MS: 'Who needs Blu-ray?'

Microsoft has offered its most strongly worded prediction yet that Blu-ray will be extinct before it can become the de facto disc format of the video games industry.

[Meisadragon]

flamebait articles.

[movements]

Xbox needs Blu-ray

[Shadow Flare]

Xbox could never get a game like GT5 without bluray

[ozps3]

What else would you expect from a company like MS. Like an ostrich with their head in the sand, can't admit they were wrong and try to make it right, no wonder they are a failure in every thing they touch, it's only their money that they earn from windows and office products that is keeping their XB360 division alive, any other company would have been bankrupt by now.

If they spent their money, time, effort and talent in developing quality and innovative product rather than throw cash on advertisements and underhanded dealings there would be respect for them in the industry.

[nveenio]

Q. "Who needs BluRay?"
A. Developers

I don't know if you noticed this, Microsoft, but 80% of this gen's greatest games come on BluRay...and need it. Of course, if your customers don't want HD graphics, uncompressed 7.1 channel sound and awesome cinematic sequences, then you can probably keep selling them your three games over and over again.

Whoa...I just had a thought: I wonder how big Fable could be if it were on BluRay?

[AntoineDcoolette]

MS no supporting the HD-DVD software format with the 360 was one of the deciding factors of me not purchasing one ~_~ (I'm speaking game wise, if it went over your head)

[Godmars290]

Honestly don't think MS would allow the leeway Sony has with a project than GT5.

You could probably hold up examples like Too Human and Alan Wake as counter argument, and so would I.

[raztad]

MS is so full of crap. They fool no one but their own fanatics. What a sore loosers.

I'm so looking to the xbox720 with "edgy" DVD support, and compressed DL movies with compressed audio. NO.

EDIT:
It's kinda funny if you think about it. The company that TALK the more about the downloadble content revolution, is the company that less support it. Dont you think, by now, MS shouldnt be selling xbox360 with HDD all across the board? Guess what? it doesnt and xbox players cant even play Halo:R properly. What a joke.

On the other hand, Sony not only has a console with HDD standard from DAY ONE but additionally went all out with a risky Digital ONLY product to the market. MS is as good as Greenburg, no wonder why he fits so well.

@bellow

It is all about quality. If you own a proper 7.1 audio system you would be able to notice it.

[Armyntt]

Excuse my ignorance but can someone even tell the difference in compressed audio? I mean if i compress it and get 7.1 audio and i dont compress it and get 7.1 audio whats the difference? Can a person even tell the difference?

[nveenio]

You can't tell the difference on a system that doesn't support true 7.1 audio. If you're using a standard 5.1 surround system with DD or DTS, then you won't be able to tell the difference. Few people have the system needed to take advantage of the uncompressed master audio tracks, but the point is that the option is at least there. The same goes with 3D. People without a 3D TV won't really know what they're missing, but if they have a 3D TV, then they have the option of laying in 3D.

[dalibor]

People really need to stop defending DVD's. It's time to really realize the benefits of Blu Ray. For all you Xbox owners imagine not dealing with scratching your discs. Or even using multiple discs. Sometimes the smallest things should not be overlooked. I know you don't care but at least take a look and use Blu Ray before judging it and saying it's still not needed. And yes as far as audio goes it does make a difference. Don't tell me you never listened to an mp3 where the quality is not good or even a movie for that matter. Same thing with games. I have used Blu Ray and to me it's better than DVD, for me it is at least.

[Genesis5]

You! You morons.

[Upbeat]

FACT ? no need to state it, its obvious

[Eric Cartman]

I think what people should realize about BDs is that we, as gamers, pay no more for them than for DVD games. So even if I don't care about BD, it still would be really idiotic of me to bash it.

[jeseth]

The difference of Blu Ray to DVD is like DVD to VHS.

Its amazing how many people will deny facts over and over again. The games cost exactly the same, why wouldn't you want them on a Blu Ray disc with so much more space?

Someone else said it earlier. Could you imagine how incredibly massive a great Xbox exclusive like Fable 3 could be? The game could be just giant!

Games, I feel, have really suffered from DVD Multiplat restrictions and could have had so much more in them this gen. Its a shame really. And I know its not a huge deal to swap discs, but if the ability to not swap discs is there than why continue to support the OUTDATES format.

Its funny, Xbox fans won't admit to the problem with continuing to support DVD instead of Blu Ray...But they will all get so excited for the 2nd coming of the Playstation Eye.

Fanboyism is a disease that clouds the minds ability to reason.

[Triella]

MS : Nobody needs Blu-ray de futurez is digital download ... here have some HD-DVD, and games on DVD-9 instead.

MS : Nobody needs motion control, it's just a fad, our install base is the hardcore and we make games for hardcore gamers... here have some revolutionnary new way of playing games called Eyeto... uuuh Kinect.

MS : Nobody needs 3D, 3D is for theater not for living room and having to wear those glasses is so stuuuupid. Many, many years from now when it becomes a reality we absolutely can support it but right now it is still too expensive to become mainstream...

MS : (the next day) We told you 3D is the present you can have it on your Xbox and it looks fantastic on a LG screen oh and those glasses look sooo good on you.

[jack_burt0n]

@Armyntt

The difference between uncompressed audio and a high bitrate lossless one is the difference between going from SD to HD in image quality for audio its a massive leap, it helps if you have a decent sound system but i could not go back to listening to DD, dts I really cant.

[bjornbear]

well..everyone that didn't need HD-DVD for one...<_<

what kind of argument is this? MS expect we use DVD until the end of times? *sigh* resistance to change

they just say this because they lost the new format war

[L-Teezy]

Coming from the same company who decided to go with the EXTINCT HD-DVD, who got its ass kicked out of the market by Blu-ray. ;)

[darthv72]

Maybe MS doesnt need bluray but they do need a higher capacity portable medium. If they continue to use the dvd then at least they should get the hddvd for games.

Considering the actual formats are just different mediums of storage, I do not see any reason as to why MS would not be willing to use the hddvd for its games.

We are NOT talking movies here people. Choosing a storage format for the games is beneficial to the developers. Turbografx had HuCards, NES (and others) used cartridge. The "convenience" of a format that does both movies and games (bluray/DVD) has it advantages but not a requirement.

If MS chose to continue to support DVD with those newer higher capacity dvd's that work with the existing red laser for the games and supported regular dvd for movies I would be fine with that. Bottom line...they need something more spacious.

[DORMIN]

Dumb@ss MS statement #1023804....

[pustulio]

"Who needs Blu-Ray?"

You.

[Sarcasm]

Who needs Blu-Ray? FFXIII sure did. Rage sure does. Heck, Forza 3 would have been nice on one disc. Mass Effect 2? ODST?

Shiet, when half of your own games are on multiple discs, you shouldn't ask if anyone else needs it.

[AliTheBrit19]

Shadow Flare

Yeah, you could, you could download that sh*t

Fool.

[The Lazy One]

@"The difference between uncompressed audio and a high bitrate lossless one is the difference between going from SD to HD in image quality for audio its a massive leap, it helps if you have a decent sound system but i could not go back to listening to DD, dts I really cant."

you cannot tell the difference between lossless audio compression and uncompressed audio. It's physically impossible. You get the exact same data out of both regardless. You put in a bunch of 1s and 0s and you get back the exact same 1s and 0s either way. If you're data read speeds are slower then the speed of decompressing the data, there's actually a lot of benefit to compressing your data because it will read faster.

And DvD had a lot more benefits to VHS than Blu-Ray did to DVD. Blu-Ray has a size advantage. DVD had a size and convenience advantage. Never having to rewind, having media that was at significantly smaller risk of being completely destroyed by its reader, having media that took up a significantly smaller space, having media that was for all intents an purposes randomly accessible.

I will not pretend that more space wouldn't help developers, but Blu-Ray is just an intermediary solution. USB 3.0 and other flash media and the internet make it entirely obsolete. Faster read times, no more size restrictions, less fragile media, and soon cost.

What are 50gB of data when you can have a 1TB drive that fits in your pocket and reads at 400 mB/s with no moving parts. Hell, if they reach the 2020 goal for internet speeds in the US we'll be able to download data faster than we can read it off a Blu-Ray.

Scoff all you want, but there's way too much tech coming in the near future.

[DaTruth]

You were probably one of the ones saying you can't see the difference between HD and standard definition. Nobody even pretends that stupid $hit anymore!

CD's sound better than MP3s and everybody knows this! Because CD's are uncompressed and MP3's are compressed!

[The Lazy One]

@Datruth

MP3s aren't lossless. an mp3 is a very lossy codec. a lossless codec sounds exactly the same as the original. That's why it's called "lossless" it loses nothing. Anybody who knows anything about compression or the english language knows this.

[likedamaster]

Q. "Who needs BluRay?"
A. Developers

-I'm with this guy.

[ExplosionSauce]

I think that's a good example. Although, PS3 exclusives have taken advantage of this as well.

This isn't a 360 vs PS3 argument. It should be common sense instead.
Microsoft does need a higher capacity, high definition media format.
More data can be streamed and it would be foolish to ignore or deny this.

[RageAgainstTheMShine]

and call it their proprietary disc media.... nice!

[LIVE_FR0M_NY]

What is microsofts logic here? they don't need blu-ray because of downloadable games?? For a system that does not even come with a standard hard drive this is a pretty absurd claim. They expect to use upwards of 60gb per game and make it downloadable?? I guess when you have so few GOOD exclusives on your system it's pretty easy to look at it that way... Either way you look at it, they still need some sort of high capacity PHYSICAL storage medium. HD-DVD tried and failed, Blu-ray is the only real way to do it...

[Dee_91]

guess im the only one who use blu ray :/ /s

[N4g_null]

Off topic what is the download service that is killing cd sales? Itune do these guys download uncompressed data no silly they use mp4s which are not mp3s and most of your hd content is an mp4. Millions of people can not tell the difference. Know what your talking about or become a dinosaur. Then we have other almost lostless codecs also. Blu ray isn't the smartest way it just another way. Hd DVD was just worst lol. Prime example why monopolies should not be fostered.

I know I'm going to get hate post for this but you guys need to know the pros and cons of blu ray. As of right now blu ray actualy seeks way slower than DVDs. Which is why some games have to be installed. On top of than you can not stream a huge ammount of data off the disk like a DVD.

If Sony can increase all of the above it truely would be a video game godson of a medium.

Internet as a medium will always be a bad move till it's dirt cheap. Also most of you can't tell compressed audio from uncompressed. Yet you can pause and see higher resolutions.

A higher medium is not needed till we get true next gen hd boxes with enough ram to truely do the job.

You need a huge ammount of ram to true do hd gaming justice and streaming data must be past hdd seek rates for a media. Idealy you want a console with the less moving part including the hard drive.

The solution to all the above problems is the new sdxc standard. We are just waiting for Sony to make their version of it. Believe me they will. Nothing competes with that tech right now.

For a blu ray tech to compete maybe they could put more lasers on the disk? That's easier said than done.

Some thing tells me activison and ms have found a cloud computing hybrid which is also part netflix model. Yet is the worlds Internet ready? Don't thinks so.

Yet for movies blu ray is prefect. There is a reason pcs still use DVD roms. Sure the price has went down but blu ray needs some tweaks to rival hdds in read and seek speeds.

Hopfully Sony can get it there soon. Solid state solutions are looking a lot more attractive and are rivaling hdd in every bench mark except for price which is only a matter of moores law.

[RedDragan]

"The solution to all the above problems is the new sdxc standard. We are just waiting for Sony to make their version of it. Believe me they will. Nothing competes with that tech right now. "

-----------------------

SSD says hi!

[pwnd_of_lol]

DVD is fine for X360 exclusives & PC games that can be installed to HDD and don't require a per disc royalty fee (paid to Microsoft). For PS3 / X360 cross platform games, developers are going to need to cut content to squeeze everything onto 1 DVD, or design their game to run across multiple DVD's.

[hard joe]

installing to hdd?
what about models that come out without any?
oh yeah they can always buy proprietary overpriced hdd from m$

[TheGamer]

I wonder what MS's stand would be if HD-DVD had won the format war :)

[gamingdroid]

Nothing!

MS didn't really support HD-DVD and most likely used it as a stalling technique to usher in the era of digital downloads. HD-DVD has no bearing on games for Xbox 360.

[vsr]

needs bluray

[MrMccormo]

No need for Blu Ray, of course, but it's perfectly reasonable to rearrange your entire living room and buy an overpriced camera to play River Rafting, right?

And I thought Microsoft was all about "options". Hmmm.

[CYBERSNAKE]

If Microsoft doesn't need Blu Ray, then what was HD DVD all about then?

[Condemnedman]

That was to watch movies not playing games.

[raWfodog]

I believe that MS backed HD DVD just to try and beat blu-ray. That would have been a big blow against the PS3 since blu-ray drives are built-in and not like the HD DVD attachment that MS was selling.

[Denethor_II]

The interviewee talks of watching movies:)

[Rumor]

lmfao! Bubs!

[moneygun2]

but Im a Sony gamer through and through but im having so much fun with Halo Reach its just solid, this is most likely the fact its not shit, like the rest of them.

[fuckitimout]

any console that wants gow3 and mg4 on one disc. And yes it's flamebait and you still clicked it to type 'cvg flamebait articles'

[tinybigman]

honestly M$ i dont care what you have to say anymore. as a company you disappoint me with your stupid decisions on what you think is right for us. you think i want a camera whose games are only on rails? FU M$ and get with the program.

[dangert12]

If this is what Microsoft have actually said
then anyone looking for a console that improves on this gen should not go with microsoft they are more then happy to stick with dvd 9

[TEFL0N_D0N_81]

I don't agree with every statement made by every company, and this isn't limited to just video games and consoles. But assuming MS wouldn't make a statement like this without a plan to back it up. The same would have applied for Sony or any other large company had they made similar statements (with the exception of Activision). They never said they're sticking with DVD-9. Maybe they're going to sell proprietary memory sticks in the future where if you want to buy a 360 game, you can go to Gamestop and transfer the game file. Then again, this is a "maybe" scenario.

[gamingdroid]

MS said time and time again, they went with DVD-9 to basically save cost. If they went with HD-DVD as a gaming disc format, their marketshare would have likely be considerably less due to the higher price tag of the console. That is one of the major factors to why PS3 is third this generation.

If you look at the market, people have spoken that the price matters. Is it a co-incidence that the standing in the console race is inversely proportional to the price? Is it a co-incidence that people constantly complain about the PS3 price?

1. Wii -> Cheapest of all
2. Xbox 360 -> Cheaper than PS3
3. PS3

This is probably not the reason alone, but certainly is a significant factor.

[fuckitimout]

proprietary memory sticks is a dumb idea from a consumers view. What happens when that stick corrupts? Can you play it at a friends house? What about disk space?...youre asking for your ownership to be taken away basically. No hardcopy = no ownership.

[btk]

@gamingdroid
Actually HD-DVD was not ready - MS wanted a year headstart - so they dropped HD-DVD as the standard format. If HD-DVD was ready for XBox360 launch, it could very well have been the default HD disk format. As it is - they went early and HD-DVD lost. They still made their statements about HD-DVD being better quality and better "value proposition" etc until the format died horribly. They just don't want to admit they were wrong.

[gamingdroid]

HD-DVD specs might not have been ready, but if MS pushed for it, the ability to read HD-DVD discs isn't a problem. It is just costly.

Heck, the Blu-Ray Specs weren't quite complete either when PS3 released. They still working on it now.

[Reefskye]

@btk
The format war was decided by films not consoles, the very fact Sony have film studios was part of the reason Blu-ray won. Sony have a lot more say in this area than Microsoft. This was to Sony's advantage and there was very little chance of Sony repeating Betamax. HD-DVD was already set to lose.

[moparful99]

@reefskye Do you honestly believe that sony's decision to have blu-ray built in had no bearing on the outcome of the format war? You are smoking something then. Having blu-ray built into the ps3 meant instant userbase.. Every ps3 sold was a potential blu-ray disc purchase.. Yes sony has alot of movie studios but at the same time the arguably two biggest movie companies on the planet(universal, warner brothers werent on board with blu-ray.. Remember when both of those companies announced deals with sony for blu ray support? Within hours of announcing this hd-dvd was officially canned. Point is that sony made all the right moves with blu-ray by integrating it with the ps3 and making it standard.. As well the added benefit that blu-ray has for gaming cemented it as the format of choice this generation.. It clearly outclassed dvd.. The discs are darn near indestructible, have many times more storage, and cost the same as dvd 9 printed games.. Thats huge.. Digital distribution is still at least 10 years from being the standard method of content delivery as infrastructure is lagging behind in this country.. Face it microsoft needs to insert their collective feet in their mouths and aknowledge when they screw up.. Which they have done alloooooot of this gen...

[Rhythmattic]

Blu-Ray or not, The anti scratch layer should at least be adopted.

[Consoldtobots]

I think kids re-buying games cause their disc got scratched is part of MS's business plan.

[Trroy]

^^ and removing the bumper on the laser of the 360 DVD drive.

You think it sounds petty, but it boils down to millions of dollars. Some people bump their 360s, and scratch DVD in all sorts of ways, and MS knows that supports game re-buys.

[xAlmostPro]

blu-ray is gonna pass by?.. thats why it over took HD-DVD?.. thats why its considered one of the best formats for watching movies?.. thats why other platforms exclusives are so much bigger and better?.. thats why people are creating and looking into 300gb+ blu-ray discs? lol..

blu-ray isn't passing by anytime SOON.. broadband speeds and bandwith limits are nowhere near high enough in average households for everything to become download only yet..

maybe when 90% of all internet users have 20mb+ connections(i could be off with exact numbers here, but im sure you all get what im tying to say) :)

[moparful99]

To be honest for high definition content you can get by with a 5 meg connection only problem is at that speed your bandwidth is going to take a huge hit if you download content.. Now for cloud gaming and instant steaming movies in hd you will absolutely need more then 5 megs.. I think the standard to shoot for is most likely 10 megs....

[Kreyg]

Blu-Ray is good, so is digital. people need to shut up and just use what they like for god sakes

[avengers1978]

They'll put blu-ray in there next console, that is 100% for sure.
So they need it.
Look at what more devs and publishers are doing, just throwing a second game on the blu-ray for no extra cost. MOH, and DeadSpace 2 both come with two games in the series, and sure they might be older,but there still free.
Think about what Halo Reach could have been had they had 35 gigs to play with.(Not saying there is anything wrong with Reach the way it is),but imagine the possiblites.

[jwk94]

If they had blu-ray, they could've done a halo collection on the reach disc

[outrageous]

...is Sony next??? M$ was right...the best looking, playing and selling games are on DvD. The top selling console, double the PS3 sales, doesn't even play DvD's. The guys with the blu-ray player are in last place.

Look at all the blu-ray movies with NO extra content and the extra content they do have was available on a good old regular dvd. The top selling games on the blu-ray playing PS3 are on DvD...are you GETTING THE PICTURE YET!!! Alan Wake entire gameplay takes up 2.5 gb...lol. Is blu-ray good and have lots of room...yes...does it matter...no. PS3 exclusives are all pre-rendered and that's why they need the space. MGS4 has at least a couple HOURS of pre-rendered sims.

The only reason blu-ray is around is because of price fixing and keeping the cost of DvD's high to make blu-ray a viable option...that's it. A DvD cost 10-15 cents YEARS ago...they should be 2-3 cents now.

[bustamove]

...Yeah, okay, whatever you say. You're just like Microsoft, sticking your hands in your ears and lala-ing to the wind.

[Kemicalbeliefs]

I was reading this and thought 'yeah he's being ironic and taking the p1ss'. Then I realised you actually mean all of this what you say.

I don't want, need or ever even watch the extra content so movie only is fine with me. DVD is now like Cinema, rubbish. HD is here now and more people are moving over.

Amongst the reasons Blu ray is really around is because it fits HD games and movies with uncompressed audio. I don't know whether you've been to the shops lately but most DVD's are a third of the Blu ray price.
Don't forget my children proof discs too...those finger marks don't mean diddly squat on my PS3 but my 360 discs are a no no.

[bageara]

Your so misinformed dude it's......well outrageous, and ain't even gonna bother informing you HA! I'm just gonna let you live in ignorance, I pity you, you don't even know what your missing dude

[mantisimo]

.....Lol.

Downloadable games are a long way off say Sony, they will (they say) not be download exclusive for 10 years or more.

Not enough people have strong , fast internet and so they say there will always be a hard copy available.

Blu ray movies are generally beautiful and the games, well enough said.

[Unicron]

MGS4 has at least a couple HOURS of pre-rendered sims.

Aside from TWO pre-rendered bits, all of MGS4's cinematics were in real time. Fail more please.

[avengers1978]

Stop drinkin' the MS kool aid, in what world do you live in.
Uncharted 2, KZ2, and God of War 3 all look way better than any 360 exclusive.
And your so called knowledge of games is laughable man. dude you fail.

[JD_Shadow]

You forgot to add "/sarcasm" at the end of your post.

[N4g_null]

The only media that was child proof was nes carts other wise blu ray will never be in a portable. The only reason the 3ds specs are at 2 gigs is due to yeild prices at the foundry. Also how many game carts got corrupted? Read only disk are not readily corruptible. Only read write disks.

100 terabytes is coming.

[Human Analog]

"The only reason blu-ray is around is because of price fixing and keeping the cost of DvD's high to make blu-ray a viable option".... What? I though it was around so we can have 1080p and full 7.1DTS master tracks. But oh well I guess we have been fooled. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Orochi Avlis]

Quality of sound.
Lots of people won't notice or care about the difference, but to those who have good setups at home, it can make quite the difference. If you are just playing through a TV, then yeah, you'll probably won't notice it, unless it's really poorly done.
Compression removes sections of sound waves to make it take up less space, but at the same time, you lose quality of sound. So, you are liable to hear crackling or static during the movie or game. Really noticeable during loud sequences.

@outrageous
"M$ was right...the best looking, playing and selling games are on DvD."
God Of War 3, Killzone 2 and 3, GT5, Uncharted 2...

"Look at all the blu-ray movies with NO extra content and the extra content they do have was available on a good old regular dvd."
Uh no.
Look at the Watchmen Blu-Ray, or any notable Blu-ray release. The new commentary mode alone is amazing and cannot be done on DVD without really sacrificing quality.
Besides you can't blame the format if people skimp on things. That's the publishers fault, not the format.

"The top selling games on the blu-ray playing PS3 are on DvD...are you GETTING THE PICTURE YET!!!"
Oh, you mean the multiplatform ones, where they had to cut down content to fit on the DVD?

"Alan Wake entire gameplay takes up 2.5 gb...lol."
Yeah, but it didn't have much in terms of variety. The environment was a forest for most of the game. I'm not bashing Alan Wake, I'm just stating a fact.

"Is blu-ray good and have lots of room...yes...does it matter...no. PS3 exclusives are all pre-rendered and that's why they need the space. MGS4 has at least a couple HOURS of pre-rendered sims. "
Yes, it does actually. FF13. 4 DVDs vs 1 Blu-ray disc, which one is better?
Oh yeah, which one also had two audio tracks on it as well? Oh, right the Blu-ray disc.
Uncharted 2 was not pre-rendered except for the really long cutscenes, but it was done all in engine, and the game still looked like the cutscenes. So that's a moot point.
God Of War 3, best looking game this generation, only had a few due to the scale, everything else was in game.
And you make it sound like no other console does not use this technique.

[N4g_null]

I'm curious do you know what a good setup cost? It's not 5,000 try 30,000 to 80,000 I don't think most gamers can event afford great hdtvs let a long the sounds system needed to tell the difference.

Here is a question can you even name the name brands that produce such high quality sound?

[AKS]

Why is it usually the guys who don't have something try to claim it costs a dozen times more than it actually does? Scissor-runner's comment reminds me of the guys who claim you need a $6000 computer to even play Crisis and a graphics card costs a minimum of $500 or something outrageous. It's entirely possible to put together a decent sound system for far less than $30,000. Even some low-end receivers can output 7.1 LPCM now.

Regarding your brand question, I have a Marantz receiver that handles 7.1 LPCM, and it sounds stellar.

[N4g_null]

Where we not talking sound quality? To here the difference all of these fanboys are talking about you will need very high end speakers. Hey if you just need 7.1 then I'm sure you can get that cheap but uncompressed audio is not ideal for 7.1. It's a meh. Not needed.

Oh yeah I'm one of those guys that says buy an asus laptop for 1,000 and you won't have to upgrade for a while.

I mean if you want to talk tech then let's talk. I don't have time to insult people.

[Upbeat]

I forgot the 360 could play 30gb games.

[JokesOnYou]

imo and many others, 360 has the best library of games this gen and if you disagree with that statement nobody can deny how strong the 360 has been this gen in terms of gaming, the xbox brand has become very popular console because of the success of its games= all without bluray, Halo Reach is just the latest example of a superb game packed with content all on one little old DVD, seriously, I don't know of any ps3 exclusive on bluray that can matches Halo3's depth, let alon Reach, and I don't see any 12-15hr platformers on bluray offering this huge games, as far as graphics go Halo Reach, Alan Wake, ME2 and plenty of 360 games hold their own, and again we haven't seen an influx of multiple disc games, but hell I wouldn't care if Reach was on multiple discs as long as it turns out to be quality game, and that is exactly what we got from Bungie with Halo Reach. Games like FF13 dont prove anything other than SE didn't do a good port or is that only an excuse that applies to ps3, hell even lens of truth questioned many of the choices SE made concerning the 360 version.

JOY

[SillySundae]

We agree and disagree on some points.

YOU: "360 has the best library of games this gen"
ME: This is an OPINION. Some gamers are just not into much shooters (but I admit a lot are). Some people wants variety. Some people wants create, play , and share. My point is what you are stating here is an opinion, which I do respect.

YOU: "nobody can deny how strong the 360 has been this gen in terms of gaming"
ME: I Agree.

YOU: "Halo Reach is just the latest example of a superb game packed with content all on one little old DVD"
ME: Bungie is truly exceptional! I wish all development studios have the skills to accomplish this. Sadly no. Some developers actually need more space for what they wish to accomplish. Some genre needs more space. Some masterpieces needs more space.

I am honestly interested on if multiplats would've been better (or would've told their story better .. for added immersion) if both consoles have a large capacity media.

[Jdoki]

Yeah, MS have done great things this gen, and the 360 can only be seen as a huge success. Even if the PS3 overtakes it in sales at some point, the market share MS have grabbed is impressive.

Maybe the 360 doesn't need Blu-ray. Maybe the Next Xbox won't need blu-ray; but you give developers the space to store data, and you can bet they will use every bit of it. And that can make for richer experiences. You may love Halo 3 and Reach, but I don't, and my 360 game library has stagnated while my PS3's has grown - that's just differing opinions, I'm not saying Halo is bad - just it's one example of a game that doesn't need Blu-Ray. I would argue that it is needed on the basis of the games I enjoy and have played on my PS3 that I don't think could have been done on my 360 in the same way. You think Bungie wouldn't have loved having extra space to play with?

If MS truly believe that Blu-ray isn't needed then I wonder what their vision of the future really is - because bandwidth just isn't going to be there for most people to download DVD sized games, let alone Blu-Ray sized games... And we do want the industry to move on don't we??

With MS' track record of saying one thing and doing another, is Blu-Ray really off the spec sheet for the Next Box I wonder?

[ocnkng]

"I don't know of any ps3 exclusive on bluray that can matches Halo3's depth" Two words: YOUR OPINION.
Have you ever tried playing clan tournaments in Killzone 2 multiplayer? What about MGS4, you can actually play the single player in any way you like, stealth, all-out action a mix of two. It also has an awesome multiplayer. Have you heard of a game called Demon's Souls? What about other excusives: Uncharted series, Resistance series, Yakuza, Heavy Rain, MAG etc etc Dude when you are defending the 360 don't even try to
go toward 'depth of exclusives' You'll be owned, trust me. I noticed how you conveniently forgot Halo:ODST. Yes $60 for a 5 hour campaign and old Halo3 maps, now that's depth :)
Ohh and ME2 is multi-platform now so scratch that from your list.

[moparful99]

"I don't know of any ps3 exclusive on bluray that can matches Halo3's depth, let alon Reach"

Umm little big planet says hi.. LMAO you are blantantly fanboyish.. Halo 3 has the shalowest and most contrived plot in the history of shooters.. THe only thing, and I mean only thing, that keeps halo viable in terms of sales and reception is the multiplayer.. Thats what bungie does best and why their games sell like crack... Sony's first party studios run circles around microsofts lack luster offerings.. Outside of halo, gears, fable, and forza the 360 has the weakest first party of the big three... I will admit that microsoft has put up one hell of a fight but they've done so with their wallets instead of creativity and originality.. Buying up third party exclusivity worked for the first two years but slowly this plan is backfiring as sony's catalogue is growing in quality and quantity.. This trend is apparent in the fact that once 360 exclusive franchises are coming to the ps3.. Bioshock, dead rising, mass effect etc... This all points to the fact that sony knows who keeps them relevant and thats the fans.. At the end of the day sony has built the ps3 into ultimate entertainment console hands down.. Try again JOY.

[Upbeat]

how good would it be to have the halo all on one disk, in order of sequence. As in one big story line.

[Method]

Another terrible C&V article, why isn't this worthless site banned yet?

[Jazz4108]

Pinion. herebluray is fine for movies but not gaming. Its too slow and is why the pos3 has to install everything because it reads and plays very slow. Ms will noit use dvd9 next gen but will use something similar to bluray but updated to be bijgger and much faster. They have already said they are working on a advanced form of dvd that holds terabytes of info and from my rep at work that tech is done and sound and will be in next console so ms is right they don't need bluray but they shoukd offer it as a movie source if its still a viable medium as soon as next gen starts.

[madjedi]

@jazz And you need terabytes(s in 1024 gigabytes, when we are only pushing 50 gigs for a few games) of storage at 1080p resolution, why again exactly dumbass, and your probably talking about holographic virtual disc. For movies next gen, what that has to do with games idk, again see maximum tv resolution 1080p, which current brds are at a high enough capacity already.

Somehow i think having to go through a terabyte of data, just to find 1 specific item/section is asking for trouble even using duplicate data.

Not unless you have a laser reading at many times faster than current br laser read speeds, and then some still since your heading in to the terabytes territory.

For reference resonance of fate has a trophy/achievement called teradriver you get it after the system has read at least 1 terabyte from the disc, i got it roughly 60-65 hrs or 15 days into the game.

While i am no expert on the subject, it sounds more like your making shit up, for console war arguments than giving out any solid real data.

Given your comment about the ps3 and the fact that you don't have to install all games which your wrong about.

I take any information you say about next gen media formats with a heavy grain of salt, thx for laugh though bot.

[disturbing_flame]

And who needs HD DVD ?

[vhero]

Who needs blu-ray? MGS4.. says you do. All the best looking nex gen titles say you do as they need the space. MS are gonna keep putting this out to justify people buying there consoles though it's what they do. I say fair play to em it's not really flamebait it's just how you run a business you protect your investment through lies and deceit. All 3 major console manufacturers do it as do companys like Apple (who are the worst for it!)

[fr0sty]

The machine that had to squeeze FF13 onto 3 discs with heavily compressed low quality audio and FMV... yeah. that one.

[L-Teezy]

nvm

[madpuppy]

A fad.

"The Internet? We are not interested in it"

- Bill Gates, 1993

[JokesOnYou]

@ Sillysundae all I know is that something like 98% of multiplats are on one disc and most don't even come close to filling the DVD now, there are only a few game types that makes multiple discs more of a challenge when it comes to game design, so logic dictates that any dev worth his salt who actually needed more space for his vision/game wouldnt flinch at the thought of using a second disc,saying otherwise is just a copout because theres no tangible evidence to support such a theory.

@ocnkng, lol did you comprehend anything I said, uhm I own MGS4, KZ2, GOW3, Uncharted series which are all great games... MAG, Demon Souls, HR are also great games just not my cup of tea. Of course my preference for Reach and 360 library of games are MY opinion, the point is I'm not insulting any of ps3 games, I just dont see anything so great about them that wouldn't have been possible without bluray at the sametime I fully understand bluray/more space is optimal for game devs, just not a neccessity for the near future.

JOY

[niceguywii60]

Holy crap I see this statement is offensive to PS3 fans as if the statement takes something away from PS3 diminishing PS3 fanboys appreciation for PS3.

*It's Blasphemy!!!!!!! MSFT can't say that to the public we fanboys have worked so hard trying to convince the world HD gaming isn't possible without Blu-ray what if people hear what MSFT said* lol

The only thing stopping digital distribution from becoming mainstream is the console companies making large HDD too expensive at the moment. DD with games will take over discs faster than it did with music formats. This scraes fanboys as it kills a PS3 fanboy tool/talking-point against MSFT consoles.

GOD I hate it when the 360 outsells the PS3 worldwide because PS3 fans get really emotional and rabid. They're worse now than they were before Sony started lowing the price of PS3.

[tomford16]

Says the obvious fan boy with one bubble.

[nanostar]

"The only thing stopping digital distribution from becoming mainstream is the console companies making large HDD too expensive at the moment"
-obviously M$ and their $130 for GB but I'm pretty sure that PS3 and the possible 1TB for $140 is stopping the DD just M$ is with the overpriced HDD

[iamtehpwn]

You pushed HD-DVD To compete with bluray, you LOST, and now suddenly, "No one even cares about bluray"? GTFO.

[Comet]

When Microsoft releases their "Xbox 3" with a DVD drive...
Maybe the Xbox 4 will come with a Blu-Ray drive... but that's when Sony premieres their Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) format for PlayStation 5 in another 6-7 years (2020).

[Natsu X FairyTail]

When you get a game Like tales of Vesperia and there's content missing because your caveman DVD9 tech wasnt enough for it to fit and You find out later on that There's a better Version with everything on it On PS3 . That'S when you know you need bluray.

[Hellsvacancy]

Or when FF13 cums on 3-4 disks, which meant the game had 2-b cut down losin content from the PS3 version because of it, yeah, MS dont need bluray

And besides, if they didnt need a hi-def disk format y did theu even other with HD-DVD?

'Who needs Blu-ray?' sounds like losin words 2 me

Edit: pwnd_of_lol? disk swappin should b a thing of the past, dont cum at me with "what r u lazy, it only takes a moment 2 change a disk" it only takes a moment 2 get up and change the Tv channel but we all still use Tv remote controls

[sikbeta]

MGS4 = 50GB

That's all I have to say....

[pwnd_of_lol]

"FF13 cums on 3-4 disks "

Actually no, it is not an issue.

Final Fantasy XIII was already well into production by the time it was announced for the 360 so the games structure should have been pretty well defined. Combine this with the fact that you can install and play from hard drive to avoid disc swaps.

"MGS4 = 50GB "

Sony never stated that the game is a full 50GBs… For example maybe the game takes up 35GBs of space… But the hi-def surround sound files and lip synched animation in one language takes up 20GBs so there’s no room to fit that additional content like separate lip sunched animation and Japanese audio.

[PirateThom]

So, it's multiple discs or a mandatory install?

And, just because the 360 version was announced later, doesn't mean it wasn't in production long before then.

[MrMccormo]

Pirate Thom:

You should be aware that many PS3 games do not have the "mandatory" install, God of War 3 being one of them. I'm sure you've seen the graphics on that beast of a game.

[PirateThom]

I was talking about the 360 and it's multiple disc issue and how to get around it.

You're either swapping discs or installing and then there's games like Forza 3 REQUIRE an install because half the content doesn't fit on one disc.

Blu-ray may not be required, but when you've got a racing game coming on two discs on a console with no standard hard drive, questions are raised.

[MrMccormo]

Pirate Thom:

Ah, got it. I see what you're saying.

[Nemo88]

Even if you install to 360HD you will still have to disc swap at the required time as if you had not installed... this is for copy protection. FACT

[vhero]

You got it right that's why the new arcade comes with 4gb however we all know it's not big enough however just like this lie MS will lie about that too. 360 is a good console but I reckon MS are using it as a stepping stone now for there next console as they are no doubt making one.

[Jinxstar]

MrMccormo.

Just for your information God of War 3 does not have a mandatory install. I just checked on my PS3 and it has 5381 kb's of game data and I think that was just the 1.01 patch. Yes Kb's not Mb's. so 5.3mb's of data... Only other data is from my save games. The engine is just that incredibly well optimized...

Love the game. Platinumed it. Favorite game franchise of all time. Oh and it's not dependent on PS3 model either. I own a 60 gig launch model with upgraded HD to 200 gigs. I can't even find an optional install in any menu available.

[Jinxstar]

Forget my last. I misread your initial comment.

[timmyrulz]

Blu ray is a luxury not a necessity, when you can play awesome games such as Fallout 3, Halo Reach, Gears of War, Dead space, COD - all of which come on one DVD, the NEED for blu ray isnt so obvious, but if you like 30 hours of cut scenes and uncompressed audio/video and you dont like to swap disks then blu ray is required

[kerrak]

In fact, DVD is a luxury. You could play those same games, only swapping a few cds. Am i right?

[Nemo88]

Like it Kerrak :D

[xAlmostPro]

yes there are many great games that fit on one disc BUT when you think about how they and 360 exclusives compare to ps3 ones you can see that bluray is a major benefit..

imagine how great and big a COD game would be if 360 also had blu-ray..

fact is these games could be bigger and better..but they're not, you'd probably still see bigger games if microsoft didnt charge the devlopers for using multiple discs when its microsofts fault..

not only that, developers wont give ps3 users the bigger better version, with more levels/maps etc because it wouldnt be fair on 360 users.. also microsoft pay ALOT to stop things like this happening..

[timmyrulz]

Or we could have Digital Download and have no need for any Disk format what so ever, the fact is only a hand full of games have either multiple disks or wont fit on one DVD9, Blu ray is a Gen too early

[PirosThe4th]

Agreed! But Lost Oddysey with 4 disc didn't have that issue... the worst thing is that micro$oft charges royalties for each disc as if it was another game...
So developers have to stick with one disc only due to the economical factor of releasing a 2 disc or more game...
come on the production cost of their crappy dvds m$ uses cant be taht expensive yet they are screwing everything up by doing so... Same with how ID had to change Rage due to the disc limitations since they couldn't use more than 2 disc.

Next xbox will have bluray... but i am sure that the next ps3 will be ahead with a new format like every PS console has been...

[Why o why]

Natsu's on a roll.

dont worry natsu...us 'lames' know you're not a turncoat even if we agree with ya every now and then;)

OT: MS mantra is 'if you dont have it bash it'

Any Tottenham supporters here on N4G today....If so

Shall we make a Deeee Veeeee Deeeee

[Venatus-Deus]

Did you get away tickets? I had to turn one down, which means I'm gutted I wasn't there.

We won the League!
We won the League!

We won the Leeegue at White Hart Lane!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Venatus-Deus]

Disagrees? LOL... Spuds fans!

[Why o why]

nah but my spud mates went....they fled after the 3rd....

'he's gunna twitch in a minute'

EDIT
isnt the white spelt with an 's'

[Batzi]

the Xbox 360???????!

[kerrak]

Who needs bigger HDD?

[Black-Helghast]

Ps3 is better, Who's with Me?

[Solid_Snakeps3]

well said my friend, M$ really need to look in the mirror and realise that they F**ked most multi-plat games. Also, next-gen consoles are supposed to improve on the previous one.
Xbox= DVD
Xbox 360=DVD
PS2= DVD
PS3= BLU-RAY.
Fanboys/Haters can disagree all they want, the truth hurts...

@Retard above me
Dont you realise that even M$'s beloved Halo needs a big HDD?

[PirosThe4th]

hey don't by so tough on the xbox they added one more layer on the dvd for the 360... which even the ps2 was using for a long time... oh wait...

[Biggest]

It's sad that you can't understand blatant sarcasm and call the person that posted it a retard. The PS3 has the advantage with HDDs as well and everyone knows it.

[Meisadragon]

digital distribution is cool

But apart from developed countries not many in other countries can download so much.

[Fireseed]

Um what are you talking about? The US and UK are the statistically slowest countries in terms of bandwidth.

[nizza]

Yeah, uk average download speeds are 2mb and the ISP's either give you a usage cap, traffic shape you on the sly or in some cases, both!

Sure they are rolling out a new fibre product with up to 40mb, but that isn't going to be everywhere in the UK, only where it is likely to be profitable for them.
Regardless, Faster download speeds are useless without a larger usage allocation

[writersblock]

Bandwidth caps
Downloading a game like GOW3, and you cant go on the internet for a month cus you're cap would likely have been met

[PirosThe4th]

lol tru... i only get 200gb max of data... :/

[jessupj]

I'm on 30gb, and that's one of the biggest plans you can get where I live in Australia.

DD is ABSOLUTELY, and I mean ABSOLUTELY NOT going to be anything close to viable until at least 10-15 years. And that's being very generous. At least in Australia anyway.

[edhe]

I think we can be sure that BD will be the next generation's standard disc, then we can see titles actually using it properly instead of being hindered by it like this gen.

[butterfinger]

Sony has never used the same disc format twice, I'm not really sure how you can be so sure. Unless, of course, you're trying to say that Nintendo and Microsoft are the industry standard.

[edhe]

2/3 > 1/3

Maths rocks.

[jessupj]

Most likely the PS4 will have blu ray, but it will be an improved 200gb blu ray disk or something similar.

edhe is right. It'll be nice next gen when the xbox catches up and multiplatform developers can actually start taking advantage of the space. I hate ms so much for holding back so many multi games because of their greed. Least I have my PS3 exclusives.

[edhe]

You do realise that the ps3 architecture isn't capable of using the extra-sized textures that bd could provide.. right?

The ps3, as a gaming device, is pretty much just DVD-sized bandwidth with a BD tacked on. MS wasn't holding anyone back.

[wicko]

Higher resolution textures aren't the only use for additional space. More texture variation, more/higher quality audio (multi-audio releases would benefit from this), just more content in general. It's also useful for data placement for efficient reading, so you can double up on common resources.

Back to textures though, I imagine id has found the additional storage to be very useful for their megatexture feature, despite the current generation's limited 512mb of memory.

I don't see how the current generation has been hindered by more storage space.

[madjedi]

@butterfinger because games should not need any higher than a 100 gig brd, not a the current resolution and hd audio size.

So unlike before with cds and dvds, there is no need to switch to a new kind of disc when a higher capacity version of the same one will work.

@darth up above, why would they try to restart hddvd lines back up when, the brd lines are already up and running, it's not very practical guy.

@edhe The lack of a hard drive standard in all 360's says hello. :)

[The Lazy One]

@"Back to textures though, I imagine id has found the additional storage to be very useful for their megatexture feature, despite the current generation's limited 512mb of memory."

they actually disliked both consoles for different reasons. The 360 has limited storage space, but the PS3's memory made it extremely difficult for them to optimize their megatextures. Both games ended up turning out nearly identical, which is a testament to iD.

Megatextures and SVOs in the future are huge memory sinks.

[jessupj]

I'll admit I'm not too knowledgable on the technological details, but when I see PS3 exclusives matched up to other console games it's very easy to see there's a huge difference in quality.

[Consoldtobots]

lmao @ edhe so much ignorance on display in a single post.

[edhe]

k, disprove me then.

[DJMarty]

360 needs Blu-ray more than that Kinect crap.

Guest what

MS was originally only putting 256mb of ram in 360, then added 512mb(when presured by Epic to do so)

MS said 360 don't need installs, then added full installs to 360.

MS said 360 don't need 1080P, then added it to 360.

MS said 360 don't need HDMI, then added it to 360.

MS said 360 don't need Wifi, then added it to 360.

talk about u-turns

[PsycheMax]

Yeah, but 3/4 of that "useless" things, for MS, now are to be paid by users who need them.
Like a Wi-Fi usb stuff. -.- OMG.

[xAlmostPro]

thats exactly why they've done things like that..

they're very smart when it comes to taking peoples money..

"damn sony are releasing the ps3 & its a monster".. erm lets just put this, this & this in & release this console before sony so we get money for having the 1st next gen console"..

tonnes of money for a full year before sony.. (on top of paying for live)..

"kk its gonna be hard for sony to catch up for a little bit, but damn there console has a huge built in harddrive.. lets sell external ones at an over the top price"..

"they have wifi, lets sell a wifi adapter at an over the top price"..

etc etc.

then it gets to the current stage..

"wooo we have sponged soooooooo many millions from our supporters..damn it feels good to be rich..hey you know what? lets release a new console that has all this stuff built in just like the ps3..apart from bluray oh and we'll completely change our main market from hardcore fps to casual catch the balls game"..

"yeah thats right we thank you for all your support..infact, no we thank your for all your money..now we're focussing on the casual market..sorry" lol

[edhe]

Evolving your product to suit the marketplace is common sense, no?

Better to add features than to remove them.

[CimmerianDrake]

My stealth troll meter is going off the charts.

[Sarcasm]

lol now it's "Evolving your product"

At least it's a creative stealth troll.

[fuckoffodion]

It's funny since he was advocating that HDMI wasn't needed. Now he's defending it.
Stealth troll indeed.

[TEFL0N_D0N_81]

MS said 360 don't need installs, and they're right. You don't have to install a single retail game, you can play them off the disc.

MS said you don't need 1080p? Now that's a lie. Plus they were capable of doing 1080p without HDMI. I was using component cables to run 1080p before HDMI slots came out.

MS said 360 doesn't need Wifi, and they're right. I've been gaming for a very long time and still don't use/need wifi. Wireless connections will only try and match up to wired connections.

These aren't U-turns. They're additional options. Plus you're making up statements to boot.

Let's turn this around:

Sony said PS3 supports online, but the console doesn't even come with a headset.

Sony said PS3 needs HDMI, but couldn't add an HDMI cable with the console.

Sony said PS3 should have 4 USB slots, but took away 2.

Sony said PS3 should have another OS, but took that away too.

and I don't even consider these u-turns.

They're "adaptation" and every company does it.

[Dread]

u also forgot that sony said that u dont need rumble, and they also said that BS is super important but it is now suddenly not needed.

[TEFL0N_D0N_81]

Yeah I realized that, but I didn't want to get too deep because it's not the point I'm trying to make. Like I posted earlier, every company adjusts their business model based on demand, production, security, third-party interests, etc. The only constant driving force is $$$.

I didn't want to send a message of anger towards Sony. I understand that they made statements and investments, and back tracked a bit. MS has done the same, and so has every other major company.

[Otheros00]

I'm online right now and I'm not even using a headset.
Why do you need a headset to be online?
So when you are typing that you're wearing a headset?

[Dread]

@otheros im playing games right now and I am not even using blu-ray.
Why do I need blu-ray to play video games?

[madjedi]

Sorry tephlon the only valid points are the 4 usb ports and other os, a headset is not required for online gaming. Just because you do not need or want wireless, doesn't mean others don't.

The lack of hdmi ports on the 360 till the elite came out is a far cry from buying a hdmi cable online for $5-12, due to sony taking $200-250 lose on every console sold at that time.

I'll toss in overpriced proprietary hard drives and wifi adaptors, biggest difference sony has cut stuff to drop the price from $600 to it's currently $299, whereas ms cut stuff from the original 360 to sell it to you later at a mark up.

I remember a ms official saying both 1080p is not important as well as hdmi isn't important.

But considering the "adaption"s your spinning sony made verses ms made, whatever.

@dread it's bc you dumbass backwards compatibility=bc not bs, if your going to bring a console argument point, spell the damn abbreviation right.

And yeah it was important at launch, when the ps3 didn't have a line up of good games.

It has had good games for a while so to benefit the ps3 hitting a good price point 399-299 certain non essential hardware was removed/reduced bright boy.

[lonix]

I'm just going to keep using windows xp for the next 10 years

[xAlmostPro]

yup and IE 5

[lonix]

uses IE?

[Omega4]

Next gen if MS doesn't use bluray they will likely go with putting a massive harddrive in every console so games will be installed like a PC.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

what a dumb statement

[PirosThe4th]

Next gen if Omega4 doesn't buy a new brain (unlikely) he will need to go with stupid comments over N4G like this Gen... lol

[mcstorm]

I don't think next gen will see MS go down the Bluray format I think they will make there own media disk or maybe buy HD DVD from tosh and use the tech for there games.

I think they are right in one way that the 360 dose not need bluray for videos or games but they do need to start looking at a bigger media storage for next gen.

I have a 360 and PS3 and watch Videos on they both but I have a server and stream them all from there and don't own a bluray or dvd (film) any more as I think it is better and takes up less space than having aload of DVD/bluray movies all over the place but the main problem with digital media is there are too may types of media around and the only way it will affect the sales of DVD's in a big way is if we have a standard media read by all media streaming devices.

Bluray has not yet taken off fully as DVD is still out selling it and it will only become the main format when every one has a HD tv as only 30 of tv owners have a HD tv and when DVD is dropped just like when video was dropped. But with the new HD tv's being internet ready and more and more homes getting the internet it could have an affect on Bluray sales like mp3s have done with cd's but the market is ever changing and we dont know what will be released next.

Bluray as a media will be around for a long time but as for movies it may never be as popular as dvd has been for movies.

[KYU2130]

with you that there are entirely to many digital video formats, but even If we see a standardized digital format there is the lack of bandwidth issue.
While that is not an issue i face personally(and yes i do download alot of movies and tv shows) 95% of the population does.
so even if Digital format became the mainstream(never will.. personally speaking)most people are going to want to hold a hard copy of a game, movie, or music in there hand.
but lets focus on gaming.. i was and still am all for digital download of small games titles ie. indie games and retro style games. But large titles will always need a hard format, so Digital download is not the future ever(my opinion).
As for blu-ray yes it will be around for a long time, personally i believe another 10 yrs, but hey thats me.

Games and the demand for higher quality and a more detailed experience will and do require a larger format, MS while they may see that, will refuse to acknowledge that. It would be admitting defeat and for a console maker so young and fresh in the game it would spell doom and probably seal the failure of their future console.

[mcstorm]

I agree with you people will allways want a hard copy of games this is why I think they will go down there own media for games like HD DVD as this is on the lines of Bluray and it will never go away for films but the market is going more and more down the digital line and the shops are starting to offer digital downloads in the shops too which will make it more and more main stream.

I dont know how it will turn out but when it comes to the next xbox and games I dont think they need to offer bluray games but they will need to offer a media of some sort for them machine and it will have to be on the lines of the size of bluray for them to make the games.

I dont think digital download for home consoles will work as the size of the games but I think for hand helds it could work very well as I have a psp go and it works a treat on this device.

[The Lazy One]

Or you could sell your console with a 256gB transfer stick that you take to your local gamestop/bestbuy, download a game, take it home, and install it on your console. If they made a new standard (as they can with it being a proprietary system), they could probably get close to 700mB/s or 1gB/s transfer speed, which would have a 256gB game installed in 4-10 minutes.

If they figured out a way to stream from the stick while it installed, you wouldn't even have to wait to play the game.

That would pretty much single handedly erase most people's problem with DD (slow download speeds). People want to download, they download. people don't have bandwidth they go to the store just like they do now.

This is all completely possible with technology in the consumer market TODAY. There's no saying what they'll come up with for tomorrow.

[mcstorm]

For the prople who disagree with me read this http://news.cnet.com/8301-1...
Remember im not saying the 360 dose not need a bigger media for games but for films bluray is not going to be as big as DVD.

[cliffbo]

HD DVD is dead and buried and never will return in any form.

and in the future Bluray will be larger than 50gb (probably for next gen machines) if MS do not adopt a large format disc which is compatible with Movie formats ie Bluray & DVD they may fail next gen IMO.

[turok]

at least that guy trolled like a king.

[dionnysus]

who knows. the tech industry is always are building and making better things, maybe there will be a new storage system. though i'd hate to adopt a new dvd medium so soon

[Stationfan]

I just love when a companies ambiton causes them to invent a new and improved format, because the standard stat quote (DVD) just doesn't cut it for the games they have envisioned

DVD might cut it for 3rd party games and Microsoft, but it doesn't cut it for the type of games that Sony has planned, which we've seen time many types and to reaffirm this again will be grand tourismo 5

[Tuxedoassassin]

HD Collecctions on one disc, movies in great quality (DVD movies looks like s*** compared to blue-ray movies), lot video bonuses to games (U2, Heavy Rain etc.).
I think Blue Ray is great.

[LolololRumz]

You do Microsoft

[koehler83]

/

[ZombieAutopsy]

Eh blu-ray may not be NEEDED this gen but it sure as hell is nice to have, next gen though MS will use blu-ray or some other form that holds more than a DVD if they don't I have a feeling alot of third parties are gonna be upset.

[DanteKnightsTemplar]

the answer is,not 1.

[Senden]

Real gamers need Blu Ray.. back when this gen started, hddvd capacities were already being pushed.. I wonder how big some multiplat games would have been if it wasn't for xbox's limitations.. ofcourse Microsoft probably couldn't care less.. their nintendo fanbase they are targeting probably don't even know what is even special about blu ray.

[big_silky]

They would have been exactly the same size. Why would devs do more work than they have to?

[jessupj]

I irony is they have to do a LOT more work because of the limitations ofDVD9. How many devs have we seen this gen say they want to rip their hair out because it's so hard trying to compress everything and make it fit onto one disk? A lot.

[TEFL0N_D0N_81]

Hmmn.. I'd have to disagree with this one. There's a plethora of good and long multiplatform games.

Fallout 3
Batman : Arkham Asylum
Red Dead Redemption
Chronicles of Riddick
Prince of Persia (the cell-shaded game)
Oblivion
GTA IV
etc.

Blu-ray is a very nice advantage, but to say that it's "needed" is a bit of an overstatement. And I own lots of Blu-ray movies and games. Heck, isn't Infamous (also a great game) only 6-7 gigs? Devs do the best they can and overall do a great job.

The MS bunch aren't complete idiots. They'll figure out a solution for the next generation. It'll be interesting to see what they do. They certainly don't want to fold and join the Blu-ray club. That's normal. Nintendo hasn't joined any of these clubs throughout its history and has found ways to deliver good gaming (at least up to the Game Cube).

[madjedi]

Actually folding and using a higher speed br disc, would be the practical and smart thing to do, but if ms's track record this gen is anything to go bye.

Chronicles of riddick, that was about as appealing as golden axe.

[DanteKnightsTemplar]

Namco,Capcom,etc etc etc etc.all would DISAGREE with YOU microsoft.You fiends

[writersblock]

First stage - Denial

[mac4u10]

If you really think that physical media especially Bluray will be outdone by downloads, you must be kidding.

With all the manufactures pushing for 3D, Bluray has only just began.

[drzmvp554]

its difficult for devs to fit there games 100% on a dvd disc so thats why stuff get cut out

[PsycheMax]

*

[DanteKnightsTemplar]

Needed blu ray

[Why o why]

Nobody needs steak

Nobody needs a Ferrari

Nobody needs sex

Its all about whats 'useful' or 'wanted' Some of sony's games wouldnt be realised without a larger media. MS's hands were tied so fair enough but when they spout this crap like they're experts in consoles...let alone media then they deserved to be frowned upon. Content has to be cut from games just to fit on a media that actually holds less than last gens media... doubleyou tee eff.

[zaphod777]

Spoken like a virgin. I guess you are too busy playing games to be interested in girls.

Sex is like oxygen when you have it on a regular basis and don't need to think about it it is not a problem.

As soon as you can't get it as easily or often it is a big problem.

[Convas]

Spoken like a true Sex addict. I disagree. There's a difference between being a virgin or prude, and being in control of yourself. Thinking with your brain, instead of your head constantly.

[Otheros00]

Think with your brain instead of thinking with your penis.

[Why o why]

my kids were spawn through immaculate conception. And i get plenty of the stuff cuz i haz the internets;)

need is like food, water, shelter and sunlight

what you have may be an addiction so a want becomes a need. I actually understand where you're coming from but this isnt the place to talk about it;)

Anyway

It seems some of the commenters seem very adamant that blu ray isnt needed. These 'loyalists' should just open their eyes. GT5 will be overlooked by these same loyalist just like Uncharted 2 has been.

I have halo reach and if you think that game is above the value and achievement of Uncharted 2 then they really are deluded.

FOR THE LOYALIST

http://a.imageshack.us/img8...

not hating but i can show i at leat have reach where im not sure if the loyalist can prove a thing other than is undying love for a console manufacture and a resolute disdain for another. (im sure you can fill in the gaps)

[Bounkass]

Well said brother.

[Stealth20k]

If microsoft went dd only it would kill them as a company

[darkdoom3000]

GOW 3
-46gb. Proof: Torret sites.

[Berzf]

Why is microsoft so hostile against a media format?
Blu-ray is awesome.

[Ri0tSquad]

Remember HD-DVD?

[butterfinger]

You do realize that Microsoft has fully supported blu ray on the PC, right? They even highlighted it in one of their commercials. They aren't "hostile" towards the format at all. They just don't think that it is needed for the current gen of gaming systems, and no matter what you sheeple say on here, they prove themselves right with their sales every month. Hell, the only console with blu ray is in third place behind two DVD-powered systems, and that's what these companies really care about.

[Philoctetes]

I hope you have as much fun playing your sales as I do playing my non-gimped blu-ray exclusives.

[Ingram]

@Philoctetes: He will.

@Butterfinger: "the only console with blu ray is in third place behind two DVD-powered systems, and that's what these companies really care about."

Dumb shareholders and wannabe brokers care for that stuff, unless they know some things, a company like Sony has clearly sacrificed its short-term profitability investing in quality hardware.The first thing Kutaragi said as a tease, at the dawn of this seventh generation was "I've already thought of PS4, PS5,(...)"
Get the joke?
Blu ray diodes & drives are shrinking, Cell is (now) a 45nm scalable processor with massive parallel processing.As in latest gen Video Card.You see, PS3 was originally designed with 2 or more cell and 512 system ram, as a giant video card that uses raytracing algorithms.There were no programming tools for it,(only recently developers are barely using correctly the SPU's)so they hired Nvidia at the last second,scratching the original idea.
With high clock memory(3'2Ghz), and all of its attributes in place, Sony were clearly positioning themselves for the eight generation.

Do you think MS and Nintendo could compete in the near future with conventional RAM, A new propietary optical format instead of bluray,a regular multicore PPC or INTEL...? Really? they would have to license or invest heavily in I+D like Sony ALREADY did.

[noporcru623]

and microsoft obviously is saying this to take a swing at sony, yet they use it with their pc's....bs

[morkendo23]

MICROSFT DO!!! LIKE 5 YEARS AGO.

[dragonelite]

Not sure but have you read the digital foundry face off.
most games come in at 4~6 gig.
If a ps 3 exclusives takes more then 8 gig you know it's either prerendered cgi heavy(FF13 and others)Or it has a lot of redundant data to compensate for the slow reading speed of the bluray. I think castlevania lord of shadows has a good way to give devs some more space just install either 1 or more disk and use one disk to play no disk changing stuff.
Still ask yourself this would you want to wait for a chapter to install like forever as in metal gear solid 4 or just stand up move your ass to the console change disk move your ass back to the couch and be done in 1 min.

one of the bigger face offs
http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

[Theodore87]

What they said:
Digital Download is the way to go so physical media like blu-ray is not needed

Reality:
_Released an HD-DVD add-on then abandoned it.
_Produce HDD-less and Wireless-less Xbox 360s.

What they said:
PS Move's launch games are worthless because are mostly (free) patches for previous games. FPS on PC is dead.

Reality:
_Cannot make a decent game for kinect
_Tried to incorporate this tech into previous games (Half-life 2 and Forza 3) but failed miserably.
_FPS is still thriving on the PC. New-games wise, the 360 is so lifeless lately.

What they said:
We don't want to add blu-ray because we want to focus on keeping the pricing low. Besides, we don't want to split our user base.

Reality:
_$100 HDD + $100 Wireless adapter anyone?
_Price the (blu-ray less) 360 the same as the All-in-one PS3.
_360's is the console with the most exclusive and timed-exclusive DLCs. Most of these DLCs are for multiplayer where you must download certain map-packs to be able to join in certain games (Split user base).
_Some games require installing and the arcade or the 4GB xbox can't do this.
_Gold account can play online but Silver account can't (even though both paid the same price for the game they bought)

What they said: (Regarding the lack of built-in features in 2009)
We are giving our costumers the choices so that the they don't have to pay too much for what they don't want or need.

Reality:
_ You "have the choice" of paying to play online or use services that are free every else.
_ You have the choice of buying proprietary overpriced HDDs and wireless adapters that can only be licensed by MS.
_ you have the choice of playing or not playing our only AAA game this year (Halo:Reach)
_ You may choose what ever genres of game you want to play but we're only focusing on FPS.

CLOSING COMMENT:
_ Blu-ray is not what most people NEED: true. Blu-ray is what most people WANT: True. (for both developers and users)
_ You have the choice of not buying an Xbox 360

[xAlmostPro]

bubbles

[Raoh]

agreed..

that's why i stick with the pc and ps3.. the only thing i'm missing out on is gears of war and halo, two titles i'm not a fan of..

[f789790]

This would have made a good article.

I hate Microsoft for making the "Arcade". They fully knew that some games would never be able to play online (large patches) without an expensive hard drive upgrade.

[Cherchez La Ghost]

Fact is storage is needed more for games. If MS don't want to touch Blu, then they need to cut down the price for HDD's an go with content DVD's with their games. Or..., bring back HD-DVD for their next console with DVD9's for extra content.

Fact is this, MS is riding this wagon of DVD9 until the wheels fall-off that mofo. When your options run out, you only have one way to go. You guys have to remember, MS is a software company. That's why the didn't support HD-DVD to the fullest. Digital media will always be #1 over HD-DVD & Blu-Ray.

[cereal_killa]

It's too late for M$ this gen and if they were to adapt to Blu-Ray for the 360 they would look like a bunch of hypocrites, But they better do something next gen plenty of developers are already complaining of disk space on the 360 you can talk about installs and disk swapping are ok but just like everything else about this gen of gaming the 360 fanboys love living in the past and say you don't need this and don't need that but once M$ puts something you say is not needed in there new revamped system you go around saying how more superior you system is now that it has it.

[IGOTEVERYSYSTEM]

If in fact Microsoft believes this it only solidifies exactly why Microsoft is at the back of he pack and not at the forfront of technology. They have already allowed apple to dominate them in all facites of products from cpu's to portable devices . The discontinuation of HD-DVD should have been a wake up call not to mention why on earth would they discontinue thw wireless steering wheel? The have rebuilt the 360 multiple times adding ram down to hdmi things the believed were unimportant to gamers . Now they want you to pay 150 dollars so your grand ma an toddler can play kinect adventures lol..know serious gamer is going to exaust there selves with this controless product this is the reversal of revolutio using it is 1 track minded and alienates your fanbase. But with that said I have had 5 xbox 360 and 3 red ringedthe other 2 I sold .ps3 is a fantastic product the only thing I wish people did was talk .ps3 needs to include a talking device with there unit. With that said if I had a choice I pick ps3 because atleast my option are wide open from Internet surfing to eventually getting a 3 d tv ....

[ForzaGT]

I do to play my:

a)Proper HD GAMES(with no restriction on HDD space likewise the quality)
b)HD Movies
c)soon 3D MOVIES
d)finally most importantly they are scratch proof

which is why the PS3 is the better console this gen

[jdigitalseven]

MS is like the nerds in a high school gym class. On wrestling day they have to say out loud what they really are scared to death of wont happen. "We wont wrestle today". MS is showing their insecurity openly. I guess we never needed cassettes, vhs,cds, floppy disks, usb drives, or dvds either. MS higher ups must have ice boxes instead of refrigerators in their homes, and fans instead of air conditioning as well.

[AKissFromDaddy]

Why would you say that?

[TLG1991]

Final fantasy XIII how many discs?

[DrillaKid]

MS will never commit to digital download only; they can talk the talk but in their next console they will still keep CD based media. As each gen comes games will only get bigger and bigger and connection speeds simply cannot keep up(not to mention ISPs capping downloads).

Also the standard medium is pioneered by the movie industry, not the games industry; this means Sony are in a position to influence that medium since they are a media conglomerate who have connections to the movie industry. Blu Ray is here to stay.

[sdplisken]

more like "we dont want to pay our competitors to use their format"

[beavis4play]

i had to laugh at MS saying DD/streaming is the same quality as bluray movies - that's just not accurate. bluray takes movie watching to a new level.

[Nod]

Lets look outside the games industry.

for Blu-Ray to properly succeed it has to replace DVD before a better option becomes available. With high speed internet and TV's with integrated internet and on demand services is there an easier alternative there already.

I am with Virgin Media, I can watch an HD movie with a few clicks on my remote control.

Blu-Ray has not got enough of a foothold in a diminishing marketplace of physical media, and I believe that it will not overtake DVD at anypoint in its existance.

[madjedi]

Till you have tv's and content running at a much higher resolution than 1080p, there is no need to replace brd, you and i must be looking at very different br movie markets then. Lord another dd pusher. -_-

[ipe]

lmao my first sh1tbox didnt have hdmi output for gods sake.

And no, DD ll never or not in next decade become mainstream or completely replace disks.
I want to have it in my hands if i bought it not on some dusty hdd which can broke anytime.

Also besides picture sound quality from DD is light years behind BR disks.

[Denethor_II]

"so we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly"
I have streamed from my Xbox and it doesn't compare to the quality of Blu-Ray Sound and picture. Again MS passes off poorer quality as superior to cash in on the uninformed consumer, tut tut.

[Human Analog]

Thats great! But now we'll need 1TB drives to hold all our games. And what about movies? I don't know about you but I would rather have manufactures make the cost of a console reflect the power and not how big the Harddrive is. With a high capacity optical drive the money can be spent on processing and intermal memory instead.

Lets do some elementary math. A 120G "Microsoft" harddrive is $150. 1TB/120G= 8.33. 8.33x$150= $1250. Thats a big investment for the sake of not having to load a disk.

[Organization XII]

Xbox360 has pc ports and last gen gameplay games, so practically it doesnt need more than a dvd, leave the blu ray for the Sony PS3...

[alb1899]

The internet is getting faster and faster maybe in 2012 you will get 1g per second an the hard disk getting sheaper and bigger so you won't need hardware between hard disk and Internet.

That is why apple and Microsoft has not jump in blue ray.

[MaximusPrime]

still defending MS?

btw: stay in school and improve your spelling.

[alb1899]

I'm sure that my spelling in English is better than yours in Spanish.
But this is not something about MS this is about future of tech witch always try to simplify things and make it cheaper.

[xg-ei8ht]

dragonelite

Actually ps3 bluray and dual layer dvd are pretty close speed wise. And since most games are dual layer. Yep you got it.

[jizzyjones]

Who needs DVD?

[Organization XII]

lets get back to cd roms

[girlwithturn]

MS: 'Who needs brain?'

[girlwithturn]

ыыыыы

[bustamove]

I expect Microsoft to change their tune soon.

[derseb]

My guess is that BluRay might actually be the last physical format that matters. This means it would have an extremely long live cycle and coexist while Digital Downloads really take over in 10-15 years.

So yes, Sony might have created the most important format ever ;D

[Human Analog]

I agree with Blu-ray being fantastic for games and movies. However I can remember when CD's came out in the early '80's. That was going to be the format for EVERYTHING, and forever. Well then DVD showed up (honorable mention to laser disc). And now Blu-ray. You can never say it is the last of something. That is just pure short-sightedness.

[Ingram]

Just perhaps, one that might outlast dvd's life.

Definitive? Nahh...

[MetalFreakMike]

MS is again acting like Blu-ray is nothing special while trying to push their streaming movie service. It is true that Blu-Ray is not needed but is wanted because I can tell you for a fact that the picture is amazing. DVD is done and everyone needs to let it go and move on. Blu-Ray offers everything we need with storage increasing to absurd amounts. MS will have to cave in one day and just include it in their new console.

[Vip3r]

Yeah, who need Blu-ray when you can charge users for expensive HDDs when they buy games with multiple disks.

As for digital downloads, I'd much rather have a game on disk than for it to be a download. Far better when it comes needing to reformat or upgrading the HDD.

[Shield]

I don't care what you call it, the "disk" is old tech. Can't wait for the day we do away with disks in general!

[daevion0]

anyone who thought xbox was EVER getting blu ray they are retards here is the reasons why:
1. it's to damn late 40 million xbox has been sold and it's been on the market for 5 years.
2. SONY thats right they would get payed for every xbox and game sold.
3. cheapness. xbox is cheap to produce console. they could drop the price 50$( which they will as soon as the momentum dies down.) and still be profitable.

although to say it's not needed is stupid(final fantsy 13 is my witness) i dont think its needed for xbox.

[El-Fenemeno1213]

I love blu rays, the sound quality is amazing with my home theatre system, and the picture can be amazing at times.

[djmindz]

Bluray Is a sweet feature i don't care what microsoft thinks i rather move forward with technology then listing to microsoft and stay using their obsolete console that isn't even really NEXT GEN cuz every piece of hardware in it is OOOOOLD tech

[Hyperguy20]

Alternatively, Who needs Kinect?

Nuff said.

[frostypants]

FACT #1: DVD are too small for gaming now.
FACT #2: Current internet infrastructure could never support digital distribution as a mainstream distro method for these massive games, nor could they assume that everyone would have access to it anyway.
FACT #3: Blu-Ray has become the standard for high-content media distribution

ONLY LOGICAL CONLUSION: Microsoft MUST embrace Blu-Ray. They don't ave a choice.

[C0MPUT3R]

Put out a new console only marginally more powerful than the 360. repackage it with a gimmick and say its amazing.
.
Kinect is a test for this. If Kinect is huge expect a Wii60 in the next couple of years.
.
SONY will have the most powerful system next gen guaranteed. They have too much pride @ SONY. They are willing to take the losses & risks.

[frostypants]

FACT #1: DVD are too small for gaming now.
FACT #2: Current internet infrastructure could never support digital distribution as a mainstream distro method for these massive games, nor could they assume that everyone would have access to it anyway.
FACT #3: Blu-Ray has become the standard for high-content media distribution

ONLY LOGICAL CONLUSION: Microsoft MUST embrace Blu-Ray. They don't have a choice.

[alb1899]

Have you play Halo Reach?

Do you know how much content does it have.
So yes DVD9 is a life the most seller game in a console is showing to you!

[PS360PCROCKS]

"Do you know how much content does it have.
So yes DVD9 is a life the most seller game in a console is showing to you!"

huh? Please tell me you're foreign...

[alb1899]

My mother language is spanish but what does it have to do with the discussion?
if i have spell errors that is something does not altered the discussion.

Focus!

[PS360PCROCKS]

Um no, it has everything to do with it. I have no clue what your saying, your sentence makes no sense. Not trying to be a dick, but here's some help:

"have you played Halo Reach?

Do you know how much content it has?"

and the last sentence I really have no clue what you're saying.

[RustInPeace]

I'm not starting an argument with anyone, but ok, so Xbox doesn't need blu-ray. But what happens when the next gen of physical media comes about and MS is still using DVD9, what then? Compromises will HAVE to be made one way or another, either in the form of using a new format or, and I HIGHLY doubt, extreme cuts made to games VS. any other competitions way of doing things (not saying Sony. Maybe Nintendo decides to 1- up everyone next gen, or even an unnamed console/company, at this point in time at least.)

[frostypants]

And even IF the next Xbox came with massive hard drives as standard so game could be installed from the DVD, can you imagine all the wasted packaging it would require to put 10+ DVDs in the box?

They COULD setup kiosks at stores where people could bring in their hard drive and download the game on-site, but that will never be a viable option for the entire gamer population.

They really have two choices: distribute via Blu-Ray (or similar), or via large flash drives (seems unlikely they'll want to give people a free flash drive with every game...).

[Organization XII]

I must agree just because of your name, fucking best Metal Album Ever, Hail Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman, Megadeth rules man :D

[XabiTheHumble]

Microsoft.... stfu..

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

MS is going to ride this generation till the wheels fall of, because they are dead after this generation.
No way in hell they will ever release a console with bluray & pay sony for every game they sell.And no way will they release a console without bluray and risk ridicule.

[Strikepackage Bravo]

they live with it everyday of their existence.

The reason they cannot adopt bluray is because it would fragment their customers, 41 million current xbox owners would not be able to play any new games made on bluray. Only a moronic company would do such a thing to their customers.

Anyone who expects MS to adopt booray and do such a stupid thing is themselves stupid. No idea why people keep asking the moronic question, why wont MS put booray in 360, that is such an idiotic question, you just have to be a moron to expect them to do that.

[frostypants]

I expect Microsoft to do whatever makes them money. They're not going to avoid Blu-Ray merely out of spite. Their reps might say they will, but the decision makers aren't the same people that typically spout off to the media.

PS: Buy a thesaurus.

[redsquad]

Let's all go back to audio tapes... Stuff it, why not wax drums? We don't NEED digital clarity to enjoy music, do we?

[Strikepackage Bravo]

I love the streamed video on XBL, the 1080p stuff looks incredible, and I dont have to have any disks laying around my house. I actually just download the movies and watch them once they reach around 30%, that way you get no pauses in playback no matter what kind of connection you have.

[frostypants]

You go on loving your faux-1080p. Image detail is sacrificed during the compression necessary to push that video through the current laughable internet infrastructure. So, sure, it's "1080p" from the most technical perspective, but the image quality is on the same meager level as an upscaled DVD. Sure it's 1080p, technically...but it's sh*t. Resolution is only half the issue.

PS3 owners can download HD movies as well...yet still buy Blu-Rays. Ponder that.

[bobdog626]

You keep on Paying that 29.99 for those Bluray movies .Hummmmmmmmm I wonder how much the Pawn shops will give you for them ,Maybe a Dollar Ha ha ha LMAO fool.

[gamingisnotacrime]

Even if MS had disc with more cpacity than BR, they would not use it, they are more than happy with 9GB games and seeling them for $60. why the extra effort, all they care is Halo camp and Gears. is all online gaming, hence the extra space is not needed for MS

[WetN00dle69]

Still in denial MS......the 360 NEEDS Blu-ray PLAIN and simple!
Your Pride MS is hurting no one but yourself! Many a developers would much rather develop for Sony cause they have WAY more breathing space thanks to Bu-ray!
SO get your SHIT together MS and accept that Blu-ray is need on the 360!

[oguzsasi]

With HD-DVD shit!
That media has 30 GB storage!
Bluray has 50 so STFU!

[KingZFlipper]

For me, it is 50/50. I don't need Blu-Ray for my 360 if I want to watch movies with it because I don't own a HDTV. For games, I could definitely use a Blu-Ray player because I've seen what the PS3 is capable of when it comes down to Blu-Ray.

[Organization XII]

well F&&^* YOU MS

[bobdog626]

If that fits on one dvd.My Respect for Bluray will be lost.

[Organization XII]

what about MGS4 and Killzone and GT%, FFXIII , Resistance, Gta4 and all these games man??? you've got to be fucking shitting me

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I think Blu Ray will become the defacto format for anything disc based BUT... I think the days of disc based computing, gaming, and entertainment are dwindling quickly. Download will actually become the defacto format for most in the next 3 yrs with retail shelves being filled with boxes of codes for you to buy and download from home.

So yes Blu Ray will be the default for disc, but disc will not be the default for the massess. I also dont see Blu Ray having the large numbers that DVD had.

[Claudinho69]

people that live in 2010 goin to 2011

[PS360PCROCKS]

To be fair, no they don't need blu-ray for MOVIES. But it sure would help their games.

[tiamat5]

Now that we have lost the format war, who needs Blu Ray right? Fox and the grapes, Microsoft. Your format didn't win, so you pretend that the one that did doesn't matter.If it was Microsoft using Bluray, we would be listening to articles with Microsoft saying that they can't believe Sony is still using old tech while they are using Bluray and how they are 'out of the loop' and that Bluray is the future.

[bobdog626]

It Must Drop in Price .You have Netflix you have Red box and Streaming that cost nothing compaired to a Bluray disk.Bluray cost about 29.99 a Movie.3 movies plus tax 100.00 .You must be a Fool to pay that for a movie when red box cost a dollar a movie,same movie but not in Bluray.Now lets see Bluray player 150.00 you with me Bluray movie 29.99 Hdmi 20.00 ok.Dvd Player 29.99 movie Netflicks 14.99 all the movies you can see or red box 1.00 a movie.you do the Math.

[artynerd]

Here's the deal, I love my PS3 because it's a great bluray player. Is bluray necessary for gaming? Well, if you need a ton of pre-rendered cutscenes, sure... or if a lot of your "in-game" graphics are pre-rendered (God Of War 3, Uncharted 2, etc.)

As of right, the Xbox would benefit from extra storage, but in 5 years, everything will be pretty much download-only... so no need for bluray other than movies.. maybe.

[silvacrest]

microsoft flip flopping to whatever, like always, didn't they say something like they would consider blu ray or am i wrong?

[muttonface]

Before I start putting my point across I want to say I have both a Xbox and a PS3 just to eliminate any bias.
So anyways what I believe is Microsoft's comments are ignorant in, yes digital downloads are going to be a very integral part of the future but it will never, ever replace solid and tangible products.
That means Blu-Rays which as you all can see when going to a shopping center has become more and more prominent in rent stores and also in places like Target and Walmart, why?
It is because a lot of people want to have a nice collection of films, they like to unwrap their games, want to give (solid) presents to family at Christmas and may at the same time not like the fact that it's stored on a hard drive which could corrupt at any moment.
Of course people will disagree and state that people like ease but what I would say to that is people still like to shop and as long as people still shop then I don't think discs are going to go anywhere.

[bobdog626]

They show the same movie,you can Record on them ,you can stor music on them 29.99 compaired to 4.99 is a Big Deal.Dvds are here to stay until Bluray Player and Bluray disk Drops to Match there Price which should be very soon by the looks of it

[muttonface]

What do you mean 29.99 to 4.99, do you mean the price to buy a Blu Ray movie or just the disk? Nonetheless from what I've seen the movies are roughly the same price.. maybe occasionally a few bucks more

[bobdog626]

where do you shop at ,To get a Good Bluray movie cost 29.99 and a Dvd cost 14.99 but at walmart you can get it as cheap as 5.00 Bucks .Lets see you find Avertar for that Price on Bluray

[barakus7]

MS, why did you even bother with the defunct hd dvd then? Ahole

[xg-ei8ht]

I actually just cups and string when talking to my son when he's upstairs.

Why should i give that up/s

Truthfully i could not careless what Microsoft does, because they do not have the i.p's i love.

I played gears on pc and enjoyed it.

I played gears 2 on my 360(no longer have it)and got bored halfway through tbh, never finished it.

I'd be surprised if Microsoft evens make a 720 or whatever.

[JonnyBigBoss]

More stubborn statements from MS...

[Relientk77]

You do lawl

[gypsygib]

MS does?

[ghostgaming]

MS does need BD - they are wrong to say this, but like many other things listed, they change their mind.

Dont need HDMI - systems now have an HDMI port
Dont need buit in Wifi - systems now have it available
3-D is not necessary - MS has now stated 360 can do 3-D and will next year

I think we are at least 3 years or so from DD - so if the next Xbox comes out before then, it will have to be BD - DVD wont cut it.

[Da_Evil_Monkey]

I need Blu-Ray, I want the best gaming/movie experience possible which at the moment is Blu-Ray. If MS think that digital download is the way to go they need to look at other markets apart from USA. I've got 2MB broadband (the highest I can get in my area) and although its 'unlimited' (that should be false advertising) I have a fair usage policy of 20GB per month.

So if I want to get (just an example) GOW3 or MGS4 through digital download, not only will it take probably a week to download, I will have also gone over the fair usage policy and would have my speed restricted to 29kb. Still think it's a good idea MS?

[Mamajuana]

My 50 inch Panasonic plasma V10 needs it.

[TheNocturnus]

I'll admit right here, right now that I am an Xbox fanboy, there I said it. Dammit Microsoft I want Bluray in my 720! Get off your piles of money and give your supporters what they want!

[artsaber]

For Microsoft to follow since they'd have to pay Sony (and others) to use the tech. Microsoft shoulda partnered with the Bluray Association when they had the chance, and this problem wouldn't even exist.

It was Toshiba and Microsoft vs. Sony and The World in the format war, another horrendous investment and business decision for Microsoft during that time.

[tacosRcool]

Well I don't know how this online distribution stuff will work. I think all that is stupid. Most people don't have blistering speeds for their internet connection and don't want to have to stream 30 GB+ worth of stuff. Better going with blu ray

[wages of sin]

It's not something that has changed gaming in any way, shape or form. Blu-ray is cool and all (mainly for movies) but for gaming? Reach has more content on it than most if not all PS3 games currently available (or worth playing) and it's on a dvd.

Compare the quality of the games with the sales of said titles and it speaks for itself. Having blu-ray isn't pushing PS3 games quality or sales through the roof (3rd place anyone) and despite the cries of the sdf all the cries of graphics this and graphics that isn't helping. A handful of better than average looking games is only important on n4g. In the real world, people play games, not count pixels. And guess what? No one cares about blu-ray unless you're talking movies.
I buy lot's of blu-ray movies but haven't purchased an actual ps3 game in ages.

And one more thing, for all you business majors (i.e., angry MS hating Euro teens) MS didn't back HD DVD for a reason. They had a plan and it worked. You're just too stupid to understand it. It's cool though, you can stay in the Sony circle jerk of n4g while the rest of us actually game. Go play your Wii...Move instead. Is it even out yet because like most people, no one knows and no one cares.

[Bounkass]

Nobody needs Blu-Ray. It's just superior when it comes to Full-HD films and large files...

[hoops]

Oh MS, you just need to shut up now with the crying talk.
If the Xbox360 does not need blu-ray, then thats fine...at least then make all Xbox360's with massive HDD so all games could be installed on that HDD and game developers would not have to worry about space then.
Then they could bring out games that are larger than 8 gig and not compressed audio video etc.
MS PR machine keeps spinning.

[HelghastGeneral]

what purpose do digital downloads bring? do they think they can stop piracy with that um absolutely not hackers will hack the hard drive so no point. I think the only reason they have is that other companies like gamestop and small gamestores go out of business because they can't resell used games. so in the end they only make people lose their jobs. You also have to understand the life efficiency of a harddrive they only last about six years then after that they start to fail or act up weird. if they are in a console and used as a primary loading storage it is consistently writing non stop and what if all your games on that are lost then what? With discs you have a lifespan up to 300 years try google it for answers.

[makingdamage]

Not Microsoft, they seem to be making a whole lot of money anyway. But the developers probably needs it if they want to continue to push the limits of videogames...

[LordGamer]

From the company who fragmented their gaming audience by not allowing 4gig owners access to one of their most anticipated games of all time. Halo Reach.

[TheStonedSheep]

. . . they are by far the best people to ask when wanting a prediction on disc formats. 'Cause they got HD DVD so right.

[x5exotic]

ummmmm...people who hate having 3 discs for 1 fucking game?maybe?

[Lannient]

Well if they're not interested in adopting blu-ray then fuck them the rest of this gen.

[nutbear96]

I guess with Devs saying used is as bad as pirating then they must genuienly think digital distribution is the way to go! But blu-ray is the best! Microsoft, you are just jealous! Stop taking everything personal and use your head!

[JoeRated]

MS is going to say that because they don't have blue ray and 3 D so i bet they going to say who need 3D as well.people who have blue ray know their comment are weak.bbut i can see people who don't have going to say yeah who needs it.but the point is blue ray are better 1080p and 120 per speed is the way to go. is like saying who needs 1400p tv why said that is better maybe you don't need it now but the the cost go down i bet you going to get it

[JKL6939]

Everybody needs blu ray

1. better picture
2. better sound
3. better graphics
4. the disc is scratch resistant
5. therefore longer lifespan

who needs blu ray? that is a dumb ass question

[AutoCad]

Only 1st party developers of sony need blu-ray...

[nutbear96]

Only long games, games with amazing graphics or cutscenes or games that aren't the basic package aka 2.5GB of single player and 3GB of multiplayer and 1GB of other BS.

[xtremexx]

BS, we are not in the download era , most of us still like to have that disc in our hands and the disc will never be replaced so stop making excuses about not having Blu-Ray

[4me2]

Rage Engine would benefit a lot form extra storage as it fully supports and implement streaming and whats very important, MegaTextures. So the same high resolution multy megabytes size textures (means very big textures) don't have be reuse over and over as long you have space to store it. And BD has plenty of space. It doesn't mean you can not use it with DVD.It just means that created "world" would be smaller and textures would be reused, most likely with layering of few different textures over each other to create new one. But this limits developer with what he can create to what he would want to do it!! For example, if you have textures of "jungle type" you can combine them to create a different look of a forest but you can not make them look like a water unless you have stored proper one it on the disk.

Rage creative director Tim Willits said:
"Gone are the days when you're running around in a game seeing the same or similar environment over and over again. Every rock, bush, tree, is placed in Rage by an artist."

http://www.pcworld.com/arti...

[hoolesy]

....We f***ing do, yes, the poor sh1ts in the UK suburbs where internet speed lives in the dark ages with 1.0mb broadband. Am sick of this DLC cr@p. Takes 2 hours plus for a 1gb demo. Give us a break. We need hard data!!!

[yog-sothot]

i don't really care if games use bluray or not, as long as they are great, but I like watching HD movies with the best possible quality, so it's really cool that my PS3 allows me to do that too

[---stone---]

MS: Who needs Blu-ray???

developers developers developers developers

developers developers developers developers

SING IT WITH ME BALLMER... YOU BAD ASS YOU. PUMP THAT JAM SWEAT HOG.

developers developers developers developers

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[artsaber]

Bubs up, he almost had a heart attack after that demonstration. It is probably the most work he had done in years. See that freakin' sweat?! Too outta shape.

[DJKGBYF]

You need Blu-ray for consoles unless you include a large hard drive, at least 500 gigs, and have mandatory installs for all the games.

[xtremeimport]

how long have they been saying this?
yet blu-ray is still around. the good thing about blu-ray is it can evolve and still use the current players through software updates.

[sofocado]

Some of the arguments here are good. I will not defend DVD but Blue-Ray can not be implemented for the Xbox 360 as for now. So is not a surprise that MS is saying that it does not need. As for now I don't think is need. For the next Xbox that is a different story, either put a huge Hard Dive or a Blu-ray. I don't see the big deal of a blue ray. The Mul-Platform games look the same, well most of the time the 360 looks better. There is no use saying Xbox 360 needs blu-ray is to late for that. Toshiba should of work a deal before the launch of the Xbox 360 with a internal HD-DVD but they did not that is why they lost the format war. But lets way for next generation and see what happens with the next xbox.

[divideby0]

MS wouldnt keep commenting on BR if they were not in the deflection mode..

[FAGOL]

Well MS you do need it. FF13 and Castlevania are on 2 disks.

[Truth]

I personally need Blu-Ray because I can be a klutz. Just the other night I dusted off Fallout 3 and when I was getting it out of the case and it fell onto the unfinished cement floor. Needless to say, I picked it up and blew on it... not a scratch. Pure awesomeness. Especially when you cough 100 ft away from my friends 360 and it convulses and chews up his CD's. Okay, it's not that bad, but still... was fun to say :D

[PickAShoe]

omg this article should just be over long time ago, like 2006.

[Azazel]

Who needs Microsoft?

[diego750]

They say this every single year. I am not surprised of bullshit MS is used to say.

[divideby0]

as a 360 owner, I have said I always wanted a BlueRay drive in my 360. I didnt bite on HDDVD, since I really thought BR was gonna be bigger. I didnt think HDDVD would be a total failure as it was. Just glad I didnt buy one of those drives

[stonedgamer]

aren't they the ones with the failed HD DVD addon? lmao

ME2 was a complete fail on X-Box, especially towards the end you have to switch the two discs back and fourth like 3 times.

not to mention the arcade systems without hard drives which are overpriced, and without that renders digital distribution useless.

keep feeding the M$ fanboys BS, causing no one else is buying it.

[Skadoosh]

Wrong. I put 60 hours in Mass Effect 2 and only switch it twice. That is not a complete fail. Stop smoking that pot kid, it's frying your brain.

[Truth]

Hey, hey, let's not start an anti-drug war here. Nothing wrong with smoking here and there to enjoy your games that little bit more ;)

[stonedgamer]

which ME did you play? cause if its the one on x-box you're a liar.

you're one to call someone a kid with your lame pixar avatar or whatever it is, my brain cells might be frying but at least i wasn't born brain dead at birth and can see through BS.

but hey, you feel how you feel. what ever helps you sleep at night.

[Skadoosh]

Well Halo Reach is the most feature packed game I seen in a long time with gorgeous graphics in huge environments. I haven't seen any game on bluray that can compare.

[PirateThom]

It also doesn't run features without a HDD.

[Truth]

Hehehe it's funny when XBOX fan boys make it so easy to point themselves out.

[DeathGazer]

M$ still isn't over the HD-DVD failure?

You bet on the wrong horse. Get over it.

[Fel08]

MS: 'Who needs Blu-ray?'

Answer: Xbox 360

[btk]

MS - reality check.
We the customers choose. That is why we chose iPods, Wii's, PS3's regardless of your PR BS.

We the customers decide the new physical digital format with our wallets. If you don't like it - then you can stuff it where the sun don't shine.

BR is the new format to replace DVD's. DD will not be able to match in this gen 50GB data, and next gen 500GB. The bandwidth don't exist, and you dumb clowns don't put in big enough hard disks.

As with all things - history will judge this moronic PR BS you spewed - and this will be laughed at along with the "640kb should be enough for anyone" statement for along time to come.

[Sirik8]

Blu-ray..Meh! Sony once agaiN shoving crap like Blu-Ray, Betamax and 3-D down the consumers throat.Whats next? Smella-vision? Players are cheap now, go buy one. GT5 the savior, ya like God of War and Uncharted. GFOH!

[Codeman420]

well considering GT5 will be better than Forza can ever be and GoW and Uncharted has by far the best graphics and gameplay than any 360 game, maybe MS should be thinking about more space on the media since games are getting more beautiful and complex it will require more space, or they can go old school and start making games with multiple disc and see how well that goes over. Keep hearing 360 fanboy say how incredible the Reach graphics are, and they are good compared to the older halo games, but just imagine how AWESOME those graphics would be if they had more space to put it all on. food for thought

[Cernunnos]

People may say that you don't see much difference in quality, or hear much difference in sound, and that compression matters little, and I do disagree with that, there are huge differences between BD and DVD.

BUT not only that, it is also a matter of principal. Would I like to support a company who strives for innovation, evolving the technology around us, progression.

Or would I cheer for the company who says that things are fine the way they are, we don't need anything better etc.?

[btk]

Some hardline XB360 owners that I know is considering buying PS3's. Simple reason is some of the exclusives - and of course - BR.

MS is cutting of their nose to spite their face. Idiots.

[Half-Mafia]

Who needs Blu-ray hmm maybe people who buy blu-rays

[PS3-247]

With blu ray you get games like Uncharted 2, MGS4, GOW3, GT5, and KZ3. Let me know MS when you get these types of games.

[Karum]

"so we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly"

No buddy, you most certainly do not.

Your streaming service, along with any other streaming service is not Blu-Ray quality as it is simply not possible for you to deliver the same bitrate on audio or video.

This means the visuals simply aren't as good and there is absolutely no truly uncompressed HD audio.

There is simply no comparison between any streaming service and the experience offered on a Blu-Ray Disc....it doesn't come close to what HD-DVD offered either.

Funny how MS only took this stance after the format they had backed died.

[tony6767]

who need bluray so bad = m$ lol thats why there was no mgs4 for xbox

[jmallymav]

it wouldnt make a difference if u owned all 3 systems

[NotSoSilentBob]

"I think people now recognise what a smart decision it was to keep the pricing low, and actually Blu-ray is going to be passed by as a format. People have moved through from DVDs to digital downloads and digital streaming, so we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly, no download, no delay. So, who needs Blu-ray?"

Really They can get 7.1 uncompressed audio threw streaming?

[jmallymav]

if xbox had bluray, i would never use my ps3 for watching blu-ray movies
(i game on xbox 360 about 40%, ps3 about 35%, and wii about 25%)

but if its about bluray benefits in terms of improving graphics..that may be nice

[ForROME]

In some ways I get it, Im for it, I have a 3TB hard drive with every movie I own on it, I havent used a movie disc in forever however;

When it comes to games I dont feel like downloading 50-100 gigs not to mention if something happened I have to do it again.

On top of that at 60 dollars I want to hold what I purchase

If blu ray is the last real format, then its the most important format ever

[Sarobi]

I Love bluray, i love the games that are made on the format and the movies that are brought to us in it as well, saying blu-ray isn't needed in our current generation is a big no-no,

[IHateYouFanboys]

look, no matter what any Sony fanboys want to tell you, Microsoft made the right decision to go with DVD for this generation. let me tell you why:

1. Release Date.
at the time of the 360s release, neither Blu-Ray nor HD-DVDs specifications had been finalised, and neither had hardware available. this means Microsoft could NOT launch the 360 for about another 12 months if they wanted to put either of them into the 360.

Microsoft knew that getting their new console released first was HUGELY important.

2. Price.
the 360 was already pretty expensive at launch. even if HD-DVD or Blu-Ray were ready at the time of release - which they werent - the hardware and licensing wouldve been expensive. this wouldve added $100-$200 extra on to the price of the 360. remember how much the price point of the PS3 alienated people? well it wouldve been even worse for Microsoft if the 360 was that price.

so it was either launch with DVD, which would MORE THAN LIKELY be enough for this generation, and have a reasonable launch price and the ability to drop the price when needed, or they could delay for 12 months, add a few hundred dollars to the price, and give up ANY advantage they had over Sony.

now we're nearly into the 6th year for the 360, and there are still only a handful of games that have needed more than 1 DVD, with another small handful coming over the next few years, and the 360 is still about 4 million console sales ahead of the PS3. this lead is entirely down to launching early. if you add blu-ray/hd-dvd to the 360, this lead never happened.

so in reality, launching the 360 with Blu-Ray or HD-DVD wouldve been the death of the 360, and probably the death of Microsoft in the Video Game Console community. they made the right choice.

[Rageanitus]

But consoles eventually get old and lose interest because the next gen system will come out , meaning you can use your old console to play blu-rays (ahem PS3), and this is what consumers see value in... long term investment.

[Dogswithguns]

Nobody needs blu-ray. we all can still play the cartridges. what's wrong with that?... well, if you don't need blu-ray, then you didn't need the DVD. right?

[JokesOnYou]

@IHateYouFanboys...Agreed the way some folks on this site talk you would think there were tons of games on multiple discs and for the few that weren't they are all maxing out DVD's space now, but that just isn't the case. DVD9=9 gigs, most games this gen, multi or exclusive fit easily on that and when they don't like with RPG's, ME2 handled it perfectly on 2 discs. Also I believe the royalty fee of multiple discs are being overblown, according to devs its not a extra disc fee, its just that there are extra costs associated with manufacturing a game on 2 discs rather than 1...thats not unusual in any other business and thats no different than a dev complaining about the extra costs for game development associated with ps3 architecture. Either way at this point both should be a minimal added cost now considering how far within the life cycle of these consoles. Now again its worth pointing out that many of the best games this gen are well under DVD9's storage limitations.

Its only natural micro isn't going to promote bluray at all given its a important feature for their competition which btw the 360 obviously lacks, but in the face of the all the games available today the statement that bluray is NOT NEEDED stands on its own two feet. That in no way takes anything away from ps3 games who obviously turn out great on that format, its more of a statement to the fact that micro has no choice but to continue to bring great games to 360 WITHOUT using bluray, and given 360's library of games I'd say they are doing just fine so far. Past games add weight to this and currently in 2010 we are getting amazing games like Reach showing off great graphics and packed with loads of content still only at about 6.5 gigs. Of course next gen, micro will definitely need a new format/solution and with that said once again I'll reiterate that more space is always the better option, I just don't see how its anything more than a minimal concern for any dev who cares more about his vision/game more than a few extra $ in his wallet given there are legitimate affordable options available(multiple discs). Ironicly while there are a few devs who raised concerns about storage space, a few have also been exposed for charging for DLC already contained on a disc that consumers have already paid for, and many more of them are all to willing to offer small amounts of extra DLC only a couple of months after a title launch for a **small fee of course, when that same content could have easily fit on the original games DVD....hmmm? just business I guess. lol

JOY

[JoeRated]

If MS think that way I don't see them winning the war,

[JokesOnYou]

lol, you seriously believe n4g has anything to do with reality...a war no, just healthy competition, just like any other business, fanboys on the other hand aren't nearly as vocal in any other business except maybe sports, thats why sadly some think there is a war between the two. lol

JOY

[UNLOADED]

Who needs blu-ray?
That Lost Odyessy game..haha 4discs.
If it wasn't exclusive to xbox, it would of had one disc on ps3, haha.

[avengers1978]

To everyone who says that MS doesn't need blu-ray...
Why is it that 360 games are about the same with little to no improvement then they were 2 years ago, simple answer they have maxed out what they can do. PS3 games keep getting better.

[awi5951]

xbox will be fully pc next gen full game installs with massive hardrives. No disk streaming at all i hope just use the machine to unpack the info then you dont need bluray at all.

[ufo8mycat]

Bluray is only needed for a COUPLE of games and guess what? They are all exclusives.

For those who haven't already seen it, torrent sites are littered with PS3 games now with lots of exclusives and guess what, 90% of them were under like 7GB. Thats proof enough that bluray isn't fully needed at all, except only a couple of games.

PS3 Hardware is limiting the full use of bluray - Why are PS3 exclusives 720p? Why not TRUE 1080p? Make use of the extra space on bluray with higher resolution textures. So why not do that? Because the PS3 hardware cannot render 1080p, even if bluray can store it. Yes yes GT5. Thats only 1 game though.

The fact is Bluray isn't fully needed this generation, the proof is in the games. 99% of multiplats look better on 360 and then theres only a few PS3 exclsuives that go over 7GB.

Proof enough.

Suck it up PS3 fanboys.
THe power of bluray couldn't bring you GRASS in Mafia 2 :P

[EXID]

wow, you really have no idea what you're talking about...

[avengers1978]

Maybe it was lazy devs in Mafia 2. Or the fact that they didn't even try to utilize all the blu-ray space for the game.
Most 360 games are in sub HD with 520p being about as High as you get. And Face it almost nothing is in true 1080p except for movies.
YOUR fanboyism is blinding you. While some multiplat games look better on 360 in the past, PS3 is starting to shine now, oh and PS3 exclusives look the Best over everything else.

[UNLOADED]

@ufo8mycat
Your a dumbass.
The reason multiplat games don't look that great on ps3, is cause the game had to be downgraded to fit the needs of the 360's dvd. and every exclusive game on ps3 has unmatchable graphics, if uncharted 2 was ever on 360, it would need 3-5 dvd discs. xbox needs blu-ray to survive. so have fun playing your mafia2 with some extra grass, when the game could have been epic if 360 had blu-ray.

[yami930]

I think Microsoft shouldn't really ask this, as apparently it seems they kinda need it right now. Look at Forza 3, Mass Effect 2, Gears of War series, Final Fantasy 13, and even developers, like Kojima hint that Xbox needs Blu-Ray, with Castlevania. Imagine how all these games would be so much longer and better with Blu-Ray. Technically its not needed, but i doubt anyone was so many DVDs for 1 game, like having GT5 on 360 and MGS4 would be so big, at least 4 DVDs maybe even more.

[Moerdigan]

this article is a good example of how I don't like the way MS plays ball, with it's competitors, with it's consumers, etc. I just can't deal with that, and I continue to not have to.

[djfullshred]

It is current technology. I guess MS is content to use pretty old technology while they wait around for the future?

[XabiTheHumble]

Who needs Microsoft?

[snake-OO]

i love it when MS says the 1080p they offer ist the same quality as blu ray, when in fact thats not the case.
there is a big difference in the bitrate between the both. blu ray is just somuch clearer and sharper.

[andyboy13]

Man, how wrong is MS... I bought my PS3 just because it was the best and fastest loading BD player on the market at the time! But I'm a PC gamer when it comes to business. I'm sorry but even my little PS3 can't beat my i7 930 with 12gb ram a Vertex 2 ssd and a amp GTX480. Then again my ps3 cost about 1/2 of what my Graphics card cost :D

[sa_nick]

"we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly, no download, no delay. So, who needs Blu-ray?"

How bout the millions of people without access to uncapped, high speed internet, you f*cking douche.

[PirateThom]

Or people who actually want HD quality because, let me tell you, streaming is not Blu-ray quality.

[Argento-Nox]

Unless internet speeds becomes as fast as Japan or Korea, DD isn't going to cut it for HD movies or large games. The irony of it all, is that the end of this article notes the problems Capcom and Mercury have producing 360 games on multiple DVD discs.

Maybe they should look at some of their upcoming games on multiple disc that are on 1 blu-ray for the PS3 versions, like Castlevania LoS and Rage, before making a comment like this.

[GiovanniVSOP]

Microsoft is blatantly lying to themselves PERIOD. 1st off Streaming quality isn't as good as a blu ray disc, 2nd,Internet connection fluctuates so getting that "1080p" with "HD quality sound" isn't guaranteed.3rd downloading 1080p movies and games would take up a RIDICULOUS amount of hardrive space.Lastly,they're people out there(like myself) that like to collect and have the hard disks to own (you know,collectibles?)and see their collection grow.Microsoft took a forbidden shoryuken( the one when where ryu appears to have knocked you off the planet...yeah that one) to the face with the lost of HD DVD (not to mention their system is at a 54 percent FAILURE rate,threw that in there for insult to injury lol).Keep in mind they took a loss with the original xbox,$800 to make but sold it for $300.If Microsoft didn't have windows this "war" would have already been OVER. You want a great next gen game, go blu ray. Microsoft needs to COMPREHEND this or FF15 will be 8 disc's ROFLMAO!!!

[Droid Control]

to ackknowledge their fans by releasing a more expensive SKU that plays blu-ray movies? Obviously they have to sick with DVD for games this gen, but at leas give people what they want.

Why can't M$ comprehend that people want to OWN their movies on a physical format along with all those SPECIAL FEATURES streaming doesn't offer!

[rekof]

,..

[wat634]

Microsoft will prevail this generation, who needs blu-ray?