Comments on: Why Microsoft will announce an Xbox Blu-ray player soon

Don Reisinger thinks an Xbox 360 Blu-ray player add-on is a given. Will Microsoft really succumb to Sony's pressures and do it?

[Web Webster]

Add-on, schmadd-on. It's now looking like Microsoft is not only getting on the Blu-Ray bandwagon, they're going to do it the RIGHT way, by putting the Blu-Ray Disk player in the system box where it belongs. And why are they caving? Gamers forget that Microsoft is also pushing the XBOX 360 as an extender for Windows Media Center, which is arguably the only exciting aspect of otherwise-dreary Vista. A Blu-Ray disk player is a necessity if they want to capture the audiophile/videophile market. I'll grant you that an extender doesn't have to have a DVD player at all - the video content can come from the Vista-based computer. But if a videophile can get a Media Center extender, a gaming system, AND a Blu-Ray Disk player in the same box (thus cutting down on clutter around the big-screen TV), he or she might find it very hard to resist.

Now - what would be REALLY interesting - would be for Sony to release a PS3 that's also a Media Center extender. THAT would start a real horse race!!

[gfadmin]

ok, ok, ok, ok, ok.

1. XBOX 360 - The games might be good, but having an external HD-DVD Player is stupid. Thats something that should have been in the original design. Don't tell me that HD-DVD or Blu-Ray were not "popular" the time of release. Microsoft Should have waited they year and released their console at the same time as the others. Yes they got out first and sold a lot of consoles, but look at them now, they are losing people to the PS3 everyday. Microsoft is acting just like Nintendo releasing the Wii Motion Plus which they know and we know that is should have been in the original design. Microsoft Counts the Number of consoles sold but they dont count the number of people selling there consoles to get a PS3.

2. PS3 - The PS3 has the lead in the technology department. They were smart for including a Blu-Ray Player in their console. Yes the console was a lot of money but was worth it if you thought about it. Blu-Ray - DVD, HD Movies - DVD Movies, Free Online-Paid Online, Resistance and Infamous-Halo and Gears of War.

[solid-snake1975]

Hello Everyone,
I have been sitting back watching and waiting, reading these posts and searching elsewhere for information on this subject. josecaos1's comments have spurned me to respond. Blu-ray is not dead, not by a long shot sales for blu-ray movies are crushing their DVD counterparts in terms of numbers go to Blu-ray.com and look at some of the sales figures. It is not going to die for sometime mainly because big budget movies are using High-Def cameras to film their opus's, meaning Blu-ray will show the watcher exactly how it was meant to be seen and heard.

I am Canadian and I have a lot of American channels on my Bell-expressvu and at the start of this year there were a lot of warnings about how TV was leaving analog to switch to digital. Meaning no more rabbit ears or antennas to get cable. There are people in the Bible-belt of the US that don't own computers, still use rabbit ears and don't have a Hi-def TV, now if you research this topic and get some info you'll find that the sheer volume of people that are in this situation is staggering almost unbelievable. This why we are still many, many, many years away from getting nothing but downloadable content for media. If what you said were true Walmart wouldn't have made a Blu-ray section in their stores all over the world! We are not on an even playing field for people who have all the appropriate tech to just go strictly downloadable media across the board, there is more jobs and money in manufacturing the discs and getting trailer park bob down to a store to by the disc. MS made the deal with Netflix to counterattack PS3's ability to play Hi-def movies, instead of a disc you download the Hi-def picture, but because of size of file, connection, etc. It's a bit slower than putting it in to the machine. Blu-ray is not dead. Not by a long shot. I am a SONY fanboy, I have owned a 360 and original XBOX, so I am not misinformed, I have eaten a lot of **** sandwiches because of the aggressive MS strategy to take exclusive titles away and lock SONY out of other IPs(Left 4 Dead. Masseffect, etc) However I have wondered what XBOX planned to do with not having BD-rom and HD-DVD dying hard, how are some of these titles going to fit on DVD I have heard lots of game developers say that they refuse to put their IP on multiple discs and with size limit on DVD what are they going to do? Well let me just say this, add-on peripherals to the core console have a **** track record, when you have to pay to add to a feature that is offered in another products core unit you have trouble. I think MS should just make another console with it built in and offer a rebate for current 360 owners to upgrade. The 360 is smaller and takes up less room on the entertainment stand, nobody likes to have to make room for a secondary device. If they go the add-on route it will fail...
Sega 32x- D.O.A
NES robot-buddy- D.O.A
XBOX HD-DVD drive- D.O.A
There are more but I thought those three were the best examples. josecaos1 you are misinformed about downloadable content perhaps the reception from your TV antenna was crappy, Blu-ray is gonna be around for a long time. And M$, please make an add-on for your console, so I can get the pleasure of watching millions of people eat a **** sandwich when they fork out to buy it, because so many of those people said PS3 is too expensive, Blu-ray is not important, bah-blah-blah, I will laugh last this time.