It would be funny if both used HD DVD, CBHD, HD VMD, or any of the other also-ran formats, on the grounds that they give the capacity but aren't readable in any mass market computers.
I'd be surprised though if they bother with optical disks. By 2011, a 32Gb SDHC card should cost less than $5. While this may be more expensive than a pressed disk, the console itself can suddenly have $20-30 taken off of its manufacturing cost - assuming blue laser readers drop to that level in two years. Between that and downloads, the only reason to have an optical drive would be backward compatibility, and it might work out easier to just have backward compatibility be provided by an accessory especially as it all kind of went to pot for everyone except Nintendo this time around.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
squiggleslash @ Oct 8th 2008 10:31AM
It would be funny if both used HD DVD, CBHD, HD VMD, or any of the other also-ran formats, on the grounds that they give the capacity but aren't readable in any mass market computers.
I'd be surprised though if they bother with optical disks. By 2011, a 32Gb SDHC card should cost less than $5. While this may be more expensive than a pressed disk, the console itself can suddenly have $20-30 taken off of its manufacturing cost - assuming blue laser readers drop to that level in two years. Between that and downloads, the only reason to have an optical drive would be backward compatibility, and it might work out easier to just have backward compatibility be provided by an accessory especially as it all kind of went to pot for everyone except Nintendo this time around.