Microsoft Will Consider Going Blu-Ray

[FudgeNuggets]

Since Microsoft is the king of the hill in software why not do 1 thing and move xbox 360 games to HD-DVD and create that so called Ultimate console. It's what loads of analists suggest and they also state that cause PS3 games are on blu-ray and 360's aint on HD-DVD PS3 has a so-called advantage.

Yet to me they haven't they have not yet produced an exclusive and I don't think there filling up Blu-ray's capacity, to me this is like Sony gettings its own back when they lost exclusive right to Devil May Cry 4 and GTA4.

Because not even Sega was stupid enough to force the adoption of a new format midstream, they at least still made cartridges along side of the CDs and still made 16bit carts and CDs along side the 32X stuff.......still we know how that all turned out.

 

[Salomon Orangge]

http://gizmodo.com/343006/rumor-smashed-microsoft-is-not-considering-blu+ray-support

 

[deception``]

Since Microsoft is the king of the hill in software why not do 1 thing and move xbox 360 games to HD-DVD and create that so called Ultimate console.

This is very simple: Microsoft simply was not willing to risk their console success [or failure] on an HD format that may never take off. Trying to get the masses to adopt a new standard by force [such the PS3] can fail as easily as it can take off. Even today, the total share of HD/BD to the entire home video market is extremely small, and some predict that both formats are simply a temporary stop on the way to mass digital distribution [think XBL, Netflix, iTunes, etc].

It appears that Sony has currently conceded the console race to Microsoft and Nintendo in favor of Blu-Ray. The inclusion of BD not only made the PS3 the most expensive console ever, but it also gave the 360 it's much-coveted one-year head start. All hope is not lost, though, as this generation is still young and momentum could swing in their favor in the long run.

Lastly, BD will need to become a long-term standard for Sony to make a return on their investment. A 4 or 5 year stopgap just isn't enough; DVD first appeared before this millenium and doesn't exactly look like it's going away tomorrow.

deception``

 

[John G]

Since Microsoft is the king of the hill in software why not do 1 thing and move xbox 360 games to HD-DVD and create that so called Ultimate console. It's what loads of analists suggest and they also state that cause PS3 games are on blu-ray and 360's aint on HD-DVD PS3 has a so-called advantage.

Yet to me they haven't they have not yet produced an exclusive and I don't think there filling up Blu-ray's capacity, to me this is like Sony gettings its own back when they lost exclusive right to Devil May Cry 4 and GTA4.

Consoles make money by selling games. LOTS of games. They are able to sell lots of games by having a huge install base - millions of people with the console in the home ready to buy games. Console producers go through a very long, expensive, and painful process in order to eventually reach a point years after a console's initial availability to where they can say they have 10's of millions of consoles in use. Game developers see this fact (whether current or eventual) and develop games for the console due to the big potential for sales. The games come out, sell in huge quantities, and the console producer themself collects their share and finally makes money. Huge quantities cannot be sold if there aren't huge quantities of people who can buy them in the first place.

To introduce any new hardware requirement to play a game sets the number of installed and the time clock back to "0" and everything starts over. The new hardware requires investment. Customers become jaded for being "forced" into spending more money on hardware. Developers avoid producing ANY titles that require the new hardware because the potential for sales is small. No titles - only a few nerds buy the hardware - format dies.

This has been seen repeatedly over the years in past consoles with special optical drives, hard drives, network adapters, expansion memory modules, special input devices, and more. All attempts have failed miserably at cracking into mainstream usage.

MS has made it plainly evident in their communication and actions that they do not plan to repeat this sort of mistake that others have made with the 360.

 

[Niku-Sama]

i wish this whole HD blu ray crap was over with!
i am tired of stupid ****ing matches of the ill informed

 

[asusradeon]

i can't believe blu-ray is taking the lead... its far more expensive...

 

[telexen]

Cost of the technology has nothing to do with it ... for movies it's purely how many buyers they could get and keep.

It's a good move for MS to provide a Bluray addon drive (please, please make it a drive that will read both). This KILLS Sony because they sell a LOT of PS3s for nothing more than the best/cheapest Bluray player you can find - especially now with the news that it's likely the only one that will be upgradable to the 2.0 revision of Bluray planned. I was going to buy a PS3 later as a Bluray player ... maybe now I won't. I hate Sony anyway.

 

[Blue Jester_2112]

Cost of the technology has nothing to do with it ... for movies it's purely how many buyers they could get and keep.

It's a good move for MS to provide a Bluray addon drive (please, please make it a drive that will read both). This KILLS Sony because they sell a LOT of PS3s for nothing more than the best/cheapest Bluray player you can find - especially now with the news that it's likely the only one that will be upgradable to the 2.0 revision of Bluray planned. I was going to buy a PS3 later as a Bluray player ... maybe now I won't. I hate Sony anyway.

This won't hurt Sony in the least. Sony isn't as interested in the sale of BD players, they're interested in licensing. They plan to make thier money by propegating thier format and having as much BD media out there as possible. If we see a BD player for the 360 it will be because MS partnered with Sony and because Sony sees profit in it. Sony is greedy, not stupid.

 

[telexen]

Sony is interested in the sale of the console they dumped millions of dollars worth of R&D into.

The same console that has a selling point consisting of ONLY Bluray.

You missed the point of my post entirely.

 

[rainless]

Sony is interested in the sale of the console they dumped millions of dollars worth of R&D into.

The same console that has a selling point consisting of ONLY Bluray.

You missed the point of my post entirely.

You missed your point, too. You JUST said: "Cost of technology has nothing to do with it." And you were right.

It doesn't matter how many millions of dollars sony has put into the PS3. They're already worth billions of dollars and soon to be worth billions more. They've got 54 million combined consoles sold (PS3, PSP, and PS2) and once HD-DVD taps they'll have an unlimited revenue stream generated by each blu-ray disc sold.

The blu-ray player is not the PS3's only selling point... lest you forget it also plays games. Lest you are unaware that the PS3 is about to have the biggest year of any next gen system. The death of HD-DVD is just icing on the cake.

And you said something (that people keep telling me nobody says...) about "this kills Sony..." NOTHING will kill Sony. No matter how much you think you hate them. Sony owns the F'N Ghostbusters, Spiderman, and the rest of Columbia pictures (including Chinatown and The Two Jakes.)

They're gonna be just fine.

 

[Blue Jester_2112]

You missed the point of my post entirely.

I didn't actually, but I delieve you may have missed the point of mine. What I was pointing out is that if MS does put out a BD drive for the 360 it will not kill Sony because they can't do so without Sony's permission as Sony owns the rights to the Blu-Ray technology.

The PS3 will do just fine during this round of console wars, even if the 360 does continue to out-sell it overall, the PS3 will still end up selling tens of millions of units and there will still be hundreds of games developed for it. As long as it turns a profit in the long run, which it will, then Sony will chalk it up to a success and push forward with a PS4. (I'm sure they'll botch the launch of that one as well). They don't actually care whether they are #1 or # 2 as long as they make lots of money they'll still be happy. They just like to wave their big foam Sony finger around in order to rally their base of fan-boys across the internet.

On a seperate note, I love how everyone defends the 360 as being superior and holy and bashes the PS3 and Sony as being the evil, greedy empire bent on pumping out inferior, overpriced, proprietary products. When did M$ become the electronics or computer guru's best friend? Yes, Sony does suck...but come on...so does Microsoft.
(What's really amusing is how people go back and forth over which console is the uber-leet-jiffy-best and which one sucks the peanuts from chipmunk turds, but for the most part they both play the same games.)

 

[telexen]

You missed your point, too. You JUST said: "Cost of technology has nothing to do with it." And you were right.

That was a response only to asusradeon's comment...the cost of the competing technologies has nothing to do with which is more widely adopted. General confusion.

It doesn't matter how many millions of dollars sony has put into the PS3. They're already worth billions of dollars and soon to be worth billions more. They've got 54 million combined consoles sold (PS3, PSP, and PS2) and once HD-DVD taps they'll have an unlimited revenue stream generated by each blu-ray disc sold.

Don't lump businesses into all their own projects. Not all groups of Sony project developers care about Bluray, or the PS3, or TVs, or portable media players, etc. Ultimately the management and board of directors hold that job, but no single group will sacrifice their product for the well-being of another unless it's not their decision.

The blu-ray player is not the PS3's only selling point... lest you forget it also plays games. Lest you are unaware that the PS3 is about to have the biggest year of any next gen system. The death of HD-DVD is just icing on the cake.

You can say this until you're blue in the face (no pun intended), but it won't make it true. I don't care how good of a year you *think* the PS3 will have, it's game selection still remains abysmal, as does its worth as a gaming console. Your pragmatist views aside, you simply cannot deny the fact that many adopters bought it solely as a Bluray player, seeing as it is the best and for a long time the cheapest (even still probably the best buy). Sony has gotten away with having a technically inferior product for several generations only because they got their product out first - that didn't happen this time, and history should show you what will happen this generation. History really does repeat itself, you should take notice.

And you said something (that people keep telling me nobody says...) about "this kills Sony..." NOTHING will kill Sony. No matter how much you think you hate them. Sony owns the F'N Ghostbusters, Spiderman, and the rest of Columbia pictures (including Chinatown and The Two Jakes.)
They're gonna be just fine.

Come off your horse now. You know I didn't mean it will literally kill Sony; why you argue I did is questionable. The fact is that if people feel they can get their gaming in with the better system (from a value perspective), AND not have to spend another $399 for the other one just for their Bluray, it will be a big blow to the PS3 development/sales group at Sony...it will even same them the money of buying an even more expensive standalone Bluray player.

I didn't actually, but I delieve you may have missed the point of mine. What I was pointing out is that if MS does put out a BD drive for the 360 it will not kill Sony because they can't do so without Sony's permission as Sony owns the rights to the Blu-Ray technology.

This is not true. While Sony was the main contributor to the development of Bluray (there were many though) and owns the logo, they DO NOT own all rights and control everything that happens to it. That belongs to the Board of Directors for Bluray; this list includes Apple, Warner, Disney, Sun, Pioneer, Samsung, HP, Dell, Hitachi, Phillips, and many others I can't even think of right now. Sony can throw a fit and say MS can't do it, but if the others still want to allow MS to make an addon - considering one of these is SURELY to be the one to either design or manufacture it - it will happen.
To be clear, Sony does not own Bluray.

They don't actually care whether they are #1 or # 2 as long as they make lots of money they'll still be happy. They just like to wave their big foam Sony finger around in order to rally their base of fan-boys across the internet.

They very much care. Being #2 won't stop them from pushing another generation of consoles and/or similar products (think portable), but it has a huge influence on how many games are developed and purchased. Sony would have a lot to explain to investors if PS3 sales were good, but game sales weren't. I may buy a PS3 later, and I can assure you if I do it won't be used to play games. If my love for the GTA series never pushed me to buy a PS2, nothing will help the PS3 gain my preference. If I feel I want to purchase Sony's competitor's console because it has a much larger selection of games (you seem to hold pragmatic views on this subject, as well as rainless), Sony does care...because it's not likely I'm the only one.

Now before either of you try to say that I'm saying Bluray will die because the PS3 is not good enough - it won't. Nor will HD-DVD live because Sony doesn't support it...But I will reiterate, Sony WILL NOT blindly accept defeat with the PS3 and say, "oh well, we make enough from Bluray!" ... I'd hate to be a director with Sony and have to answer to investors in such a case. Sony's ultimate failure with the PS3 is not a simple write off, they will feel the pain from it...even if it's only a small group between development and sales.

 

[El<(')>Maxi]

Title should read 'Microsoft will follow the money'

What business doesn't?

 

[rainless]

That was a response only to asusradeon's comment...the cost of the competing technologies has nothing to do with which is more widely adopted. General confusion.


Don't lump businesses into all their own projects. Not all groups of Sony project developers care about Bluray, or the PS3, or TVs, or portable media players, etc. Ultimately the management and board of directors hold that job, but no single group will sacrifice their product for the well-being of another unless it's not their decision.

You can say this until you're blue in the face (no pun intended), but it won't make it true. I don't care how good of a year you *think* the PS3 will have, it's game selection still remains abysmal, as does its worth as a gaming console. Your pragmatist views aside, you simply cannot deny the fact that many adopters bought it solely as a Bluray player, seeing as it is the best and for a long time the cheapest (even still probably the best buy). Sony has gotten away with having a technically inferior product for several generations only because they got their product out first - that didn't happen this time, and history should show you what will happen this generation. History really does repeat itself, you should take notice.

Come off your horse now. You know I didn't mean it will literally kill Sony; why you argue I did is questionable. The fact is that if people feel they can get their gaming in with the better system (from a value perspective), AND not have to spend another $399 for the other one just for their Bluray, it will be a big blow to the PS3 development/sales group at Sony...it will even same them the money of buying an even more expensive standalone Bluray player.


This is not true. While Sony was the main contributor to the development of Bluray (there were many though) and owns the logo, they DO NOT own all rights and control everything that happens to it. That belongs to the Board of Directors for Bluray; this list includes Apple, Warner, Disney, Sun, Pioneer, Samsung, HP, Dell, Hitachi, Phillips, and many others I can't even think of right now. Sony can throw a fit and say MS can't do it, but if the others still want to allow MS to make an addon - considering one of these is SURELY to be the one to either design or manufacture it - it will happen.
To be clear, Sony does not own Bluray.


They very much care. Being #2 won't stop them from pushing another generation of consoles and/or similar products (think portable), but it has a huge influence on how many games are developed and purchased. Sony would have a lot to explain to investors if PS3 sales were good, but game sales weren't. I may buy a PS3 later, and I can assure you if I do it won't be used to play games. If my love for the GTA series never pushed me to buy a PS2, nothing will help the PS3 gain my preference. If I feel I want to purchase Sony's competitor's console because it has a much larger selection of games (you seem to hold pragmatic views on this subject, as well as rainless), Sony does care...because it's not likely I'm the only one.

Now before either of you try to say that I'm saying Bluray will die because the PS3 is not good enough - it won't. Nor will HD-DVD live because Sony doesn't support it...But I will reiterate, Sony WILL NOT blindly accept defeat with the PS3 and say, "oh well, we make enough from Bluray!" ... I'd hate to be a director with Sony and have to answer to investors in such a case. Sony's ultimate failure with the PS3 is not a simple write off, they will feel the pain from it...even if it's only a small group between development and sales.

You're almost as funny as that guy in the other thread. The PS3's games selection is now nearly identicle to the 360's (Oblivion? Check. Orange Box? Check. Call of Duty 4? Check. Every single sports game? Check. Unreal Tournament 3? Whoops!) As far as exclusives... I didn't dream this one up. It's all over the internet... it's in every magazine... No company is going to have more exclusives in 2008 than Sony. That's a fact. I don't get why some people have this delusional hatred of Sony. You hate Sony... fine... Hate them.

But let's not round up all the magical fairies and leprechauns and start playing make-believe with the facts.

 

[Falcon-K]

Mass Effect? Gears of War? Halo 3? Crackdown? Dead Rising? Forza? *yawns* *looks at his ps3 and the ONE game which none of us play anymore(Motorstorm)* The only good thing about the ps3 right now is that it plays bluray movies..

Plus a lot of the games look/play better on the 360. Do you even own a PS3?

 

[rainless]

Mass Effect? Gears of War? Halo 3? Crackdown? Dead Rising? Forza? *yawns* *looks at his ps3 and the ONE game which none of us play anymore(Motorstorm)* The only good thing about the ps3 right now is that it plays bluray movies..

Plus a lot of the games look/play better on the 360. Do you even own a PS3?

No. Don't want one. And all those games are last year (and the year before) I'm talking about 2008. I've got nothing for or against Sony. I'm just tired of all the senseless hatred.

 

[telexen]

No. Don't want one. And all those games are last year (and the year before) I'm talking about 2008. I've got nothing for or against Sony. I'm just tired of all the senseless hatred.

Perhaps you should focus more on the senseless misinformation you spread.

I can publish an article in a magazine touting "exclusive" games. Wow, Killzone! How have they hyped that worthless game for this long? UT3? Unreal has long been nothing but a marketing tool for Epic's gaming engines...it's not a game with depth, it just looks pretty...this list can go on.

You're now down to only being able to claim you know more about how gaming markets will play out than anyone. It's funny how you aren't touching any of my other points...you just felt like pouncing on me for making an observation, but you actually argued against one I didn't even make to begin with. Let us know when you're done chest-thumping.

 

[rainless]

Perhaps you should focus more on the senseless misinformation you spread.

I can publish an article in a magazine touting "exclusive" games. Wow, Killzone! How have they hyped that worthless game for this long? UT3? Unreal has long been nothing but a marketing tool for Epic's gaming engines...it's not a game with depth, it just looks pretty...this list can go on.

You're now down to only being able to claim you know more about how gaming markets will play out than anyone. It's funny how you aren't touching any of my other points...you just felt like pouncing on me for making an observation, but you actually argued against one I didn't even make to begin with. Let us know when you're done chest-thumping.

If only you were worth my time.

 

[deception``]

You're almost as funny as that guy in the other thread. The PS3's games selection is now nearly identicle to the 360's (Oblivion? Check. Orange Box? Check. Call of Duty 4? Check. Every single sports game? Check. Unreal Tournament 3? Whoops!) As far as exclusives... I didn't dream this one up. It's all over the internet... it's in every magazine... No company is going to have more exclusives in 2008 than Sony. That's a fact. I don't get why some people have this delusional hatred of Sony. You hate Sony... fine... Hate them.

But let's not round up all the magical fairies and leprechauns and start playing make-believe with the facts.

Can't exactly say I agree with this, but you are correct that the gap is closing. I know many people that are very excited about Lost Odyssey, and Ninja Gaiden 2 being exclusive is a real treat for Microsoft [considering that the PS3 has next-gen Sigma, they'll probably want more].

Also, one cannot discount the 360's larger lineup due to the year head-start. It was an important advantage for the PS2 and remains one for the 360 today. The good news is that the console has quite a few solid titles at great prices - Dead Rising, Crackdown, Lost Planet, Saints Row etc can all be found for $30 or less. Lastly, let's keep in mind that some multi-platform titles that released for the 360 first are less expensive on the system, such as [typically] GRAW 2 and Rainbow Six: Vegas.

I also think that Unreal Tournament has been a complete failure so far on the PS3, much like Crysis. I bet that Epic is working diligently to port the title and recoup some of their investment. They should hurry up and bring me GOW 2

deception``