wellbanto

gwolf

Microsoft wants to sell movie downloads like Apple doesn't care about optical media.

VakeroRokero

pupaboy2

naciremadream17

cubensis

PSN: Lp47

skulldriveshaft

HobbaHobba

DakotaEpic

Yeah, I thought so...

Regardless, why wouldn't Microsoft plan at least some sort of Blu functionality? The whole reason they didn't implement HD-DVD in their console in the first place was to avoid a sinking ship taking their console down. Sony better thank their lucky stars Blu won, and we as consumers better thank our lucky stars MSoft didn't include HD-DVD functionality in the 360 or this format war would just be getting started.

BurkHalter

Think about it this way, if it had gone HD-DVD's way instead then the PS3 would be stuck with an obsolete drive inside it, with no way of switching. On top of which, you'd've paid through the nose for the privilege of having said drive in your console.
Yes, no-one's arguing that BluRay won and that having a console with a BluRay drive is better than having one with a HD-DVD drive but the point is that by separating the drive from the console, it means that those who bought a 360 always had the fall-back that if HD-DVD lost, MS could maybe have a BR drive produced for it.

Step666

ajcali08

Right call my ass. If they wanted to let the formats battle it out, they wouldn't have released a HD DVD add-on. Face it, Microsoft backed the wrong format and lost to Sony and the PS3. This is why the Xbox 360 sucks and is no competition for the PS3, who will reign king this year.

xAppleFan

Stop, doing, this, please.

DelSource

lafond66

I think MS will release a add on bluRay player. I know that games won't be released for BR, or will MS integrate the BR drive in the console, for the former I doubt too many people would buy an additional accessory to play a game, and for the latter, it will probably make the 360 more expensive, they would have to integrate them in all 3 versions.

cubensis

PS Anyone want to buy an HD DVD player? $50 - and I'll throw in "The Chronicles Of Riddick: The Director's Cut".

/sarcasm

DelSource

"just because u can does not mean you should"

BY BIGVIPER AT 02/06/08 12:40 PM
@seattleted
makes one pontificate on just why they opted against it...
the funny part is at the end of the day hard copies will loose out to digital copies anyway. I mean Hell I'm sitting on the same 100pack of blank dvd's I bought two years ago... and I'll probabally never use them up. Why would I buy a high definition dvd player blu ray or otherwise when I can just download hd movies (via xbox or pc). I found the whold battle somewhat humerous. Just what were they fighting for anyway? perhaps Microsoft already knows that hard copies are on the way out. Would'nt it be interesting if Microsoft was suddenly ready with a new digital high definition download scenario and Sony and all who sided with them was stuck with the TREMENDOUS financial burdon of having invested in a new technology already on its way out. I mean if Sony has done just ONE THING exceptionally well, it would be devoloping wonderfully usefull and exceptionally though out technology that never quite reaches the main streem..... I love spending time at my Sony store marveling in all their gadgets that are cool enough to make me drool but pointless enough for me to keep my wallet intact. In the battle for nothing there are no winners but someome must be the looser....

BigViper

vertibraker

vertibraker

CharitableNinja

Gungadon

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

Many people here think that because Sony are vested in Blu-ray, M$ needs to be playing the HD movie arena. This is just not true. While M$ may own a codec or two, they don't own a content provider (ie, a movie studio).

LittleJon

PlasmaMachine

Rhainor

i think HDDVD would've have another ending if microsoft released an SKU (like Elite) with it built in. in fact, if microsoft had hd-dvd to begin with, toshiba won't be in the deep shit they're in now. toshiba should've paid microsoft for the premium and to include the drive in the xbox 360 and swallowed the extra cost in order to gain market share

diablofreak

izim1

uptonogood

bitfactory

bitfactory

rexplex

Scuba Steve

HD downloads are the future, whether there was a format war or not - I don't think MS would waste their money when the long-term outcome would be the same either way.

Step666

In the end I think there might have been something to this - and I think it also can be seen in Apple not making Blu-ray options available on any of their Macs. Both MS and Apple see the future of HD content in downloadable content, not optical discs. Both companies have had an opportunity to more aggressively support their "chosen" platform, and neither did.

Zadillo

izim1

AndersonBMX

Bull$shit... Listen to Robbie Bach.

This was clearly a strategic move on Microsoft's part.

yoshi

Should, Coulda, Woulda... Not in Microsoft's case. Microsoft clearly made the right call. Let the to formats battle it out and provide an XBOX 360 with the clear winner.

yoshi

Microsoft gets no advantage from the addition of a BR drive - there's not going to be any game ever released on BR for XBox, and by the time that MS gets the drive out there will be standalone BR players that will be the same price or cheaper. Microsoft's primary reason for releasing the HD add-on drive was to try to spoil Sony's BR efforts. They failed and they are going to retreat to just being a game and streaming vid console, which is a better plan anyway. They never should have picked that fight in the first place.

weatherman

i believe he was referring to the adding of an HDDVD drive to the 360 from the start, as "failures" and "mistakes", that the HDDVD guys are trying desperately to imply it might of been a "success" and "benefit". adding the HDDVD from the start to the 360 woulda probably killed it. even as it is Japan and Europe still love the PS3. having the xbox at the same price wouldnt have helped the 360 nor HDDVD. most likely woulda hurt them both.

izim1

However, if MS had started selling a dual format combo drive at the original price point as the HD-DVD model instead of merely lowering the price, they could have come out of this mess smelling a lot sweeter.

dingus

But, as I've said already, that has the advantageous side-effect that, despite having backed the loser in the HD-DVD/BluRay fight, the 360 isn't necessarily obsolete now.
All it takes is the release of a different add-on and it's still a viable option for an all-in-one console/media centre/HD-player.

Step666

SecondStageTurbine

junger

If MS had included an HD-DVD drive in the 360, undoubtedly the 360 would have shipped later and for considerably more, potentially (and likely) dooming it to a distant third in the console race this generation.

@DelSource: Ooops I just saw you said all that. But anybody who calls the 360 a 'failure' and a 'mistake' is wearing Sony PlayGoggles.

aphex242

Both HD and BR use the same laser with a slightly different set of optics

The 360 add on HD DVD drive is run via software on the 360.

Why not have BR emulation software on the 360 work with the existing HDDVD drive?

Begin throwing vegetables in 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 ...

Alershka

MS left the HD DVD drive off the 360 because it would have delayed their precious early launch and raised the price of the unit by 200 bucks. Bang, there would have gone their only advantage: a year with no direct competition and a low price.

Way to make a failure and mistake look like a success and benefit. Or at least try to.

DelSource

The Old one would have just made the deal with Toshiba, et al, and put an HD-DVD drive in the console in an effort to push a standard - and agreeing with earlier posts, things may have turned out differently.

But the newer generation of Microsoft managers (talking Busn Unit Mgrs., GM's, some VPs) are more tempered by a combination of conservatism brought on by cont'd government scrutiny worldwide, plus the lethargy of bureaucracy. Seeing a potential Format War on the horizon, it was a MUCH safer bet for them career-wise to attempt to sound smart and design for external drives, as STEP666 pointed to. That way, in case they lost to Format War, they wouldn't end up with what would suddenly appear to be an obsolete console in millions of living rooms. Old MS would have chosen the fought in the War themselves -- this way they were able to take a position like Italy, circa WWII.

Secondly, don't forget that it factored into an economic position as well - the XBox division *just recently* became profitable. Had they chosen earlier on to put the more expensive HD-DVD drive into the box, that profit threshold would still be out in the future somewhere, PLUS it would be sucking down even MORE cash to back HD-DVD's position in the Format War.

While I personally despise having that dangling hunk o' plastic drive connected to my XBox, it is better than having an internal one that's obsolete.

Ridgerunner

What really bugs me though is all this talk of Blue-Ray 2.

I hope if MS do get Blue-Ray, they have it as an add on drive.

ozan76

Ages ago when the 360 was out and the PS3 was still coming soon, I was chatting to a couple of friends and we got onto the BluRay in PS3s vs HD-DVD with the 360s argument.
A friend of mine said that the PS3 had the advantage as it had the 'superior' BluRay drive and I said that the 360 was the more flexible console as, due to the HD-DVD drive being a separate unit, it would be possible for MS to make a standalone BluRay drive for it as well.

Ok, when talking about it, at that point I didn't foresee the situation we're in just now, with BluRay having beaten HD-DVD, I personally figured the format war would last longer and that MS would straddle the fance (in a manner of speaking) to make the 360 more appealing to a greater audience.
But the point still stands.


@theespacepope: clearly, had MS backed HD-DVD more aggressively, things could well have turned out differently but that doesn't invalidate my past musings that MS, by leaving the HD-DVD drive out of the 360, had left themselves to opportunity to 'go blue' at a later date.

Step666

well at least i hope it will be an add-on

MadColombian

Neoistheone2000

Neoistheone2000

luxera

Dude WTF?! Funniest comment of 08 so far!

You are being facetious, right?

Right....?

DelSource

I called this years back, before the format war really got going.

Step666