Should Xbox 360 Be Thinking 'Blu'?

Close_Second6718d ago

...make sure that Blu-Ray does provide a real advantage for gaming over the dual layer DVD format. So far they have not. The kinds of things I expect to see is for games like GTAIV or Resident Evil 5 that the environments feature greater detail and variety as more data can be streamed off the disc. Its not good enough to talk about filling up the disc with bonus content or huge audio files to make the difference.

Microsoft have been right so far in saying that DVD9 is a suitable gaming format. Its now up to Sony to show the world why such a sentiment should stay in 2007.

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DEADEND6718d ago

That picture is so fkn funny lol.

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Maddens Raiders6718d ago

but Gates insists that they won't, so that's it. Of course, 360 owners and potential owners at large will be the ones who decide what they want by opening their mouths and wallets or keeping them closed.

zambrota6718d ago

MS should always support the winning format even if its SONY's

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okcomputer6718d ago

I thought the hardcore 360 crowd weren't interesteed in movies. Isn't that what they kept mocking the ps3 for?

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ukilnme6718d ago

I am sure they still feel that way. I don't use my 360 or PS3 for movies, not HD movies anyway. It's all about the games.

PSWii60 FTW!!!

Ignorant Fanboy6718d ago

And I dont have any BR movies for my PS3, except the free spiderman.

But I do have alot of games.

AngryTypingGuy6718d ago

You're right, the 360 crowd is primarily interested in games. The 360 is the console of choice for hardcore gamers, and the attach rate proves it. However, the more options one has, the better. Not everyone would buy the BluRay add on, just as most 360 owners didn't get the HD-DVD add on, but the option to do so would be nice.

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Leathersoup6718d ago

These consoles are about what you get to play games. The reason that HD-DVD didn't do well with the Xbox is because you had to buy the player separately. I'm sure that if an external Blu-Ray player came out for the 360 it would receive a luke warm reception very similar to the HD-DVD player.
You might think that an external Blu-Ray player would sell more than the HD-DVD seeing as it now has the majority of the movie industry behind it but on the flipside it would cost more than the HD-DVD player and as such would be less attractive as a "non-stand-alone" player.

For the PS3, including the player was a master stroke. MS had already released it's console, sans HD movie format, and it was a good way to get the player into the hands of a large percentage of the public. With the Xbox, it's not something the user would be getting for free. That's why the HD-DVD failed to catch on with the 360 user base and could be the reason why HD-DVD failed.

riskibusiness6718d ago

M$ can care less about the format war. As for disk space for games, all they have to do is a firmware update on the current red laser DVD drive to make it HD-VMD compliant. This will provide more space than blueray or HD-DVD for games. The developer can use the HD-VMD disc if it needs the space. So far I have been impressed with the compression tech devs and M$ incorporated into DVD-9 disks.

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Equinoxe_76718d ago

riskibuisiness

Sounds odd, Blu have more space, and you can't use HD-DVD for games, your still dreaming, but Blu have won.

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Blitzed6718d ago

Recently a MS executive said he was "doing backflips" when Paramount went HD DVD exclusive. I think MS cared just a little bit...

Play B3yond6718d ago

PS3 is the way to go now that they have the winning format built into the system, watch great lookin movies, play great lookin games, and go on the internet whenever you want for its cheap price(Considering all the things it has) guess MS was wrong when they said they wanted theyre system "To hit everyones living room"(or sumthin like that)...Sony aimed the PS3 at the perfect audience, its great for the family but it has its hardcore games...the 360 is only for hardcore and the wii is for kids.

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heyheyhey6718d ago

no it should be thinking "landfill"

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kingnick6718d ago

It is not possible to upgrade the 360's inbuilt DVD drive with a simple firmware flash.

I think the HD DVD addon should be binned and that be the end of addon players for 360 as they're not a factor for the vast majority of consumers purchasing decisions and do nothing for games.

riskibusiness6718d ago

If and when M$ needs more capacity they can do a firmware update to make the drive HD-VMD capable. I don't care about movies.....HD-DVD and Blueray. Neither of those are going to win anyway.

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riskibusiness6718d ago (Edited 6718d ago )

If and when M$ needs more capacity they can do a firmware update to make the drive HD-VMD capable. I don't care about movies.....HD-DVD and Blueray. Neither of those are going to win anyway.

Sorry about the double post

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Caspel6718d ago

Ahh... HD-DVD... we only started to get to know you :(

SSCOOLCHEA6718d ago

I love my ps3 for movies ....But man those games are great to.

DFresh6718d ago

Bill Gates just wants to focus on downloadable HD Movie content off of XBL and make more money instead off making a little profit off a format they join into.
Smart move for him even though he's a sore loser when blu-ray won.
Besides Sony owns the rights to blu-ray hell...they invented it.

aiphanes6718d ago

And you can not get 1080p content in Xbox live or Apple Itunes!

bluray will be the standard to see 1080p movies and soon there will be 4k tvs that will show 4 1080p screens and upscale 1080p movies to 4400p movies...they showed them at CES2008....

720p is going to be so old school in about 1 to 2 years....

microsoft is screwed...apple can scale faster than microsoft since their Apple TV already has a bigger harddrive...so Apple TV will get to 1080p faster than microsoft.

Most Xbox 360 people only have the premium console which only has a 20 G harddrive will about 9 to 11 GBs free.

Everybody keeps forgetting Sony is going to launch an online movie service using the PSN network laster this year or early next year...it will be better than Microsoft try at it.

If sony is smart they would partner with Apple and integrate Itunes into the PS3, PSP, and PSN networks. This would destroy microsoft!

mighty_douche6718d ago

Should 360 owners be thinking about the PS3?

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Shadow Man6718d ago

Only because is a cheap blu-ray:) and maybe FFXIII:P

Bender6718d ago

Tacos!

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Zhuk6718d ago

Why support a dead format? The Xbox 360 is the most advanced and feature rich home entertainment device on the planet, the Xbox 360 provides true next generation award winning media capabilities thanks to advanced codec and media center extender capabilities and with Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace the Xbox 360 is already years ahead of what the PS3 offers.

The Xbox 360 is the future, while Sony and the PS3 are the past. This is shown by consumer reaction and support for the Xbox 360, which outpaces the PS3 in both hardware and software sales.

Jump In fandroids and experience the true next generation of home entertainment Only on Xbox 360

LJWooly6718d ago (Edited 6718d ago )

Finally, the real Zhuk. I was getting tired of the imposter (Zuhk).

Anyway, zhuk, all of the features you listed, "award winning media capabilities thanks to advanced codec and media center extender capabilities" have already been trumped by the PS3. Sorry, mate.

You also seem to be confused between 'Blu-Ray', and 'HD-DVD'. I think you'll find that the one that isn't dead is Blu-Ray. Once again, sorry, Zhuk.

Nonetheless, keep fighting for Microsoft Zhuk, it's not over yet...

Someday, Zhuk, someday...

EDIT: 3 disagrees? Why would you need that many accounts, Zhuk?

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athlon7706718d ago

I kind of liked the other Zuhk.

But I will admit, it has been a while since we have heard from Zhuk...

Antiomo6718d ago

Seriously.... the dvd upconversion is not that great.

Most ppl have the 20gb hd so downloadable content is not feasible.

Xbox 360 is stagnent at a technological standpoint.

Play B3yond6718d ago

I cant stand that gay zhuk, i bet hes just mad because he bought the 360 on day 1 and was too impatient to wait for the PS3 so he just bashes it...the way he talks so professionally about the xbox is irritating,dont let his tone fool you...its just like if i would say:

Look at this highly sophisticated stick, it has the the real power over all of the imposter twigs, all other sticks are a thing of the past, dont let the 33% snapping rate of this stick fool you, you can pick up another one from the Red Ring tree free of charge...

Thats all there is to him, he makes a POS object look good with his wide vocabulary

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Hapimeses6718d ago

Well, the debate aside, the article was a good read. If you haven't read it, I recommend dipping in to read what they have to say.

mighty_douche6718d ago (Edited 6718d ago )

what? read the article? you must be mad sir, this is n4g, the home of assumption!

EDIT @ LJ... dude you coming on to me here or what? lol...

LJWooly6718d ago (Edited 6718d ago )

Nice one, douche. Made me let out a tiny little giggle, almost like a small, delicate young girl being tickled...

N4G - the home of assumption. Sad, but true.

EDIT @ Douche: No, mate, but I can assure you that if I was gay, i'd definitely hit it.

The above was a joke, btw. Nothing more...

power of Green 6718d ago

They should focus on improving DDL tech thats the future. Blu-ray's timmer is ticking as all disc formats are.

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mighty_douche6718d ago

"dude, check out my Movie collection!"

"where?"

"over there noob! pfft..."

"what? a hard drive?"

LJWooly6718d ago (Edited 6718d ago )

If you're download speeds are about 50 Mb/sec, then sure, DDL ftw!!

Otherwise, you're far better off buying the damn movie on a disc.

gamesR4fun6718d ago

Never would on mine I mean its too loud and Id be worried about it rodding on a movie or something... Nope we bought the 360 4 the games thats it thats all.
Now the ps3 on the other hand...

HD DVD6718d ago

WHAT THE FU#$?!?

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power of Green 6718d ago

MSFT shouldn't be screwing around with Discs they need to work on their lead on the digital front. They need to compete with APPLE all somebody has to do is work out deal after figuring out an practical way of letting consumers own the digital rights to full movies rather that be server based or HDD , and MSFT loses the market they help creat.

FUC BD Movies will end up like music did.

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big06718d ago

I think MS will be more aggressive with downloads they have some of the best compression tech out there thats probaly why they made hddvd a add on so MS wont be in a hurry or fell a need to adopt blu unless 360 owners demand.

Mr_Kuwabara6718d ago

I personally doubt that Microsoft will go Blu with it's Xbox 360 since now, there "ideal" are that DLC movies are the way to go but they will probably go blu in the long run. (Xbox 540?)

LJWooly6718d ago

There's a major flaw in these plans for downloaded movies...

Most people have a download speed of about 300kb/s.

If these movies are any good in terms of sound and image quality, then that's gonna take a hell of a lot of time to download...

PirateThom6718d ago (Edited 6718d ago )

Digital downloads are alright for music... but HD movies are far too big to download for most people in most countries. I would never have downloaded (or paid to rent a 720p file of) Planet Earth, for example.

Microsoft need to realise, so do Apple, that digital downloads is about 10 years off. The infrastructure isn't in place.

And Microsoft have already lost it, Apple offer 1080p movies for less, and Apple can reach more people, due to Marketplace being open to 15,000,000 or so people.

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power of Green 6718d ago (Edited 6718d ago )

Sure hater.

MSFT need to focus on DDL tech did you not understand?, do you even know what you need for Apples offerings?.

You're probably on of those PS3 fanboys that still thinks you have to wait for hours to watch a movie on XBL.

Comcast has already been offering a bolder method of watching movies all they have to do is improve the quality. If MSFT would do what comcast has done plus do waht MSFT does with TV shows BD would already be dead.

" that digital downloads is about 10 years off" LOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOL. So is the bulk of DVD owners having HDTV's and Blu-ray players?. You think BD is winning over the DVD market? just becuase it beats HD-DVD lol.

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PirateThom6718d ago

I wouldn't know about downloading movies on Marketplace, because I don't pay for digital music and movie files, never have, never will. You do know you don't get to keep the movie files on Marketplace?

What's the point of that?

OC_MurphysLaw6718d ago

I doubt we will see Blu Ray this generation. Just feels pretty late in the cycle of the system to add it on...but you never know.

That said looking to the next Xbox...I could see this. A combo drive....a way for them to not totally shaft 360 owners who have HD-DVD movies and satisfy the blu ray need...but MS wont be pushing discs...they will have the next LIVE selling all games retail over their site for download. Sure you can still buy them in the store but they will offer the whole library via download....even do exclusive download pre-releases, etc. Just seems like the direction they want to take things. So next xbox....combo drive and HUGE Hard drive.

PirateThom6718d ago

More likely Blu-ray drive and compatibility with the HD-DVD add on, but I do like your thinking on this.

OC_MurphysLaw6718d ago

your point actually makes even more sense. Blu drive and drivers built in for the add-on player to connect via USB. Everyone happy....sort of.

beoulve6718d ago

for every XBOX 360 Blu-Ray add-on sale, Sony get money. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm do you think Microsoft want that?

PirateThom6718d ago

Technology companies are really not like this. They'll make components and parts for competitors hardware freely, especially to keep up or advance their own products.

Toshiba make Cell processors for Sony, for example.

mighty_douche6718d ago

well they still make a cut. Anything is better than nothing. M$ arent trying to wipe out Sony here or visa versa, i think some time people look to deep into the console "war", its not the be all and end all of these companies.

mighty_douche6718d ago

Long story short, Apple already own what DD customers exsist. Now they'll step into the Blu-Ray or physical HD media, and with M$ still pu55y footing around with HD-DVD this will help to give their PC's/laptops appeal over the average pc.

Of course, Dell is the big boy, if Apple go blu and Dell follow, it sure is the end. Of HD-DVD but even more so, the end of pissy dvd threads! woo!!

LJWooly6718d ago

I really don't care what happens, I just want the "HD-DVD is dead" threads to stop, for christ's sake.

aceman76718d ago

Movie downloads wont become popular until everyone has 2MB+ speed and 10 terabyte hard-drives.

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Wonderbhoy6718d ago

If your hard drive breaks, all your movies are GONE!

If I scratch a disc, I only lose one movie.. I think I'll stick to actual media in my hand, like most people will.

unjust6718d ago

I am both, however I did not buy my 360 to watch movies on I bought it for games. I don't hate Playstation3 so I'm not going to bash them, I will probably buy one eventually. This whole console /movie format war is so dumb these are both great machines. No consoles going down to much money within these companies. As far as the movies go I have learned a very valuable lesson from the movie purchasing industry that I'd like to share. I bought standard movies for about 3 years then finally decided I only wanted to keep a few and sell the rest. When I went to sell these movies I new I would not get what I paid for them but $3 bucks is garbage compared to the $15 to $25 I paid for them. So this leads me to the whole Blu-Ray issue movies are generally anywhere from $30 to $35 dollars and you probably wont watch a movie more than twice so why waste the money. Downloadable content is the future and that is why I no longer buy cds.

Boink6718d ago

selling a bluray drive externally would then add the perception that the ps3 is a better deal since it's built in (wether or not it is I'll let the fanboys argue about). but to most consumers that's how it would look.

and I think the DD damage to the HD wars is already done, with how popular XBL marketplace is, and it's continuing expansion though euorope, I think they(MS) will be dropping out of the disc format very soon(not that they have been hugely involved anyway, other than having and not promoting and HDDVD drive, makes me wonder if they really cared at all).

and with how popular apple TV will be, that can only help as well. (how can apple tv help xbox you say?) simple, apple tv expansion only raises further awareness as to not needing some silly disc format to get great HD quality movies. there are already 1 million apple tv's sold BEFORE they had the ability to get movies, I expect that number to grow, just as marketplace movie service usage to grow steadily as well.

*edit: and the picture is freaking hilarious:)

QuietStorm6718d ago

not a fanboy in anyway.... but think about it
before i continue my gamrtag is nvisibobully i've been a member since 06 of feb...!!!!

xbox360 had atleast a 33% failure rate... right or wrong????
from personal exp. im on my third one. they sold what 17 mil? so 33% percent of 17 million is 5.61 mil.

let say 1/3 was replace by ms(1.85 x 399 per console)... over 1 bil in warranty plan. WHICH WAS STATED BY MISCROSOFT

so 2/3 was replaced by retailer 3.7 mil lets say 1/5 of these ppl are on their third as well. (925k)

thats 4.625 mil consoles that was sold to the same customers. that leave only 12.375 mil of console.

well what about over 10 mil ppl that are on live????? that easy!!!!!!!

nvisibobully
invisibobully
marquise302

just to name a few, are my gametags.. the reason for it. SIMPLE free online gaming. Just change account when the trail period is up.

so if you really want to compare numbers take everything into consideration

bootsielon6718d ago

It's more like HD-DVD d1tching that 360 whore that fails during sex. HD-DVD is leaving her because he was just diagnosed with fulminant cancer and he might die anytime this year, so he wants a better partner to at least get good sex before he dies. Meanwhile Blu-ray will have to planify with his respectable wife, PS3, if they want their offspring to mate with that slut called 360, which is older than PS3!

Iron Man 26718d ago

Yes it should,or accept it's horrible death,just like HD-DVD

Covenant6718d ago

Blu-Ray add-on for the 360?

I'd buy it.

I've wanted HD movies for a while now, but I decided to wait until the format war was decided before choosing a format. It looks like BR will come out on top.

And, for the record, I DO NOT regret my console choice one bit. Some would say I could have bought the PS3 and had a gaming/BR package all in one. True. But I couldn't have played BioShock, or Mass Effect, or Halo 3, or many other games that I enjoy.

So, although it may seem odd to some, I will soon have a BR player nestled next to my 360 and my new HDTV. Doesn't matter if it's a 360 attachment or a stand-alone player...it will be there.

And, it won't be hard for MS and Sony to work out some kind of deal...I mean, Sony's still going to need Windows for those Vaio computers...a little quid pro quo, if you will.