Haven't we heard this before?
Even though another wave of rumors indicating Microsoft would finally adopt Blu-ray for the Xbox 360 hit the Internet last week, Microsoft has vehemently denied it will support the Sony-created technology.
"As we've said before, Microsoft has no plans to introduce an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on. games are what drive consumers to purcahse game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available," a Microsoft spokesperson told Edge Online.
The most recent rumor indicated Microsoft wanted a collaboration of Toshiba-Samsung to help make an external drive that could be sold for between $100 and $150. In typical fashion to the other rumors, Xbox 360 owners were excited about the news, while Microsoft almost immediately began denying the report.
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Blu-ray was created by Sony, maker of the rival PlayStation 3, but a growing number of Xbox 360 owners have requested an external add-on drive to be able to use their game console as a media player. Microsoft execs and others have ripped into Sony by saying it is silly to force consumers to pay for something they don't want or need, as the Blu-ray is built into the PS3.
Microsoft originally supported the Toshiba-created HD DVD format, but was left without a high-definition format after Toshiba threw in the towel earlier this year. The Redmond, Washington-based company has been reluctant to create a Blu-ray add-on player, which is understandable, as Blu-ray sales have been disappointing.
It looks like Microsoft is better prepared to help usher in digital distribution rather than worry about offering a Blu-ray player for Xbox 360 owners. Moving forward, Xbox 360 owners can expect a growing library of movies, music, game demos and other content that can be downloaded directly to the console -- essentially eliminating the need for an optical drive.
The problem with digital distribution of data is that infrastructure is not ready for mass downloads ( 4 to 20 GB for one game). You can do it but it will take you hours. Then what happens if your drive runs out of space. Then what.
Xbox/M$ need to conceed to the fact that physical media is here to stay. If the developers had more media space, then they can put larger textures in games hence making a better game.
Blu-Ray is doing great when compared to DVD's history. It's been adopted alot faster (google it, I saw it this morning on an article).
People and gamers, love to go to a store an play a game in minutes rather then hours. Plus some regions have restrictions on how much data people can download.
I agree that digital distribution is the future. I just will not happen for a while. Not until you can down load 5 GB in line 15 to 20 minutes. And you can get 1TB for at least $50. This will gamers the room to mimic their current library style. There are people that have dozens of games. They need to space.
I don't think we'd ever know if MS was going to put out this addon until they officially announce it. They've always denied everything until they're ready to announce it, so you can only accept their denials about as much as the people that keep posting the bluray drive coming out.
That being said, if MS does put it out, or at least include bluray in the successor to the 360, they'd be dropping the ball. ISP's are capping the sh*t of connections, throttling, and pretty much putting a chokehold on the internet. So I don't think it would be very good to only rely on digital distribution. As it is, XBOX live HD downloads are alot more compressed than bluray, and the license is only good for 48 hours from download. So it really doesn't help anyone that wants to start or continue a movie collection.
who cares ?
a soon as the ps3 is chippable, and beleive me it will happen.
the xbox 360 will be dust. untill the xbox 361 comes along.
Did people seriously think Microsoft would support a Sony-developed product ? I don't think so.
Blu-ray may get shot down over the next year with all the talk about Blu-ray being killed by tough economic times a lot of people on Main Street are hurting and savings rates are starting to go up. I think Main Street will have to work itself out of this tough economic mess and there is even more talk of job losses in the next year '09.
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