...very much, and I think they will keep it. The regular edition will have to feature Marcus Fenix, and that's fine. That black Limited Edition artwork would look sweet on a carbon black box....
...standalone Blu-ray players. Hear me out. Now that Blu-ray is in the driver's seat of next-gen optical media, Blu-ray profile 2.0 can be released and perfected... as costs come down, fully-upgradeable and sub-$300 Blu-ray players may actually bite into PS3 sales. Toshiba? Wouldn't that be ironic? And yes, I know that either way this is good for Sony's business. Still, PS3 can only soar from here on out, with only the continued Wii phenomenon & a possible major price drop for the X...
...MS seems to be planning something big for '08. No secret that Sony, Blu-ray, and PS3 have all the momentum coming into this year, so MS has got to come up with something BUZZWORTHY. Ninja Gaiden 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Gears of War 2 are nice, but are known commodities. What is Microsoft going to bring to the table that is NEW? Blu-ray? Price drop(s)? Xbox Live pricing changes? HD movies you CAN KEEP? Us 360 fans need some real buzz (Hopefully from GDC?) for a change....
...high demand for next-gen systems a la Halo, Metal Gear, and Super Mario, but the question is which one? With PS3 rising, what is going to distinguish the 360 enough for it to remain competitive? Not sure if downloadable episodic content is a compelling enough reason to pick the 360 over the PS3. That content had better be damned good and exclusive for more than six months. This is especially true now that my beloved 360 is now on the flip side vs. PS3, technologically speaking AND barg...
... a $399 "Ultimate" 360 with wifi built-in, 200GB HDD, and (sit down) built-in Blu-ray drive, for movies at first and eventually future BD games. Next would be a $299 Pro and $199 Arcade, both with HDD and internal Blu-ray drives but no wifi. Not sure how feasible Blu-ray Pros and Arcades are at those prices, but then you could have an add-on Blu-ray drive I suppose. Don't make the same mistake Sega did by not immediately putting a DVD drive into the Dreamcast. Big changes yes...
... Sony needs a replacement for the 60/80GB models, as well as a SKU that will include the upcoming DualShock3, so that's a no-brainer. For Microsoft though, there HAS to be some sort of price drop, and not a small one. Keeping the 20GB Pro/Premium at $349 here in the States vs. $399 for the 40GB PS3 is a losing proposition for MS. This is especially true once you consider (1) the gains Sony made over the Holiday season, (2) the fact that Blu-ray has now officially won, and (3) MS must be...
...I think you hit the nail right on the head! I think that BOTH Microsoft and Sony are prepping "new SKUs" for Spring/Summer 2008, most likely to coincide with GTA4's release....
...we shall miss ya! (Lifts glass...) Your time was too short, but Toshiba knew the ship was sinking so... (Rubs hands together) bring on the fire sales!!
Now that this is happening much faster than anyone imagined, is it still just wild speculation that Microsoft is working on BOTH a Blu-ray add-on AND an internal Blu-ray drive for the 360?
...throughout the thread. I think that Toshiba will make an announcement sooner rather than later. They will want to do so before Universal and Paramount jump ship. I'm not sure if they will announce dropping support for HD DVD, but they will probably announce at the least that they will be releasing Blu-ray players, for market later this year. Too soon? If you don't think Toshiba had a "Plan B" in my mind a long time ago, you're crazy.
Microsoft is a trickier on...
...but how can MS expect to have future Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid games come to Xbox 360 with its DVD-9 storage limitations?
...the whole storage issue. We 360 fans have lived with the "DVD-9 is fine for next-gen games" reasoning for two years now. But Lost Odyssey kind of exposes DVD-9 as being insufficient for the future, no?
Now that the "format war" is over, MS needs to seriously consider moving on to Blu-ray disc for future games. 360 has had the big advantages in games so far over PS3, outselling PS3 games and getting better critical reviews than PS3 in almost all multipl...
...SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... "Hush hush... keep it down now... Voices Carry...."
...I just spit juice all over my desk... ROFL... That picture is absolutely freakin' hilarious, bubble for you....
...where Microsoft goes from here. Why not clearance out the HD DVD add-ons left ($50?) and license Blu-ray? Yes, it's admitting defeat, but so what? Time to move on. Blu-ray has won, and lingering over HD DVD is only going to hurt 360 sales for 2008 and beyond.
If I were MS, I would release a Blu-ray add-on for cheap ($99?), release an Ultimate Xbox 360 with Blu-ray built-in, wifi, and 200GB HDD for $399, and offer all Xbox owners with the HD DVD add-on a trade-in rebate, ...
...for Toshiba and Sony to go back to the negotiating table. Toshiba has much less leverage now. It may be too late for them to come up with a new format, but if the Blu-ray group allows Toshiba to make Blu-ray players, then Toshiba will clearance out all HD DVDs and HD DVD players IMMEDIATELY. Toshiba will only add to competition needed to get Blu-ray player prices down to where more people will begin to accept hi-def discs overall over DVDs. Remember, for Blu-ray the battle vs. HD DVD i...
I would pick up a Toshiba combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player immediately, especially if the price is right, under $300. I plan to add a huge stack of HD DVDs to my collection once the inevitably clearance fire sales begin. Although I already have the 360 add-on & a PS3 in the game room, I would love a really good combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player for the living room, so that I would not have to buy those movies over again on Blu-ray. The format war is over, I get it. Now let's move on to keeping A...
...Altimako02. Bubble for you. Without the competition between HD DVD and Blu-ray, high definition discs would STILL be too expensive for most people. I know I wouldn't have the 360 HD DVD add-on or the Playstation 3 without it. And Toshiba/HD DVD fans out there don't feel bad; Toshiba will be forcing Blu-ray player manufacturers to make better and cheaper Blu-ray players, much faster than they intended to, believe me... long live competition....
...so many of us out there overuse "Future-proof," and I'm as guilty as anyone else. Videogaming is a business where the future seems to change every six months, so how could anything be fut--- you know. You had me spitting out my soda laughing on that one...
MS must know that the successor to the 360 is going to have to be a monster to gain #1 market share, and that kind of innovation is going to take time, time the 360 needs to right the ship for MS and carve out ...
...I completely agree. BUBBLE FOR YOU. I'm gonna keep that article and pass it around everytime someone makes bone-headed comments about the current state of gaming....
...that Gears 2 will fit onto ONE DISC. If not, I hope that MS is working on an alternative to what happened to Lost Odyssey. I don't think MS can afford to have too many AAA titles on 3 or 4 DVDs....