“Microsoft Corp is not in talks to include Sony Corp’s Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology in its Xbox 360 video game console, an executive said on Wednesday,” Scott Hillis reports for Reuters.
“The comments by Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, poured cold water on recent speculation that Microsoft could support Blu-ray after Toshiba Corp, backer of the rival HD DVD format, gave up when key movie studios and retailers abandoned the technology,” Hillis reports. “‘Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience,’ Greenberg told Reuters in an interview.”
MacDailyNews Take: Mickeysoft must think Blu clashes with their patented Red Ring of Death.
Hillis continues, “The software giant also expected that supply problems for the Xbox 360 meant the machine was outsold in the U.S. market by Sony’s PlayStation 3 console in February for the second month in a row.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
XBOX is blu
F*ck Blu-Ray. Download only for me. People actually drive to pick up computer files on discs still? WTF?
“the Xbox experience”
“Are you experienced?
Uh! Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have.
I know, I know
You’ll probably scream n’ cry
That your little world won’t let go!
But who in your measly little world are trying to prove that
You’re made out of gold and uh, can’t be sold?”
@Macintosh: “F*ck Blu-Ray. Download only for me. People actually drive to pick up computer files on discs still? WTF?”
Yikes! I remember sneaker nets. The only time I get physical media is when some one is passing on a huge file of photos or videos.
So XBox won’t have the ability to play movies or the new games produced on these Blu-Ray disks! Can you imagine the colplexity and richness that games on Blu-Ray can benefit from?
What are the thinking?
I’m getting the 160gig Apple TV tomorrow… should be cool.
this has nothing to do with nothing…. just mentioning! lol
One more reason not to buy Xbox
Congrats, NeverFade!
quick short me to 111
Good think i don’t drive to a store, i order all my blu rays online and have them delivered to my home. I have over 20 blu rays and the thought of having everyone of those movies on my computer or appleTV is scary. Shoot my 20 blu’s is already about 1,000 gigs. Why would I want to have all that file space taken up on my computer.
@Macintosh,
People like me don’t drive to get discs, but instead use Netflix. I never thought I would like a service like that, but I love it. I guess if you are an impulsive movie watcher, it might not be for you. But it works great for me. It has by far the best selection and you can’t beat the price. I end up paying less than $2 per movie, and there is no time limit on when or how many times I can watch them. When iTunes can compare with the selection, price, and viewing terms I might give Apple TV a try.
@Macintosh,
Yes dear! I backup my work on disks as flat and loadable as possible. I know 1To HD are now quite affordable… but piling them is still not as easy as with DVD likes!
@cptnkirk:
Yeah, games make more sense… I am leaning towards downloading of movies. It’s obviously headed to a download only scenario, just like music is now. I just think Blu-Ray will slow that down a little… People will go buy stand-alone Blu-Ray players and such…
@ John B:
I had Netfilx for a year or so, and I agree that iTunes needs a catalog of movies comparable to Netflix. That seems to be in progress now.
One thing that I didn’t like about Netflix is my mood while selecting movies online, and my mood when they arrived never matched. I would be Mr. Drama guy or something while selecting, but the next day maybe I felt more like watching an Adam Sandler comedy…
@ Macintosh:
Blu-Ray is perfect for OWNING movies & seasons. Top quality, special features, and easy transport.
This just proves that what everyone suspected about MS’s support of HD-DVD is true. That they could not care less about giving the consumers access to HD content, and that it was really all about some mutual back-scratching with their manufacturing friends and screwing Blu-Ray (and PS3), out of a “win.”
It was all a big dodge to try and bankrupt Sony and stop the PS3 from horning in on Xbox. Now they have lost, they don’t care about HD content or their customers who want to see it at all.
Microsoft won’t add Blu-Ray to XBox 360 because it’s planning to release XBox 720 in time for Christmas – all new games (well, sequels to old games), a 10″ cooling fan, cool pale yellow and neon orange colors with hot-swappable faceplates, and Blu-Ray, all for the low, low price of $697 at Wal-Mart.
Oh, and Microsoft gets sued by AT&T;for making the “X” in XBox orange and too similar to the defunct Cingular logo.
@Jeremy
Yup.
Plus they can’t bear to select their enemy for replacement and conceed defeat.
They will probably try to come up with another HD format instead of Blu-ray.
Something like HD++DVD-Ultra Pro XL.
Gee they really dont want people to buy theire stuff do they. I just need some money and then its a PS3 for me – should look nice next to my fullsize PS2 with silent fan.
Oh please, that headline is misleading. Microsoft did not say “No” to Blu-ray. They just said they aren’t pursuing it.
It’s like saying a guy said, “I didn’t win the lottery.” And you report, “Man says he doesn’t want to win the lottery.”
Journalism 101 – never assume.
Xbox outsold by PS3 due to “supply problems”. Riiiiiiight.
Who cares? I don’t!
Xbox outsold by PS3 due to “supply problems”. Riiiiiiight.
Yes, supply problems.
At this point why would anyone stock or handle the clearly-doomed Xbox 360, when there are better things to sell?
Someone get Gene Munster on this case, because there are plenty of Xbox 360s where I shop. This “supply” issue is just FUD to explain why Xbox 360s have already been taken over in sales by the PS3. There’s no real “supply” issue, it’s a demand issue.
I think people talk about disks being passe and download only just so they can feel superior and cutting edge.
Guess, what. Disks are here for a while. Probably another 10 years.
Guess what else, When you get a head crash on your hard drive and all your files are gone, then what ya gonna do Sparky?
Disks aren’t so bad. I like downloads, but seriously, a disk is an auto backup in hand.
In a related story, Sony says no Xbox for Blu-ray….
Yeah, I don’t get the people shouting ‘disks are dead’.
if you want AM radio quality music… buy from iTunes.
You have a Full-HD TV, so you want to play lo-res video and wonder at all the lovely pixelation.
If you care at all about quality you’ll either rent or buy disks.
Besides, hard drives fail. How many hard drives with your precious downloaded audio or video collection do you need to feel secure about avoiding media failure?
For me, adding movies to my Netflix queue as they come to mind or are recommended it is a no brainer. When they arrive, great.
Disks will be around for a while.
Digital downloads are obviously a strong emerging trend. There is no argument about convenience. They are much better solution than BlockBuster or NetFlix for many people. As “Macintosh” said above, I can’t predict whether I’ll be in the mood for an Adam Sandler comedy, or a Tim Robins drama when NetFlix arrives. And if it’s raining cats and dogs, I don’t want to bother driving to BlockBuster to get a movie if I’m in a mood for one. AppleTV is perfect, and its HD resolution is good enough.
Having said that, optical disc will not go away in the next twenty years. DVD has lived as much, with marginal space increase over CD. Blu-Ray will live because only a fraction of the media-consuming population of the world will ever have fat enough an internet pipe to download HD. Blu-Ray provides media for all the developing nations of this planet to enjoy HD.
And Microsoft is again slowly dropping the ball by “not pursuing” Blu-Ray at this time. PS3 just might emerge victorious after all.
Just to avoid confusion and the wrath of nitpickers, DVD isn’t 20 yet; its more like 14, but it is obvious that it will survive for several more years; the point remains, Blu-Ray will surely live for at least the next 10 years, or until a vastly better optical media format emerges.
Microsoft will be the only one using HD DVD’s. That will get expensive. I think the X-box will die.
X-Box just doesn’t cut it anymore… they ought to bring out a new machine.
One that doesn’t scratch discs when you insert them
MS said they were not currently in talks. Could be the talks have already finished.
my 2 cents
Thanks Ampar. I’m now wiping the dust off of my digital Jimi Hendrix files. They have been trapped in my iPod for far to long.
How about HHDDVDBDs for the new Xbox disc format?
http://rvb.roosterteeth.com/archive/episode.php?id=242
@Mr. Reeee
If you care at all about quality you’ll either rent or buy disks.
That’s the thing, though — the vast majority of music consumers DON’T care about quality these days. Music is listened to on the move — at work, while exercising, in the car, on the bus, in environments were perfect quality would be wasted.
Virtually nobody spends time reclining in front of the stereo, book in one hand, cocktail or cigar in the other. Those days are over.
I expect that disc media will eventually be like “audiophile LPs” were in the 80’s — premium-priced product for a minority of high-fidelity enthusiasts.
——RM
First off…
The X-Box is OLD technology, the three Power G5 processors in it are OBSOLETE.
So of course M$ isn’t going to pursue BR-DVD for X-Box.
They are waiting for the next crop of processors from IBM or the clone makers and then making a decision.
I suspect M$ will keep the HD format just for their future X-Box games so people can’t copy it to easily.
But HD downloads ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE.
It’s still a better storage method for HD movies to be on a disk, since people tend to watch once and then store them.
HD movies take much too much drive space, too much maintainence etc.
It’s simpler to have HD movies on a disk. Better copy protection from the MIAA point of view as well.
Bet on the wrong horse? Poor MS clown is crying. Boohoo. Too stubborn to adjust to the real world. Live in a fish tank. Everything is pretty there.
It’s funny how the idiots here don’t have a clue about the console market. Xbox 360 is still far ahead of the PS3 of total units sold, and still the preferred platform for developers. I guess when sheep only read what is spouted from MDN, they aren’t aware of the incredible amount of problems and criticisms Sony endured from developers. And despite being a year older, the hardware is just as capable as the PS3 and then some, which is quite obvious in cross platform games (Fight Night Round 3 for exampe, which is much more detailed in the Xbox 360 version….people forget the ATI graphics in the 360 is superior to Nvidia’s G70 equivalent in the PS3).
No one here even acknowledge the fact that Microsoft shipped Apple hardware as development tools for the 360. Of course, it’s just as amusing to watch the Cell hype not live up to it’s expectations, and never be fully utilized because the tools provided by Sony pale in comparison to the tools provided by Microsoft, which allow for cross platform development.
Xbox 360 is still far ahead of the PS3 of total units sold, and still the preferred platform for developers
The X-box was released earlier at a cheaper price because it lacks a integrated HD-DVD, it doesn’t take much to understand it’s life cycle is now on the decline in favor of the superior PS3.
So in other words, as the PS3 is prepared to lower it’s price and sell more units, the X-Box 360 is already a has been.
Plus, one gets a Blu-Ray DVD drive with every PS3…
As the X-Box begins to get stale, the new toy to have this upcoming holiday will be the PS3, especially since it will have a BluRay DVD.
The Cell processor hasn’t even tapped to it’s full potential yet in 3D games. There are up to nine cores on a Cell, even 7 with a low yield is way better than the 3 hot cores of a obsolete G5.
Red Ring of death anyone?
My three PS3’s have been running perfectly fine, the newer ones even run cooler than the first.
The PS3 will be like the PS2 in time, hugely successful and a better value over the long term.
The X-Box is old hat, the PS3 is the new hotness.
Actually, if you had a clue (and it seems like you don’t), Xbox 360 sales have held steady for the last several months and peaks above the other consoles with every new AAA title that is released (e.g, Halo 3).
And I do enjoy exposing fanboys as yourself. Please go into great detail of how the PS3 is technically superior, using specific examples of both the GPU and CPU subsets. I would also like to hear your excuse of why Developers prefer the Xbox 360 platform over the PS3. Feel free to look up quotes from all major developers, including Japanese developers that have jumped ship.
Fact is, the Cell processor is suited for a narrow variety of tasks which does not manifest itself fully in a gaming platform. The countless comparison articles readily available verify this fact. Are you going to be stupid and so biased as to ignore reality?
In fact, in the near future more AAA titles are Xbox 360 exclusive rather than cross Platform. Even on cross platform games, the difference in quality often favors the Xbox 360. And you should be very aware of that fact, considering you own 3 PS3’s (and angry at Sony for making development tools extraordinarily diffcult compared to Xbox 360 tools). Then again, for a fanboi that owns not one, but three PS3’s, I’m not suprised you lack the intelligence and unbias to consider these points.
And as far as Blue-Ray is concerned, it’s no secret that a Blue Ray drive will be available for the 360 in the near future, whether by Microsoft or 3rd party. If that’s what you’re banking PS3 sucess on, then you’re going to be greatly disappointed as AAA titles (which is what the vast majority of people buy a console for) keep the 360 on top.
Exposed sez: “And as far as Blue-Ray is concerned, it’s no secret that a Blue Ray drive will be available for the 360 in the near future, whether by Microsoft or 3rd party. If that’s what you’re banking PS3 sucess on, then you’re going to be greatly disappointed as AAA titles (which is what the vast majority of people buy a console for) keep the 360 on top.”
Sorry. Microsoft flat out stated to the press that they will not provide Blu-ray for XBox [while they stamp their little feet in juvenile fury]. If a 3rd party provides a player then they are going to have to provide drivers that Microsoft will allow to be installed. Hmm.
As for AAA titles for XBox: who from? Microsoft just tossed Bungie off on their own again. Bungie are too busy porting their games to Macintosh, which is where they started in the first place, to bother with the XBox for a long while, if ever. As hopefully we all know, Microsoft can barely program themselves out of the proverbial wet paper bag. They’re going to have to buy some AAA game developer to move forward.
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