Comments on: Does the Xbox 720 need Blu-ray to succeed?

If the Xbox 720 comes out in the next few years, it'll be interesting to see what's packed into it. One prediction: no Blu-ray.

[Robert G K]

I think if MS was smart they would put in HD-DVD still. I mean it can be cheaply made, it has a high capacity, and this would keep it alive. The Xbox 720 and HD-DVD would be a marriage made in heaven because of this. They get high capacity and non-sony in one shot.

[jimmyhoops]

What's wrong with DVD? You've got to be kidding! Right? Blu-Ray blows everything else out of the water by virtue of enhanced imaging and much more expansive audio file capabilities. And if you haven't figured that out yet, then you are just simply living in denial!

Although I do understand the politicking of formats and the competitive nature of major heavyweights like Sony and Microsoft, the Blu-Ray feature will continue to make the PS3 the dominant gaming platform out there.

Microsoft bet on HD-DVD and lost! Not wanting to include the most advanced movie playback hardware for not wanting to pay fees is just shortsighted. It's time for MS to get off their high horse and become more competitive if the want to gain more traction in the gaming platform arena.

[kamakanani0]

Microsoft needs to fix the red ring crap this xbox 720 better not have issues like the 360 cuz red rings suck

[Robert G K]

Yeah HD-DVD lost in the movie market but it can still win with Microsoft. They have Netflix for movies so they can use HD-DVD for games. I think it would be a smart move because if they use Blu-ray they'll have to add another $200-300 to the Xbox 720's price tag, where as if they use HD-DVD they could make it much cheaper.

I was saying for a long time they should have added an HD-DVD drive to the 360 instead of a separate one. But thats over and done with. I really think the 720 and HD-DVD would work well, this way their not limited to DVD and they don't have to pay the price for blu-ray, they can make bigger games and save money.

[boeingmd82]

Actually, the HD-DVD format should not be counted out. I'm sure they could license it for a song, there won't be a ton of HD-DVD burners out there to pirate the games, and they can pack it with nearly as much data as a BD. By the time the next gen console comes out, BD players will be so cheap, adding BD to the console would not add value to the console. It just wouldn't make sense. Coming up with a proprietary format would be expensive and manufacturing would be a pain. HD-DVDs can be pressed at the same factories as DVD. It would not surprise me at all that MS would use HD-DVD as the media format for their next console.

[Forsaken4Eternity]

DVD, Blu-ray, physical formats? Are you kidding me, there won't be formats soon, it will all be digital distribution. I'm sure next xbox will include dvd, but it will emphasize digital content, including games. You buy it and download it. Simple as that. and in case you lose your digital copy, ahem xbox hard drive crashes, no worries they have you in the system as the owner.

[Hunnter2k3]

Soon being way after 720 is released.

No, don't give me the "you don't know", i DO know, the internet as it is right now wouldn't hold it, ISPs would throttle connections like crazy.
More and more ISPs are adding bandwidth caps and packages to go with them to get more money.
And *most* people don't have internet, or have such slow speeds that they won't get it in any reasonable time.

And those ISPs who do have download caps tend to have some nasty prices for going over said caps.
I certainly don't want to see the bill when it comes in...

[digital_tjb]

There is no way I am going to accept "direct-to-drive" as the main form of game ownership, I demand a legal retail copy of my games to avoid any internet, DRM, or storage capacity limits or other problems. My "fast" cable internet is slow and unreliable despite having good cables (in-wall or otherwise), hardware, and ISP, and the advertised 5mbps is a joke. There are too many potential hang-ups regarding direct-to-drive game downloads and no matter how good a job Microsoft or anyone else does handling the download service, I want my games on a disk, and I really doubt retail disk copies going anywhere in the next ten or twenty years anyway. Regardless of hardware, software, or internet speeds, direct-to-drive services are just a commodity; a convenience, not a standard, so give me Blu-ray Microsoft because you know you can't survive on anything less in the next generation of consoles. This is not the first time (or the last) that Microsoft has gone in the wrong direction (just look at Vista, poor Xbox 360 design that causes RROD, and the HD-DVD add-on for the 360).

... IMHO...

[bknowledge]

The simply fact is that they will have to use some sort of disc media either Blu Ray or HD DVD, unless they are only planning to sell the console in the USA, UK, South Korea, Sweden & Japan. Because those are the only countries that has relatively cheap hi-speed broadband access. Everywhere else in the world if you even have broadband access it is very expensive. And since they won't let you stream TV shows overseas easily, I doubt they will be so willing to let us do it with games.
Can one of our friends from down under post how much will it cost to download a 20GB game?

[gotrsx6]

As has been correctly said here, is MS would lay off the proprietary accessories, they would get far less resistence from many people. They clearly have a huge pricing advantage now, and they are still making money... That said, Blu ray will be as cheap as DVDs by the time 720 comes out. so perhaps it will be the default regardless...

[skiskiacm]

If the next generation is 2 years away, expect more then a 2TB HD, pioneer just released a 400GB blue ray disk, in 2 years i wouldn't be suprised by flash cards nearing 100 gb, which poses another possible successor to DVD's without using blue ray, if flash card speeds are high enough 2 years from now that can be the next game format

I disagree with Don on this one.

"The games look perfectly fine on the format,"

They do for now, but I for one hope the next gen looks a whole lot better... look at PC games like Crysis that are being spread out across multiple disks because the textures are higher resolution and take up more space. I don't see console consumers being willing to install multiple disks onto a hard drive just to play a game. That is one of the benefits of playing a console over PC. And as for downloading, I don't see that being an issue the next generation either. I have had enough trouble with play my small arcade games across multiple systems let alone something that would take hours to download, or having to have bought different copies with different profiles to play on different systems.

[Sleeplessone]

The benefits of not installing on a console died the day Sony and Microsoft allowed developers to issue patches to fix bugs in their games. Now a console is no different than a PC in that aspect. In fact, my understanding is that the PS3 caches or installs quite a few games to the hard drive while you play to reduce load times.

The advantage of a console is that the hardware is standardized. That is the only advantage they have over PCs now.

I've had no issue with running my purchased arcade games on multiple systems, and even other downloaded content like extra songs for Rock Band 2. The only requirement being that the person who purchased the songs or game has to be logged in to be able to access the content.

[digital_tjb]

I must also add...

If Microsoft (or any other video game powerhouse) decided for their next or future home console is direct-to-drive only (no media inputs), then would those companies build a monopoly over game sales? Think about it, if all games, movies, or other downloads come form one source (like Xbox LIVE) then that would put stores like Gamestop out of business and that money made on sales all go to Microsoft? Will there be online stores that would allow you to buy from them to download to your Xbox 720 (or whatever)? Do we really want to pay Microsofts' prices every time we buy a game? Or rent a Movie? If stores like Gamestop or Wal-mart wanted to compete for game sales, then there would need to be a system that would allow you to purchase digital content and download that content from them and have it show up on your game console. Then stores could compete for sales by offering discounts or sales. I'm just trying to see the big picture here, because when you change one thing, you change many.

[Robert G K]

I agree direct to drive won't come until it takes 30 min or less to download a game. Games for the 720 will be bigger and better than the 360, better graphics, better AI...etc. I have a 10 MBs download for my broadband and it would still take hours to download a game.

I like the idea of flash drives for games, but I think that would be to expensive, that wouldn't work. It just costs to much to make flash drives, their not just made of plastic. I think their will be some form of disk drive meaning blu-ray or HD-DVD. Sure blu-ray will be cheaper but it will still be more expensive than HD-DVD. In 2 years MS could work with Toshiba to better the capacity and what not for HD-DVD, and they can use that in the 720.

Digital_djb also made a good point that it would lessen piracy because their will be fewer writers on the market.

[dhjellen]

Does anyone have any thoughts about when comact portable hard drives (SC, CF, USB, etc.) will be able to compete as a viable cost effective option for the storage of a game? My guess would be 5-10 years, so perhaps not by the time of the next generation of consoles, but perhaps ready for the console after that.

[Liquidx01]

So nobody thinks that Microsoft may use Toshiba's HD-DVD format in their next console as a way to provide developers with much more storage compared to DVD? I think the possibility of this is real.

[Liquidx01]

Ah, I thought I had all the comments on my screen. But alas, a few of you have mentioned it on the second page.

[Renegade Knight]

It solves the one problem. However for those who buy BluRay off the shelf at wally world and who want a console to play it on...if MS want's that console to be theirs they have to offer it.

HD-DVD solves one problem but it doesn't solve other.

[Robert G K]

dhjellen I don't think portable hard drives will ever get cheap enough for them to put games on them. Plus HD's have moving parts so if the drive crashes then your screwed. Flash memory is more likely but still that would cost to much because each flash drive has hardware components which make them more expensive than plastic disks. I don't know what the next format will be. I don't see download making it because of speed. People want their games now not 3-6 hours from now. Maybe in time they'll be able to stream games so you can play them as the game is being downloaded but that would take more than 10-20 MBs, more like 40-100 MBs and that would have to be a stable stream because if it drops to low then you'll get sputter in the game and people will be upset. I think DVD/HD-DVD or Blu-ray is the way to go, but DVD is going to start not holding enough info on a disk for newer games, HD-DVD and Blu-ray hold much more so bigger games can be made. Now Blu-ray is much to expensive, and even in 2 years when it goes down in price it still won't be as cheap as if they used HD-DVD, plus they don't have to worry about licensing with Sony and such. Plus will Sony let MS use Blu-ray on their next system? I mean if they do then they'll have as much storage space as them and in Sony's eyes this may not be good, so maybe they'll think "lets not let them use Blu-ray...if they can do this" so they may only have HD-DVD as a choice.

[DravenStele]

For the commenters that say there are only three choices (Blu-Ray, HDD, and proprietary), I think you are forgetting one little option: USB key drive. We are already seeing low-cost, high-capacity options. The technology will be coming out very soon akin to USB 3.0 which allows faster read/write capability. This will solve the problem of download/vaporware/intangibility conscious buyers. The capacity of USB drives will overcome the need for Blu-Ray. XBox 360 already comes with USB ports. I think that will be a win-win for MS.

[aaronb09]

this is such a bogus article and most of these comments are bogus.. xbox fanboys... Digital Downloading is not the way to go, you think i want to pay 60$ and then sit here and download at my throttled comcast connection for 5 hours to get a game? Not me, i like to OWN my games, my movies and disks are very strong, my PSone games still work perfectly, its called TAKE CARE OF THEM.. what if you want to take your game to a friends house? so you gotta take your 360 over there now? what about the new movie you downloaded and probably is restricted to your 360? again gotta take your 360 over there to just watch a movie? yeah netflix streaming is awesome, but you dont need 360 for that so im not going that route.. Games are getting to the point where dvds are not enough space, and i hate Disk swapping, blu-ray is a good choice for developers, gives them plenty of room to make a quatilty detailed huge game without having to half ass textures here and there to make it fit.. The problem is most developers dont use the space when they should.. I am sick and tired of these Short games with good graphics cause obviously space was a issue and didnt have enough to add awesome graphics and length.. Another problem with digital downloading and streaming is, comcast and other cable companies are limiting bandwidth, when you are streaming mb/sec on a daily basis and downloading GB HD movies and games weekly maybe daily, you dont think the cap will be reached quick? especially if comcast continues to decrease the limit.. The more and more people are downloading these huge files the more they will likely throttle you.. Digital downloading isnt the way to go anytime soon, blu-ray and DVD are still the tech for me..

[Robert G K]

It will always be cheaper to put a game on a DVD type media (DVD, blu-ray, HD-DVD) than it would be to put it on a flash media. Flash media will always cost more to make than DVD type media. The only way I can see this working is if it costs less for the distributes to put the media on flash rather than DVD type media. Its a nice thought but I don't know if it'll come to that.

[mfenix]

What a dumb post. "Hey guys, I have nothing to report other than my own speculation based on loose intel and my crystal ball" - I nominate that Don be grounded from posting for one month.

[mpietriski]

ha ha, you took read my thoughts. Normally, I'll give the cnet bloggers a little room to play with their magic eight ball but I totally agree fenix.

I second the nomination.