much before they are going to be the same price as standard DVD's. Then there will really be no reason to continue to distribute regular DVD's. It'll cost the studios more money than they'll take in from them.
This idea that Blu-ray has an uphill battle to supplant regular DVD is just silly. It's going to happen quicker than DVD supplanted VHS.
"standalone Blu-ray player for the 360."
that's an Oxymoron
ya, Built-in Blu-ray player = bad idea, Add-on = good
yet another 360 SKU = GTFO!
Sounds both good and likely. They'd be fools not to make such a device available. I'm glad this nonsense format war is coming to a close. Now I can get back to ignoring one format, instead of two.
Unless I'm much mistaken, Sony own at least part of the patent on Blu-ray? So is Micro$oft really going to be able to get a hold of it? Hmmmmm, I'm not so sure...
@FinalFist: Yes, Microsoft and everyone else is welcome to use Blu-ray and join the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association). Even Toshiba can join and start making BD players.
Sony uses Windows Vista in its laptops, Microsoft can use Blu-ray in their game systems if they wanted to, too.
hmmm news to me. Thanks.
probably, hd-dvd is dead.
@SubOrbital
My thoughts exactly
I'd rather get that then that HD-DVD-player to be honest :-)
way more bluray available here in europe because there are so many sony-whores around...
hope it won't happen
I seriously doubt that we’ll see a new 360 SKU with a built-in Blu-ray drive, but I would be surprised if we didn’t eventually see an add-on Blu-ray drive.
But Ron said..............nevermind.........
Anyway, I'd buy one.
Can we get a Captain Obvious??
They need to go BR to stay competitive. Built-in would be smart if they can keep the price similar to what it is now, and as an add-on if it's going to be more expensive.
BR games may be a less intelligent idea, unless they release on both DVD and BR.
Not everyone has the highspeed internet connections to make downloading HD worthwhile, and as Mix said, there will always be people who want to own a hard copy of the movie rather than a digital copy.
I have been waiting for a format to finally be victor and now that I know it is Blu-Ray I will get a PS3. My love for the Xbox 360 dwindles, especially when it comes to Microsoft's great descisions of having the HD DVD player as an external peripheral and I know for sure that all owners of those peripherals will be fucked off to high hell now because they know that HD DVD lost the war but it is their fault for jumping the gun anyway.
I am no fan of Sony but I see them getting a rise in sales now that this has gone official. Microsoft MAY try and compete with a Blu-Ray ATTACHABLE drive but it will look just as ugly as the HD DVD drive and will cost a fortune.
MS will stay away from having an internal Blu-Ray drive as well. They just won't do that and if they do, slap my ass and call me Charlie
@Quest
Talladega Nights on my 360? Sweet baby Jesus yes.
I use my consoles to play games not to play dvd/hdvd/blu-ray. I think Microsoft did the right thing in being non-committal on having an in-console HD player. If the price does not increase then sure, throw one in, but it won't make a difference to me.
well I mean either way both sides are getting payed fine and well.
Microsoft backs up stuff that's included in the PS3 (I can't remember what but as PS3s are sold, Microsoft are getting profit also.) and if Blu-Ray go on for the 360, the same could be said for Sony.
so all in all, no one's losing. Everyone's being a whore and getting that bread.
For those that believe that digital downloads are coming soon keep dreaming. While they might become standard eventually, the broadband infrastructure in this country is just not there to allow that and it will not be for some time, I'd say at least a decade. Think I'm lying? Think again, I work for AT&T, and I've got first hand experience on how many people can get our broadband. And there are still people out there that don't own a pc, and even more that don't use the internet or still use dial-up, and you are going to force them to download a movie digitally? Keep dreaming. Not to mention the hard drive capacity is also not there at the moment but will probably be ready before the broadband is.
This new format will be around for at least 5 years, and at the time we'll see what will be next.
Please be true!
This would be great because Ill be hankering for some HD Movie goodness and only King Kong isnt gonna cut it
Maybe...