Microsoft may eventually support blu ray.

Haven't they always said this? I thought one of the reasons they claimed the 360 was better was that it wasn't locked to a format.
 
Yeah, they've always said that they would support both if it came to it.
 
I wonder how hard it would be for Microsoft to churn out an add on Blu-Ray player. Make it the same exact thing as their HD-DVD player. Then people would have their CHOICE of high def. formats now instead of either spending $600 for each (PS3 or 360+HD-DVD). Then, people could just buy the 360 and both HD drives for $800 and call it a day. I think I'm on to something here.:p
 
A few months ago I would have said no chance in hell this would happen. Now that the PS3 launch has been less than stellar, MS can offer the option of an add-on HD-DVD or Blu-ray or simply the console without either. They can play up the "choice" without being forced to a format...especially since neither one is really taking off well enough to replace regular dvd's just yet.
 
Interesting. There is an interview in this months EGM with Peter Moore, and he stated that MS believed HD-DVD was the better format, and had no desire to support BluRay.
 
That is awesome if true. Microsoft has done an awesome job knowing what enthusiast and gamers want. If they make a blu-ray add on that will be a big hit against sony for the people that have got the ps3 just because its a cheap blu-ray player. Not only that your not locked into one. You can buy one at any time if at all if you choose.
 
Is MS really willing to take a hit and price it at $200 though? If they priced it higher than the HD-DVD add on they'll be inadvertently saying which one is better as a lot of consumers feel more expensive means better quality.
 
FlyinBrian said:
That is awesome if true. Microsoft has done an awesome job knowing what enthusiast and gamers want. If they make a blu-ray add on that will be a big hit against sony for the people that have got the ps3 just because its a cheap blu-ray player. Not only that your not locked into one. You can buy one at any time if at all if you choose.
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That's the difference between Sony and the Xbox team (I think of them separately from MS;) ) The Xbox team seems to listen to what gamers want and then do what they can to make it happen...I get the impression that Sony takes the "this is what we'll do and gamers will want it because we are Sony" approach. I could be wrong but I think that Sony will change their way of thinking after the humbling PS3 launch..
 
Wondernerd said:
Haven't they always said this? I thought one of the reasons they claimed the 360 was better was that it wasn't locked to a format.
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They are locked into DVD. The add-on drives are just that, add-ons. They are there for the sole purpose of playing movies, and will become a less relevant solution once stand alone players become more mainstream. Microsoft's games will always be on DVD, which detracts from some of the major benefits of incorporating a next-gen drive into the system (the next-gen discs give more space for whatever the developer wants, as well as the big one, cutting down on 'casual piracy'). Those advantages, among others, mean Sony will more than likely recover the full cost of putting the blu-ray drive into the PS3. However, for Microsoft it is an entirely losing proposition; any move to a next-gen format costs them money, with little associated benefit. Case and point: the rumors of the "Xbox360 Elite"-- there is no HD-DVD drive in there.

From my perspective, the main reason for releasing the HD-DVD add-on was to mar the PS3's blu-ray capability. It puts some doubt into consumers mind, which will hopefully impact sales of the PS3. I've seen it in the forum posts here, some of the more ravenous Xbox fans love to bring up the "blu-ray in unproven" angle when trying to dissuade persons from getting a PS3.

Microsoft has vested interest in keeping the format war going, in keeping any one format from becoming dominant. That's great for them, but bad for consumers. In time, they may adopt blu-ray to remain feature competitive, but they won't do so willingly.
 
PikachuMan said:
They are locked into DVD. The add-on drives are just that, add-ons. They are there for the sole purpose of playing movies, and will become a less relevant solution once stand alone players become more mainstream. Microsoft's games will always be on DVD, which detracts from some of the major benefits of incorporating a next-gen drive into the system (the next-gen discs give more space for whatever the developer wants, as well as the big one, cutting down on 'casual piracy'). Those advantages, among others, mean Sony will more than likely recover the full cost of putting the blu-ray drive into the PS3. However, for Microsoft it is an entirely losing proposition; any move to a next-gen format costs them money, with little associated benefit. Case and point: the rumors of the "Xbox360 Elite"-- there is no HD-DVD drive in there.

From my perspective, the main reason for releasing the HD-DVD add-on was to mar the PS3's blu-ray capability. It puts some doubt into consumers mind, which will hopefully impact sales of the PS3. I've seen it in the forum posts here, some of the more ravenous Xbox fans love to bring up the "blu-ray in unproven" angle when trying to dissuade persons from getting a PS3.

Microsoft has vested interest in keeping the format war going, in keeping any one format from becoming dominant. That's great for them, but bad for consumers. In time, they may adopt blu-ray to remain feature competitive, but they won't do so willingly.
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I disagree with your comments mostly on the next gen line. The worst that would ever happen to the 360 for using dvd over HD disks is you would have to swap a disk if the game is that big. Thats it and it would still be cheaper than a single blu-ray disk, not ideal of course, but easily worked around.
 
As long as they offer it as an add on and not integrated I'll be happy.

I've been a little pissed off with MS because of this whole 360 elite crap. This guy i talked to from EB games said he heard from their personal MS rep that in a year or so the 360 may start releasing HD format titles like the PS3. Sounds like there is a lot going on behind closed doors.

I've wanted a 360 since the end of last year and now that I have the money to buy it, it seems like future proofing it is impossible at this point with so many changes the 360 is probably going to undergo.
 
thrashfan said:
As long as they offer it as an add on and not integrated I'll be happy.

I've been a little pissed off with MS because of this whole 360 elite crap. This guy i talked to from EB games said he heard from their personal MS rep that in a year or so the 360 may start releasing HD format titles like the PS3. Sounds like there is a lot going on behind closed doors.

I've wanted a 360 since the end of last year and now that I have the money to buy it, it seems like future proofing it is impossible at this point with so many changes the 360 is probably going to undergo.
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I'm not worried about it....mostly because I don't think MS is stupid enough to alienate the millions of people who already have the existing hardware.
 
This is as shocking as every company that supported the cassette, cd, and dvd.

Newsflash: whichever media format becomes the standard and wins the market gets picked up by everyone....

/go captain obvious!
 
thrashfan said:
As long as they offer it as an add on and not integrated I'll be happy.

I've been a little pissed off with MS because of this whole 360 elite crap. This guy i talked to from EB games said he heard from their personal MS rep that in a year or so the 360 may start releasing HD format titles like the PS3. Sounds like there is a lot going on behind closed doors.

I've wanted a 360 since the end of last year and now that I have the money to buy it, it seems like future proofing it is impossible at this point with so many changes the 360 is probably going to undergo.
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A guy from ebgames once told me he thought mario was available on the xbox.
 
FlyinBrian said:
I disagree with your comments mostly on the next gen line. The worst that would ever happen to the 360 for using dvd over HD disks is you would have to swap a disk if the game is that big. Thats it and it would still be cheaper than a single blu-ray disk, not ideal of course, but easily worked around.
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For all practical purposes, the cost difference of media doesn't matter. Even if it costs ten times more, we're still talking in terms of cents here; it's insignificant against the $50 to $60 at retail. Beyond that, new media gives a significant drop in the level of casual piracy, which may indeed be a much more important factor (IIRC, that was the stated reason for releasing all PS3 games on BR in the first place).

As for the "worst that can happen", my real worry is that developers will try to compress down cutscenes, textures, audio samples and such, in order to fit avoid becoming dual or triple disc releases. On the games that go out with the intention of being multidisk, there is no problem. But, there most games that straddle the line; small enough to make themselves fit on one disk, but will definitely spill over if they add uncompressed/losslessly compressed audio samples or high definition cutscenes to the mix. Those features are not vital, but do improve the user experience.
 
Understand that MS would support linux and have there own version of it if they think it will make them money. Hell one would say you will see a ms linux desktop at some point.

MS is out to make money. If Blue Ray kills HD you will see them support it. I don't think it will happen this cycle but you never know. If anything I'd be willing to bet the next xbox and the ps4 will both support both formats unless one has won by then.
 
Well, I have 6 Blu-Rays already, and they are overpriced, but one thing I really like about some HD-DVDs is that some can play on regular dvd players. So, if you're planning on getting a HD player in the future, you can start your HD collection early, but still watch it on your regular DVD player until you decide to spend the money on upgrading.
 
zamardii said:
Well, I have 6 Blu-Rays already, and they are overpriced, but one thing I really like about some HD-DVDs is that some can play on regular dvd players. So, if you're planning on getting a HD player in the future, you can start your HD collection early, but still watch it on your regular DVD player until you decide to spend the money on upgrading.
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I think it is more that you can play your hd combo dvd on your old dvd players around the house or take it to a friends.

This is really one of the reasons I prefer the hd dvds.
 
I think now that all hd-dvds/bluray movies are around £15 each in Asda things are gonna get interesting.
 
How about an addon that reads both Blu-ray and HDDVD. Cause thats whats gonna end up happening anyway just like the +- dvd crap.
 
devman said:
How about an addon that reads both Blu-ray and HDDVD. Cause thats whats gonna end up happening anyway just like the +- dvd crap.
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Are you willing to pay more for it? The licensing isn't free, and implementing the two different interactivity layers isn't cheap either. I would imagine such a device would cost $300 or more. That's a fair deal, mind you, but folks are balking at $200 so much that it's hard to believe they would go for something that costs more.
 
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