I will believe this only when MS say it is so. To me this does not make any sense. MS could have killed off the PS3 by installing the cheaper HD DVD drive a long time ago, but chose not to and they have always said optical discs are a thing of the past. Why now support the arch enemy and potentially end up paying sony $millions in royalties, it doesn't make sense, they will be declaring support for the PS3 by doing so, bizarre.
I agree, they beleive their future is in delivering content over the web. The only reason they would install a BD drive would be pressure from game developers that want to supply games on BD. Then I think they would do what they did with HDDVD and supply an external unit. What they need to do is solve the heat and noise issues :)
They chose not to include an HD DVD because they didn't want to be stuck with an albatross around their necks. For Microsoft the physical war was one they wanted to string out as long as possible but not one they wanted to be a casualty of.
Thus they let Toshiba take most of the hits and offered token support via an add-on but no way were they going to taint the 360 with an internal drive in case it became a casualty too.
It seemed at the end that MS might have agreed to an internal HD DVD model (possible branded Toshiba but "powered by 360") but clearly it was provisional on studio support, and since that didn't happen, neither did the console.
Now the war is over, such objections no longer apply. The main issue now is that the 360's main rival that features high definition movie playback for not much more than a 360 costs and Microsoft have to do something about it. They either have to slash their prices or they have to bundle Blu Ray into at least one model because there is precious little chance that downloads are going to take off any time soon.
Optical discs being a thing of past resembles statement regarding vibrating controllers. Look these companies only show faith to the bottom dollar, not the consumer. They seek to maximize profits so....if there is enough consumer sentiment to support another SKU, believe that MS & Sony will do it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
HD4ME @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:53AM
I will believe this only when MS say it is so.
To me this does not make any sense.
MS could have killed off the PS3 by installing the cheaper HD DVD drive a long time ago, but chose not to and they have always said optical discs are a thing of the past.
Why now support the arch enemy and potentially end up paying sony $millions in royalties, it doesn't make sense, they will be declaring support for the PS3 by doing so, bizarre.
Joe Maki @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:48AM
I agree, they beleive their future is in delivering content over the web. The only reason they would install a BD drive would be pressure from game developers that want to supply games on BD. Then I think they would do what they did with HDDVD and supply an external unit. What they need to do is solve the heat and noise issues :)
DrXym @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:56AM
They chose not to include an HD DVD because they didn't want to be stuck with an albatross around their necks. For Microsoft the physical war was one they wanted to string out as long as possible but not one they wanted to be a casualty of.
Thus they let Toshiba take most of the hits and offered token support via an add-on but no way were they going to taint the 360 with an internal drive in case it became a casualty too.
It seemed at the end that MS might have agreed to an internal HD DVD model (possible branded Toshiba but "powered by 360") but clearly it was provisional on studio support, and since that didn't happen, neither did the console.
Now the war is over, such objections no longer apply. The main issue now is that the 360's main rival that features high definition movie playback for not much more than a 360 costs and Microsoft have to do something about it. They either have to slash their prices or they have to bundle Blu Ray into at least one model because there is precious little chance that downloads are going to take off any time soon.
Bluemanrule @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:31AM
Optical discs being a thing of past resembles statement regarding vibrating controllers. Look these companies only show faith to the bottom dollar, not the consumer. They seek to maximize profits so....if there is enough consumer sentiment to support another SKU, believe that MS & Sony will do it.