Well they are going to have to do something so I don't see why it wouldn't be blu-ray as it would be the most logical and econmically sound option. SONY and MS don't hate each other like we make out, they will work together if it is to both their advantage.

@sack-boi - blu-ray is the reason the ps3 will last twice as long as the 360.

@below - the article is talking about the next xbox. By then it will definately not be just a luxury, infact MGS4 proved that it is needed just now.By the end of this gen, which will be sooner rather than later for the 360, MS will be desperate to hang up its boots and release a new console well before the next playstation.

Edit2: Ok, so even if you may be willing to play MGS4 on 8 discs this will be alot more expensive for developers, they will not be willing to do this. The same will apply to other games the longer this gen goes on. Pretty sad how you all hate blu-ray just because it's in the ps3.

Its funny how Resistance holds on 22gb but can be MORE THAN EASILY done on a single DVD9.I mean even COD4 takes up less than 9gb and its a 1000 times better.

Same goes for Uncharted, if a game like RES5 can fit on a DVD so can Uncharted.

Blu ray is more of a luxury than a ABSOLUTE necessity.And yeah like Sack boi said I dont give a damn if a game comes on multiple discs, I dont mind changing discs after a week or two after playing 10 hours on a game.

But the article is about next gen, and of course MSFT will be ditching DVD9 for their next console.

@stwegart on top : hey dude if you look at the space a completey unimpressive game like Resistance takes up its pretty obvious if they wanted to they could take up less space : same goes for MGS4.
And once again, just put it on multiple discs and you'll get the EXACT same game minus the installs.

edit 2 : Hey I know youre not an idiot if MGS4 were to come on 360 it with compression it would take up probably 2 discs.Once again a 25gb PS3 game like Resistance or Uncharted can fit on a 9GB DVD with no compression at all (checkout way better games like COD4 or Gears 2 for ex).So how manny DVDS do you think it will take to fit a 50GB bluray game ??? Do the maths.

If they like it or not, I feel M$ will have to fall on to Blu-Ray at some point of time. Unless they device a new special format (some Holography thing was displayed somewhere.... but highly unlikely), they must have Blu-Ray. Digital distribution might be an option but frankly, if the next console arrives in 2 years, then I don't see the connection speed improving a lot in that time span.... America and Europe with few other countries is OK, but rest of the world still has slow connections and problem with consistent net. People will any day prefer a hardcopy of the game over a 40-50 GB download.

Also, having a Blu-Ray player is also an added benefit. There is no doubt that Sony isn't going to let go Blu-Ray until it becomes the next standard. Sony's persistent approach has clubbed a lot of mainstream Studios like WB, Paramount... The Blu-Ray sales are also seeing a spike over DVDs. Although DVDs are still the main media format, change is imminent. And HD is the next way to go. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Blu-Ray will replace DVDs in the next 3-4 years time... Prices are also falling. This is like the phase change from VCD to DVD. Initially people were reluctant, but the change eventually came when the prices came down and the benefits of better quality became evident. Also, I don't see any challenger for Blu-Ray. Digital distribution is in it's primordial stage and won't be backed by major Sony studios at least till Blu-Ray becomes standard. HD-DVD is done and dusted.

Also, one more added benefit is the lack of piracy in PS3 games. That would appeal to a lot of developers. I haven't heard about a pirated PS3, but a flashed 360 is nothing new. I ain't a tech expert, but I think that it's something to do with Blu-Ray being hard to hack into. We all know DVDs are vulnerable to hacking (duh..).

Eventually I do feel M$ will have to introduce Blu-Ray. I think it's about time companies shed their ego and just follow the trend change.

first, the ps3 has sold (since launch)at a faster rate than the 360 has sold since its launch. sony hasn't sold as many consoles as MS due to the fact 360 has a full year headstart on the competition.

next, the wii is outselling ps3/360 the way they are due to price. look at how poorly nintendo did (against sony) with N64 and gamecube at equal prices. nintendos formula for success is a cheap console which the casual gamer will buy because of cost.
the fact that sonys console has sold as good as it has at a much higher price than the competition is a positive. blu ray continues to do better with sales continuing to improve.......not decline.
so, no.........being "dead last" (as you put it) is not really the clearest picture of what's going on.
and finally, your belief that bluray is a bad thing certainly doesn't make sense. blu provides the flexability to watch gorgeous HD movies on ps3 and give devs the room to grow games in a way that the limited space of dvd does not.
going by your thinking, tech would NEVER advance and we would still be using VHS tapes and game cartridges. i remember when dvd first came out; there were people like you saying how DVD wasn't necessary and was too expensive.........look where dvd has gone since its inception. and blu is being accepted at a faster rate than dvd initially was while blu movies and players are getting cheaper moderately faster than it's dvd counterparts did during it's inception.
no offense sac boi but, you sound like a 360 fanboy. they're the only ones who can't see the advantages of blu.
hey! i'm curious......if the next MS console has bluray in it - will you buy it?

so why force it?

Besides, MS fought hard to get that price advantage, blu-ray may all but eliminate that.

EDIT:

Thanks Beavis!

And Calaborg is right. MS has said repeatedly that now that they have "beaten" Sony, they will now turn their attention towards the Wii. That might mean just a lower price, but I think they want that massive "family fun" market of the Wii -- which means lots of DVD9 friendly mini games and low priced hardware

Should Blu-ray be Supported on Xbox? That's entirely dependent upon Microsoft's goals.

If Microsoft wants to remain relevant as an HD gaming competitor in coming generations, they're going to have to make the switch to next-gen storage formats. Whether that ends up being BD, pure digital distro, or some new technology has yet to be seen.

However, if Microsoft decides to "pull a Wii" next generation and cater to a much more, for lack of a better word, "casual" crowd (and focus more on gimmicks and gameplay than graphics and quality audio), then the jump to a new format may not be as critical.

Either way, the best of luck to Microsoft. For all the awful mistakes they've made this generation, they've done a great job where widening the market and advancing the game industry is concerned.

@One Post Below: Thank you, sir! :)

what you just said made 2 good points.

have a bubble!

edit: same for you caladbolg.

it's good to see people making comments instead of the usual fanboy crap.

Looks like sack_boi was the disagree phantom after all.

IF they release an addon for just movies then it wouldnt be bad a few movie buffs might buy it.. If they try to force it by putting games on blu-ray it would kill the console and they aint that stupid.

It will not be the first time Microsoft is forced to pay royalty fees to Sony for use of a physical media. For every single DVD and Xbox sold through Microsoft, a royalty fee has to be paid to the DVD Association in which Sony is a member of.

Haven't you ever wondered why the "DVD Controller" for the original Xbox cost so much?

like most people, i just thought it was MS ripping the consumer off again

"No. I don't have any problem with multiple discs. And Blu-ray is the reason why Sony is dead last this gen. "

LOL! LOL!!! Case close, you are definitely a MS 360 fanboy! Don't mind swapping disc! LOL! oh that was funny man and sony dead last because of blu-ray?!?! sure, maybe in last place "right now", but with all the exclusives appearing every week, plus the upcoming price cut, I highly dout its "DEAD Last", its more like "at the moment last" than anything.

microsoft doesn't want to pay its competitor in the console business for each console sold. That is just not good business. Expect an HDdvd player so they can support larger games or maybe a completely new technology. lets face it, MS likes money and they don't want to give it to their biggest competitor in the console business.

I'd actually like to see if microsoft has anything that can trump bluray, so I hope they don't just fall in line, I hope they try and take the next step (be it wrong or right).

MS should stick with a cd drive, rf controllers, and batteries. THATS NEXT GEN BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While you and probably the majority of the 360 customer base doesn't have a problem with multiple discs, it doesn't matter because the game publishers do, and in the end that's the people to worry about. Even you should worry.

Microsoft will not put BLURAY in there next console. BLU RAY will be dead before long because, it just doesn’t have the capacity. 50GB to 500GB with 200GB only being able to be reached in labs… We need optical disc that support at a minimum 1TB and even that might be a bit low. Remember Sony pushed the BLURAY format because they wanted the royalties for being the last optical movie format. If they had waited any longer to push BLURAY all the new formats (HVD about 4TB, Protein-Coated Disc up to 50TB) coming out would have surely beat it hands down. MS would be very stupid to support BLURAY they are doing right by starting a digital media hub with 360, this will care over to the next Xbox and allow them to go with a cheaper bigger capacity format for the next Xbox even if the movie industry isn’t on board.

@sack_boi

Yeah, the production cost of blu-ray materials will be exactly the same in 5 years.

Christ.

Not a big fan of digital distribution. I would rather have a box to dislay

lol @thugbot

360 a digital media hub, is that why the hdd's come with such a convenient price tag?

Why would MicroSoft want Blu-ray? Blu-ray in an overpriced unnecessary fail that only exists to rip off consumers. $600 for an inferior game console ROFL!

True, but you can't deny that it sold as a Blu-Ray more so than a gaming system..
And, why wouldn't it? It WAS the cheapest Blu-Ray player on the market..

Hey, 2006 called. It wants its year back.

@qface64 and Snaz27.. Sony does pay royalty to M$ for Windows. Even in the mobile category, Sony must pay royalty to implement Windows Mobile edition (Sony Xperia). Actually it's co-exist nature for both of them. If Sony ditches Windows, it's screwed and if M$ ditches Sony, then that means less Windows sales... But I feel that in this case Sony is in a low position as compared to M$ as without Windows, Sony will have to abandon the laptop market (barring the possibility that they launch their own OS like Apple does).

I mean this is business. One has to give up their ego and approach another company to earn more profits. If M$ goes to Sony and gets Blu-Ray, then it actually will help people adapt Blu-Ray faster (although if M$ doesn't, then too it's imminent). That is why I feel it won't be a huge embarrassment for M$ to ask for Blu-Ray from Sony. In the end it's profits that matter. If Blu-Ray becomes the next DVDs (which it eventually will become), then obviously M$ has to implement it. If not it will be like the Dreamcast situation for next Xbox.... Dreamcast came out with no DVD against PS2... and we all know what happened. It's a trend M$ will eventually have to embrace.

but first off, Sony as a company is not necessarily at odds as some of you would like to believe. First off, I thought Sony is not the owner of Bluray, but one of its members....so the royalties do not exclusively go to Sony. In addition, didn't Bluray require Microsoft's codec....so does Microsoft get any kind of licensing fees or anything of the sort. Finally, why is the assumption that just because Microsoft backed hd dvd...that they dislike bluray. You all ever heard the phrase, "nothing personal, just business"?

mpeg4 and h.264 codec does not belong to Microsoft since this was a format developed by the techno geeks in the movie industry, which was also made popular by pirates that acquire the native source of the treasure they've taken.