Comments on: More rumors that XBox 360 will add Blu-ray drive

A Taiwanese publication is reporting that a subisidiary of Asus, Pegatron Technoloy, is going to be making the internal Blu-ray drives for an upcoming version of the XBox 360.

[jmillshr06]

It has to happen sometime. Its the future of gaming. When it will happen who knows.

[trinitiger]

The future of gaming is not Blu-Ray!!!
The future of gaming is downloadable games from the internet, and hard drives. Who will want to go out and
buy Blu-ray games when you can download them right from Microsoft through the Xbox 360 / 720 or PS3/PS4 in the future. The cost savings are much higher and loading times are much faster.

[jmillshr06]

It has to happen sometime. Its the future of gaming. When it will happen who knows.

[jmillshr06]

It will happen sometime soon. It is the future. When who knows.

[wake1am]

::prays for external Blu-Ray::

[linadragon]

Either way we look at this knowing Microsoft it will likely knock the price of the 360 up well past that of the PS3 so the advantage will likely be a cheaper platform (unless MS takes a hit on the manufacturing costs of the bluray etc..) Also the PS3 still has some advantages such as its cell processor (which when taken full advantage of is going to do alot better) Either way its bound to happen either with the 360 or the next incarnation of the Xbox because quite frankly if they dont do something thats actually next gen format it wont keep up in future titles...

[iconoclast04]

except the cell isn't necessarily better for gaming...plus the 360 has more memory for textures...

[linadragon]

actually due to the cells nature it could have areas dedicated to gpu operation (sort of like intels new larrabee deal)

[linadragon]

Either way we look at this knowing Microsoft it will likely knock the price of the 360 up well past that of the PS3 so the advantage will likely be a cheaper platform (unless MS takes a hit on the manufacturing costs of the bluray etc..) Also the PS3 still has some advantages such as its cell processor (which when taken full advantage of is going to do alot better) Either way its bound to happen either with the 360 or the next incarnation of the Xbox because quite frankly if they dont do something thats actually next gen format it wont keep up in future titles...

[linadragon]

Apologies for the double post!

[joshdeboer]

I bought the HD-DVD drive on Amazon for $50, I would purchase an external BD drive in a heart beat! Until the Oppo BD player comes, it would do the job!

[quality4me]

Not this time around! I highly doubt that Microsoft will add the blu-ray drive for movie playback, with stand alone prices expected to be under 200.00 by the holidays it seems fruitless for microsoft to try and put out a seperate attachment for the xbox, how much would they charge; and why would the consumer want it? I think that the rumors are circulating based on microsoft aquiring patents and technology for the next xbox, in a little over two years we probably will see pictures and information abou the next gen, the way the gaming industry is going 5 years between systems is getting longer and longer.

[Renegade Knight]

You hit the nail on the head. Blue Ray is for movie playback. I agree that it won't be for games. In the Box Top wars Game Consoles have to do it all to keep their spot by the TV. Xbox has to have Blue Ray to stay in the game.

[guido_ponz]

I think microsoft should forget Bluray and go straight ot working on getting all games to be downloaded. Doesn't that make more sense? instead of selling your competitors drive eliminate the needs for disks and save the environment.

[linadragon]

Yes it helps the enviroment but it drives up initial costs due to drive costsand if something goes awry your kinda screwed out of your game then. You also run into the problem of having to have multiple drives if you have a huge game library and its not hurting the enviroment near as much as other things are. IE we dont toss out games.

[BCF1968]

Downloaded games? I guess if you want to only 10% of the population to use your system. Of those that have internet in America 1/4 only have dial-up. Only half have 2 Mbps or more. That's 10 hours to download a current XBOX 360 game. If they start making games larger like they can with blu-ray we're talking DAYS for ONE game to download. Also where are these game going to be downloaded 2? The largest 360 HDD is 120 GB. That holds maybe 3-4 blu-ray size games at most.

[linadragon]

Exactly my Point BCF

[Pard68]

I heard there was some way to get Blue Ray right now... My friend said he was lookin into gettin it via a bootleg thing... they like take the HD drive and replace it with Blue Ray... prolly just a rumor but w/e

[make_or_break]

Microsoft's 360 userbase would be best served in Redmond offering an integral BD drive with the 360's replacement, and not with the current 360. A standalone drive geared specifically for movies would be better for now. Certainly MSFT can't think about offering BD-format games without totally alienating longtime 360 supporters using older 360 gear.

[rdnetto]

The drive will definitely be for movies only, but I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of the Xbox used it for games as well. The external drive is definite if they release an xbox with an internal drive.
Those points aside, they really should try offering the ability to download a full version of *any* game via Live. There are plenty of people who would find this more convenient, and they would be able to lower the price of the games as well.

[techmulticast]

What an integrated BlueRay drive for 360? Do they really want to put money into their competitors pocket. If their competitor charge them highly per console, they might find it really tough to lower their console price and compete in near future. While their competitor, will be in a better position to cut price. MS will be stuck, pull along+paid thru their nose.
They might as well pruchase all the rights for HD-DVD now and built an integrated HD-DVD into 360. Get Bollywood, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, British, France... Movie makers to publish their HD content via their new HD-DVD. After that make all game publisher to distribute via HD-DVD too. (Forget about HollyWood, the world can still survive without them).
I do understand that future game's file sizes will be getting bigger. If they are not comfortable with high speed download, they can develope other means, example cheaper flashdrive (non-rewritable) for distribution...etc. Unless MS is intending to purchase the entire Sony, BR might not be wise.
I love my 360 as it is. If MS desperately want to upgrade something to their current version, maybe they should increase the RAM size or offer more choice of color / texture for 360, built collectable console for GearOfWar, Mass Effect, BioShock..., that would be less damaging. lol

[robvme]

Blu Ray is a standardized format. It doesn't belong to any individual company. Microsoft would not be paying any of its competitors.

[skeelo58]

Ya know, I don't understand why people think that game/movie downloads are the thing of the future. Digital downloads will NEVER have the success that physical media has. When people buy/rent a movie/game, they want to be able to take it to their friends house, or where-ever else. That would not be possible with downloaded content. And besides, even with a broadband connection, does anyone have any idea how long it would take to download a 50GB game? It would take a hell of a long time, thats for damn sure.

I do realize that technically it is as simple as bringing a hard drive with you, but who wants to lug around a hard drive with them all the time? Physical media is just much more convenient, and therefore, will always be more popular than downloads. And besides, has anyone actually downloaded a movie off the internet? the resolution is crap. Regular DVD's have better PQ than movies downloaded off the internet. Physical media will be around for a long time to come my friends.

[robvme]

Have you ever tried On Demand? How about replays of your shows from the major networks online? Works perfect and quality is that of a DVD and will get better. Everything will come thru the cloud. Apple has already primed us for that with iTunes and the iPod.
Fact is, once a delivery standard is chosen it will not be hard to optimize any content for online delivery.

[portcityjames]

Rockstar has already said the the space on DVD was a problem for GTAIV. More and more developers will need the space for gaming with multiple disks not being the preferred way to go I guess. Blu Ray is more and more becoming a need for gaming.

As far as downloadable games, unless they are being sold cheaper then a disk format game, most folks won't want a downloadable game. A disk can be carried shared and traded once the game is complete. Not to mention game rental. Besides, the internet infastructure here in America is no where near able handle millions of folks trying t download a game like the next GTA on launch day. Imagine if all the folks that bought GTA IV were trying to download it as soon as it was available online. Can you say bandwith problems.

[JimZim534]

Internal Blu-ray drive for 360, not gonna happen. 1) Microsoft isn't going to sell their competators components, 2) Blu-ray is not superior to HD-DVD, they just had better marketing (lets not forget BetaMAX was superior to VHS, but they won that buy out war didn't they?) 3) IF, and that's a big IF, Microsoft does cave and go with a Blu-ray drive, it'll be an external drive and purely just for videos, like the HD-DVD drive. The way the current drive works with regards to games is that it only reconizes "Xbox compatable" media, therefore in order to put out Blu-ray games they would have to change their entire hardware and firmware to recongnise Blu-ray as well and frankly that would cost alot of money and **** off alot of people, and seeing as Microsoft skates a thin thin line with the general population (even though no one really understands why) I doubt they'd be stupid enough to do this. ANYWAY, if you're wondering if my opinions have any merit, I have a close relative (fruit of their loins close) that works pretty high up the Microsoft ladder so HA!

[will2348]

Surely Sony must have a say in this. I'm sure no matter how much profit they would make they wouldn't let Microsoft have blu-ray. Even if xbox does get blu-ray with no games the PS3 will still be better.

[awsomness]

Sony Didn't creat Blu Ray mate, and plus Blu ray is the next gen for like a dvd for instance, in the future there won't be any DVD's just like what happend to the video and video player you cna't buy them anymore because DVD took over, and now Blu Ray will take over DVD, they'll stop making them at one stage, so microsoft will have to have it no matter what.

[brocknation]

With so many backward compatibility issues on the XBOX 360 and the possibility of an external Blu-Ray device, you're best bet for a future-proof solidarity system capable of Blu-Ray and online content is a PS3 80GB.

[DCBRONCO]

Maybe you haven't been keeping up on PS3 news, but the Emotion Engine got kicked from the 80g PS3 sometime ago. The PS3 has the same backwards compatibility issues as the 360. Even more so since Sony has said that BC is not a priority for them. For people who don't understand why 360 doesn't have complete BC, they refused to pay Nvidia and Intel after they were stupid enough to buy off the shelf parts for the original Xbox. Since they own the parts for the 360, CB will be easy for the next console. Not being able to negotiate better prices was also the reason for dropping support of the original Xbox. But, they've learned from that mistake. It would be completely stupid to get involved with Sony on Blu-Ray, a company that they know is hostile toward them when it comes to gaming. Plus the Blu-Ray sucks for gaming. It's too slow, who wants a 5g install on every game and to lose money on every console sold for more than half of the life cycle of the console.


http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/new-80gb-ps3-eliminates-emotion-engine-chip

[zgreenwell]

Its a bad idea for gaming, but if people will pay for it, they'll sell it. As an add on like the HD-DVD add on, its not a bad idea.