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Media Microsoft Upgrades XBox (Games) Hardware

Xbox 360 Finally Getting Blu-ray 174

Posted by timothy from the poison-death-rays-all-taken dept.
Starturtle writes "Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer had admitted that Microsoft had been working on support for Blu-ray under Windows during this year's Mix08 conference. Rumors began to swirl and many began to expect Microsoft to announce a Blu-ray peripheral for the Xbox 360. However, Microsoft came out and denied all rumors, stating that they were not exploring any kind of Blu-ray add-on or in talks with Sony about integrating Blu-ray into the Xbox experience. After months of rumors and denials, the Xbox 360 with a Blu-ray disc drive is due to be manufactured soon and shipped in Q3 of 2008. Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, is reported to have received the winning order from Microsoft for a Blu-ray equipped Xbox 360."
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Xbox 360 Finally Getting Blu-ray More

Xbox 360 Finally Getting Blu-ray

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  • Big Corp Lies (Score:3, Funny)

    by log0n ( 18224 ) on Saturday May 03, 2008 @05:05PM (#23286708)
    News at 11!
    • They were hoping to announce it when they bought Yahoo!, but since someone isn't playing ball they just figured they'd put it on two peoples' blogs.

    • What's your point? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Kohath ( 38547 ) on Saturday May 03, 2008 @08:19PM (#23287908)
      Did you have the right to know Microsoft's future plans 6 months ago? Does Microsoft have the right to know yours?

      Why should they pre-announce a new feature 9-12 months in advance? People might wait to buy an XBox 360 until then. And sales would go down for 360s and fewer games would be made, and Microsoft shareholders would lose, and current 360 owners would lose. I wonder why they might lie?

      What would you do? Tell the truth and screw over the 360 owners and the MS shareholders?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Perhaps because lying is immoral. Even those who obey strict rationality / utilitarianism would come to the same conclusion: if I lie, people will not trust me, or my word on my products / warranties / commitment to the customer in the future.

        I see your point, but a much better way of handling things without giving away your plans is to blanketly state "we do not comment on unannounced products," similar to most other major corporations.

        • Even those who obey strict rationality / utilitarianism would come to the same conclusion: if I lie, people will not trust me, or my word on my products / warranties / commitment to the customer in the future.

          If someone lies to me because they know it's a bad time to tell the truth to me or they want to protect me(trust me, there are situations where this can happen), I wouldn't necessarily stop trusting them. Not saying I trust MS, but they've done worse things to upset me.

          Also, saying "we do not comment on unannounced products" pretty much admits that the product in question exists.

          • Re:What's your point? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by vux984 ( 928602 ) on Sunday May 04, 2008 @02:22PM (#23293804)
            Also, saying "we do not comment on unannounced products" pretty much admits that the product in question exists.

            Not if your smart enough to reply that way when asked about products that don't exist too...

            Hey Microsoft, are you going to realease Windows for the Cell processor?
              "we do not comment on unannounced products"

            Are you going to release a universal remote to compete with logitech's harmony?
              "we do not comment on unannounced products"

            What did we learn? not much.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by donscarletti ( 569232 )

        There is a huge difference between not telling the truth and lying. Not telling the truth is declining to comment to keep a secret without being deceptive, in most countries that is always an individual's right outside of court and even inside court when you're the one on trial, a company also doesn't have that right when dealing with shareholders and certain commissions, but that's a different matter. Lying is saying something that you know to be false which is a completely distinct matter.

        Now there are p

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rtechie ( 244489 ) *

          If Microsoft was to change the subject, or take another path in deception, like continuing to sling mud at Blueray that would just be sly because they had never given their word. But when you ask someone to trust you by making a public statement then say the opposite of what you know to be true, then it is nothing short of betrayal.

          There STILL is no confirmation from MS that they're including Blu-Ray drive in the 360. And what you call "lying" my simply be a change in corporate strategy. I know that a year ago MS was fully committed to downloadable video and internally considered BOTH of the HD formats "stillborn" and believed downloaded video was/is the future.

          Toshiba simply gave MS a large pile of money to make a the HD-DVD add-on. It was video-only, and MS had made it very clear that NO 360 game would ever be released on HD-DVD. I

      • Did you have the right to know Microsoft's future plans 6 months ago?

        No... and I for one dont particularly care. This one was obvious, regardless of what Microsoft previously claimed. Either that, or they would be stuck waiting for BR's replacement and playing the same game all over again.

        The simple answer to them announcing they are doing this (in relationship to the fact that they previously said they arent) is "Who cares? They are now... whether because they changed their minds or were lying or because one team (marketing) wasnt talking to the other team."

        The more a

  • corporate denials (Score:5, Interesting)

    by speculatrix ( 678524 ) on Saturday May 03, 2008 @05:15PM (#23286756)

    the corporate denials were being taken with a very big pinch of salt by everybody... sure, they weren't in talks with *Sony* to put a Bluray drive into it.

    phew, at least that dilemma is sorted out. just one big one left...

    the next 360 game should be Steve Ballmer on a snow board chasing Jerry Yang, trying to hit him with a chair, called Yamped!

  • And they're still refusing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by oberondarksoul ( 723118 ) on Saturday May 03, 2008 @05:15PM (#23286758) Homepage
    to confirm it. All this article is is a claim that a Blu-Ray version of the 360 is being manufactured - which is what rumour sites have been suggesting since the death of HD-DVD. Until Microsoft confirms it, or we see one in the wild, this is still hearsay and speculation.

  • What is the point exactly? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 03, 2008 @05:17PM (#23286768)
    Why do people want Blu-ray in their 360? Just to watch Blu-ray videos?

    Certainly no game manufacturer would do a Blu-ray game since it could not be guaranteed to be in every machine. So what is the point?

    If you want to watch Blu-ray videos then you could use some other method, why hook it to a 360?

    • Re:What is the point exactly? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by somersault ( 912633 ) on Saturday May 03, 2008 @05:37PM (#23286862) Homepage Journal

      If you want to watch Blu-ray videos then you could use some other method, why hook it to a 360?
      First, why the hell not?

      Second, to reduce the clutter of more boxes under your TV (apart from the extra drive of course).

      Third, it will also presumably be a lot cheaper than buying either a PS3 or a dedicated blu-ray player. And if you already have a 360 (some people do, for some reason..), why not?

      * proud owner of a PS3 >_> currently pissed off that GTAIV isn't playing nicely with PS Network *

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 )
        Third, it will also presumably be a lot cheaper than buying either a PS3 or a dedicated blu-ray player.

        I dunno. I just got a new 40GB PS3 for $230 using some well known deals/tricks (plus the 50 buck credit that Amazon gave me for buying a $50 360 HDDVD drive last month).

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
        it will also presumably be a lot cheaper than buying either a PS3

        I don't believe this. The PS3's current price reflects the fact that Sony is not only the gatekeeper for that platform but also that they manufacture a bunch of its components themselves. MS has a disadvantage here because they can't do neat tricks like deciding "we're not going to make any profit on parts X, Y, and Z until it costs less to produce them".

        The funny thing is that it seems like MS has been trying really hard as of late to make
        • I meant the individual drive, rather than a 360+blu-ray player. If the 360 with blu-ray costs more than a PS3 then I just think it will make people see how much value for money you really get with a PS3.

          The Wii can't even play DVDs (well, technically it can, but there is no software to do so.. :/ ), so it shouldn't even come into this. I have a Wii but I don't use it much. It's developed a weird and annoying problem with showing random white flecks in some textures and in the menu too.. I'm wondering if it

          • I have a Wii but I don't use it much. It's developed a weird and annoying problem with showing random white flecks in some textures and in the menu too.. I'm wondering if it overheated and got damaged at some point..

            Yeah, your Wii's GPU went bad. That has happened to some people. You should check the warranty. It's good for one year, and if you register the serial number [nintendo.com], they extend the warranty another 90 days. If something's wrong, don't let the warranty expire!

            It's a pretty pain-free process. They actually track the purchase date when the system is bought and scanned at the store, so you don't need to track down any receipts for the warranty repair, just read them the serial number printed on the console. Then t

            • I got the Wii not long after it came out in the UK (a couple of Christmases ago) so it's well past its warranty. It still works though, and my sister's won't care about a snowy effect, they're the sort of people who don't see the point in HD graphics and such and are more interested in dressing up their Mii's. So I left the Wii at home a couple of weeks ago and I think it will be happy there. My bro also wants to finish off Twilight Princess (as do I, but I haven't made the time for it, plus playing it will

        • MS has a disadvantage here because they can't do neat tricks like deciding "we're not going to make any profit on parts X, Y, and Z until it costs less to produce them".
          For some reason didn't notice this before either, but MS were always making a deficit on the first X-Boxes weren't they? They can decide to do such things simply because they are rolling in teh cash.
      • Not to say that it won't happen, but you may be premature in saying that a current 360 owner could purchase an external BD-ROM drive for their 360.

        Based on the article, my interpretation is that they've been contracted to build 360's with integrated BD-ROM drives. It could just be poor wording, but to me I wouldn't be expecting BD-ROM addons right away, at least based on this.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      as a proud xbox fanboy, I'd rather buy a PS3 for watching bluray movies than a stupid addon drive for my 360. the hd-dvd addon didn't fail because it was hd-dvd, it failed because it was a dumb fucking idea to have a hd-dvd player that was reliant on another piece of hardware to do its fucking job. a bluray addon will suffer the same low sales for the same reason

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by afidel ( 530433 )
        Eh, if the BD addon is only $99 like the HD-DVD addon was it will be a great deal and I can't understand why you would want to waste the money on a PS3 if all you want is a BD player. Oh and I personally hope they do offer an addon player so I can get it for my PC, I don't have either console but would love a cheap BD drive for my PC =)

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by donaldm ( 919619 )
          The US$99 HD-DVD addon was only after the writing was on the wall for HD-DVD and it even dropped to US$50 when the crunch came. I would expect a Xbox360 BD addon to be between US$99 and US$149 but Microsoft is going to take a hit on them.

          With regard to PC's the BD(25GB)/DVD/CD reader/writer is approx AU$350 (approx US$360) in Australia for a PC addon and in the US it would be cheaper again, however the media is still expensive although if you compare the price to the DVD in 2001 it is much cheaper per Gig

    • Why do people want Blu-ray in their 360? Just to watch Blu-ray videos?

      Certainly no game manufacturer would do a Blu-ray game since it could not be guaranteed to be in every machine. So what is the point?

      If you want to watch Blu-ray videos then you could use some other method, why hook it to a 360?

      Probably to attract those people that are undecided about whether to go for the PS3 or the 360, but quite like the idea of being able to play Blu-Ray discs on the PS3 without having to buy two devices.

    • The point is... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Because then there's no real reason to go for the PS3 instead of the 360 unless it has some specific game you want as things stand now. IMHO, based on facts, figures and looking into both consoles when trying to figure out which to get:

      - The 360 has more games, more of which are higher rated and that sell far more units even when available on both platforms

      - The 360 wins on cost, whether that'll be true with Bluray in I don't know, and whether it remains true with the XBox live cost on top I'm still not sur

    • I cannot speak for anyone else, but I would like to own an Xbox 360 with Blu-Ray. Unfortunately, I am not willing to give Microsoft money and so I will have to wait until they are available used - and abundantly so, so that I am not converting a used sale into a new sale for someone else.

      My reasoning runs something like this: Sooner or later, the protection on the 360 will be completely defeated and sometime thereafter it will be as inviting a place to install Linux as the original Xbox is today - only it'

    • Maybe a better question is, "what player would Microsoft want you to buy when you buy a Bluray player?". I'm sure the answer is not "a PS3"...

      So what choice do they have, really?
  • After the secondary-market price of the original unit goes down as a result of this, I may actually buy a used 360.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antek9 ( 305362 )
      Good luck with that, but at least make sure there's still some warranty left for the thing. I'd love to see diagrams at some point in the future that show how the installed base of xbox 360s does actually deteriorate over time.

  • What purpose would it serve? (Score:4, Funny)

    by feepness ( 543479 ) on Saturday May 03, 2008 @05:27PM (#23286812)
    No developer could take advantage of it given all the 360s out there with DVD drives.

    And furthermore, you're going to add another new layer of complexity onto an already flaky hardware?

    It's like building a beautiful sculpture on top of a condemned building about to collapse.

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by kai.chan ( 795863 )
      The XBox360 architecture was never designed to support anything other than DVDs. Even with the HD-DVD peripheral, XBox360 games could not have taken advantage of the extra space that seems to be in demand nowadays. But I agree, XBox360 is the worst reliable piece of consumer electronics in recent history. At first, I didn't believe at how a piece of electronics can have at least 30% failure rate; but I was made a believer when every one of my friends' 360 broke down.

      • when every one of my friends' 360 broke down

        All one of them? That's 100%!

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Dutch Gun ( 899105 )
        The Xbox architecture was never designed to support anything other than DVD's? Nonsense, it was built with extensibility in mind, just like any other console. The fact that there was an HD-DVD add-on proves that. An integrated Blu-Ray (or even an add-on) won't be any harder for them.

        What *is* true is that games can't take advantage of the storage space, because you have to build games with the lowest-powered SKU out in the market - that is, DVD drives. Technically speaking, I suppose they could make bot

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by archkittens ( 1272770 )

          ... And, it's also true that the 360 is one of the most flawed pieces of major consumer electronics in recent history. I don't think it's quite as big a deal as most people think, though, since MS is replacing them for free...

          that's a warranty, which they promised, presumably, before they knew it was going to fail on such a large scale. they're legally obligated to honor that warranty. if microsoft were to replace it for free, AND give us a half off coupon for the next time our 360s fail (by which time the warranty will be gone), i might consider giving them credit for that.

          ... and people like adding to their GamerScore*. * Whoever thought this up at MS should get a promotion. It's one of the simplest yet most brilliant things MS has ever done.

          i disagree. whomever thought this up should be stolen by google, so that steve ballmer [wikipedia.org] can throw a game chair!

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Danse ( 1026 )

            that's a warranty, which they promised, presumably, before they knew it was going to fail on such a large scale. they're legally obligated to honor that warranty. if microsoft were to replace it for free, AND give us a half off coupon for the next time our 360s fail (by which time the warranty will be gone), i might consider giving them credit for that.
            Actually, they extended the warranty to three years after they found out how high the failure rate was.

        • I have to agree about gamer points, I added a full set from Assassins Creed to my roommate's account before I realized how easy it was to create my own. Finally something more than personal satisfaction from doing needlessly hard optional quests.

          I have to say though, all of seen of the PSN store is the Rockband section and it's leaps and bounds ahead the xbox live version. The only advantage the 360 has is that you don't have to exit out of the game to access it.

          • Finally something more than personal satisfaction from doing needlessly hard optional quests.
            Gamerscore is STILL just personal satisfaction, man.
      • The XBox360 architecture was never designed to support anything other than DVDs. Even with the HD-DVD peripheral, XBox360 games could not have taken advantage of the extra space that seems to be in demand nowadays.

        Kind of an odd statement. Which system do you believe is architectured better to take advanatage of large space?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Yvan256 ( 722131 )
          Depends on the point of view of the gamer too. I'd rather see bigger, longer games on the Wii than smaller, shorter hi-def games on the Xbox360 or PS3.

    • No developer could take advantage of it given all the 360s out there with DVD drives.

      That's not true, because at least JVC has the technology to produce a hybrid BD-ROM/DVD-ROM. Thanks for playing, though.

      Granted, it makes things more expensive. But it also simplifies the game slightly; instead of having to have the game properly detect and select the version of the game you want to play, you just pick the side.

      And furthermore, you're going to add another new layer of complexity onto an already flaky hardware?

      Explain please how changing one optical drive for another represents adding an additional layer of complexity. At most it replaces one with another. Even if it were external, t

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antis0c ( 133550 )
      I really don't think that analogy fits very well. I was a release day Xbox 360 owner, yup I waited in line outside a Best Buy for 18 hours. Sure it may seem extreme, but it was a fun experience. My Xbox 360 has worked flawlessly since release, and only recently fell victim to the Red Ring of Death. 5 minutes on Microsoft's Xbox support site, I had an order placed for a return shipping box and prepaid shipping label, arrived 3 days later. Shipped my Xbox 360 back 1 day later, 8 days later, I received
  • All articles seem to point to a new 360 SKU with "built in" Bluray, so are we to believe that they have abandoned the "add-on" idea? It seems to me that an "add-on" would be better as it would prevent the alienation of the early adopters.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Danse ( 1026 )

      All articles seem to point to a new 360 SKU with "built in" Bluray, so are we to believe that they have abandoned the "add-on" idea? It seems to me that an "add-on" would be better as it would prevent the alienation of the early adopters.

      Early adopters? I just got my 360 in December. I definitely don't consider myself an early adopter, but I would also be pissed if they didn't make an add-on blu-ray player available. That is, unless there aren't going to be any blu-ray games coming out. If it's just for movies and such, I don't really care.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 )
      "It seems to me that an "add-on" would be better as it would prevent the alienation of the early adopters."

      OK, so I'm sounding like a broken record in this thread, but...

      Microsoft's stance has repeatedly been "Fuck the early adopters." Their HDMI cables need a special disclaimer sticker to keep early adopters from buying it, while the DRM scheme was never designed to allow upgrading hard drives or replacing a broken or otherwise inferior console unit. Expect the PR spin to be similar to what it was when t

  • Killer Features (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CopaceticOpus ( 965603 ) on Saturday May 03, 2008 @06:11PM (#23287086)
    There are only a few real killer features that separate one console from another. Integrated Blu-Ray movie support was the PS3's biggest advantage. If the 360 can manage this and beat the PS3 on price, Sony may be screwed.

    The 360's killer feature is Xbox Live. They nailed it, and it's going to be a license for them to print money just as Windows has been. Even if Sony comes out with better online support, it's too late. What good does that do when all your friends are on Microsoft's service?

    This may be a death blow to the PS3, because it may not have anything left to offer over the 360. Better reliability and the ability to run Linux in a limited environment aren't going to be enough.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by samkass ( 174571 )
      So you're saying that even thought the PS3 has been seriously outselling the XBox360 all year worldwide, that suddenly everyone's friends are going to be on Microsoft's service? The Blu-Ray addition is a stopgap measure on Microsoft's part to try to pull back into 2nd place in the console wars, but since they're way behind the curve there's no way they're going to be able to manufacture them as cheaply as Sony. I don't think the PS3 has anything to worry about from Microsoft-- it's the Wii that remains th

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Akaihiryuu ( 786040 )
        Indeed. The Wii is going to win the "console war" this generation for outright sales. The PS3 will be the console of choice for the more "hardcore" games. Not saying that the Wii won't have any, but a lot of "big" games like MGS4 are going to PS3-only. The 360 is basically dead everywhere but the US. 360 sales in Japan are abysmal, not even close to what the original Xbox sold (and even it did terribly there). I've owned a Wii since launch day, and I'm going to get a PS3 once the price goes down a bit
        • I really hope that isn't true. I have really enjoyed my 360, and while I was a big fan of the PS2, the PS3 just hasn't done it for me.

          So, for now at least, I'm 360 all the way.
          • A little part of me died when they stopped doing backwards computability. How hard is it for a $400 PS3 to emulate a $100 PS2?

            If they hadn't dropped that, I'd be kicking my old, dusty, 1st gen PS2 to the curb right now and replacing with something sleek and shiny.
            • To be fair, the backward compatibility involved putting the complete PS2 hardware (basically PS2 on a chip) in the PS3, and this raised the cost of an already expensive system. The software backward compatibility in the later PS3's has a lot of problems, it doesn't work properly with a lot of games. I'm fine with keeping my PS2 for PS1 and PS2 games (but then I have one of the newer slim silver ones, my ex got the older PS2 when we broke up).

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by donaldm ( 919619 )
                I have one of the Australian 60GB PS3 and it is software backwards compatible however it does still use the PS2 graphics engine and over 85% of PS2 games work flawlessly on it. Of course this does not help when your favourate PS2 game does not play or even worse freezes randomly.

                Personally I mainly play PS2 games on my PS3 (most recent release PS2 games play fine) since the PS3 does an excellent job smoothing and upscaling on a HDTV. In addition I can get three to four PS2 games to one PS3 game so I do s

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by ivan256 ( 17499 )
              They only removed it from the cheapest model. If you want it, just go get the one that has it.

              And it's worth it, too. The software emulation upscales the games. Lots of PS2 games look *fantastic* upscaled.
          • If you're interested in American-style games (PC ports, FPS's, driving games, etc), then you'll be fine with the 360. I'm pretty sure the 360 will take the #2 spot in the US. If you're interested in Japanese games though (like I am), then the 360 would be your LAST choice (as the system is basically dead in Japan now).

        • ... a lot of "big" games like MGS4 are going to PS3-only....
          Of course, that's what they said about MGS2 and MGS3...
          • MGS3 is PS2-only. It was never ported to any other platforms.
            • You're right. I mistook "Subsistence" for a cross-platform release like MGS2's "Substance"

              Doesn't change anything, though. After MGS3, I'm less than impressed with the series, so if they go PS3 only, that's one less copy they sell rather than prompting me to buy a new system for it.

              Same for Final Fantasy MCMLIV

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Fross ( 83754 )
        http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=All&cons2=PS3&reg2=All&cons3=X360&reg3=All&start=39201&end=39565 [vgchartz.com] says otherwise. In the last 5 months or so, the PS3 has been steadily outselling the 360, by 20-30%, but earlier in the year, the Xbox had the edge. During the last 12 months, the 360 has sold about 8.8 million units, the PS3 about 8.9 million. (from http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=All&cons2=PS3&reg2=All&cons3=X360&reg3=All&sta [vgchartz.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kohath ( 38547 )
      Sony also has more, better first-party exclusive games coming out in the future. And the PS3 isn't as loud as the 360 so your movie watching experience won't have as much fan noise.

      The 360 and the PS3 are both good systems. XBox Live is indeed an advantage. There's no need for the console war propaganda posts. Having two excellent competing choices is better for gamers.
      • I can see where I'd look like a fanboy, but honestly I don't care about that. I'm just someone sitting on the fence for both HD movies and for newer consoles. I'm still enjoying my PS2, but eventually I may find the 360 too hard to resist, even if Microsoft is the last company I'd want to support.

        I agree that competition is good, and I hope the PS3 will remain a strong player.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Why2K ( 29813 )

        And the PS3 isn't as loud as the 360 so your movie watching experience won't have as much fan noise.
        This is a point that most people don't think of. I have both a PS3 and an XBox360/HD-DVD addon, and they both sound like someone is operating a leaf blower in the room when trying to watch a movie, although the PS3 does have a slight edge in this department.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Zelos ( 1050172 )
          The newer PS3s (40gb 65nm version) are a fair bit quieter than the old versions, I believe. The consume about 30% less power as well. I've read that the new Elite 360s are quieter as well since they switched to a new chipset.
    • The 360's killer feature is Xbox Live. They nailed it, and it's going to be a license for them to print money just as Windows has been. Even if Sony comes out with better online support, it's too late. What good does that do when all your friends are on Microsoft's service?

      Because a lot more casual gamers prefer free online service to a pay service.

      Even some hardcore gamers prefer that...

      It's the feature that kept me from getting a 360 until I finally broke down and got a PS3 for Blu-Ray - and for future fr

    • Sony will not be screwed (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Fross ( 83754 )
      I bet they're getting a handsome licence fee for every Blu-ray reader sold. So Microsoft will be paying them every time they sell a 360.

      They've already won the format war, they have little chance of winning the console war (A large chunk of PS3 sales have been purely for its capability as a good Blu-ray player / DVD upscaler), if they're smart they'll stick to what they're making money on now and work on getting it right for the next generation.
    • PS3 also has built in wireless instead of asking you to buy an adapter that's almost the price of a DS which has wireless built-in too. Even PSP has wireless. Everything except 360 has wireless. Sure, it's not necessary, but charging that much for something that would be cheap to include is robbery.
  • ... QUIETER Bluray drive, 20gb disk or greater, HDMI, IR remote for Harmony compatibility, at say $299?

    SOLD.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ivan256 ( 17499 )
      $299?

      Sorry, I was going to say more in this post, but I was too busy laughing.

      The 360 Elite is $450. There's no way the Elite+BluRay is going to be less than $450.
  • I always found these "confirmed!" stories that are still just rumors funny. Yeah, it may very well be a rumor that is true, but at this point, it's still a rumor.

    I won't take it as anything other than a rumor until I see indisputable photographic proof, or a press release from Microsoft.
  • Seems like the XBox 360 is rapidly approaching Sega Genesis convoluted last days, full of failed add-ons that nobody cared...

    Frankly, just gimme a standalone bluray player...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by BarneyL ( 578636 )
      The problem Sega had was that you had to buy the new hardware (Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, Dreamcast in quick succession) to play the latest games. By the time they hit the Dreamcast no one was willing to buy yet another Sega platform.
      Any Xbox 360 will run any game written for the system, there is no need for the hard drive just as there is no need for a wireless controller, an HDMI output or whatever HD format you prefer. All these add choices but none are forced upon you if all you want to do is play games.
      I'
  • not to buy an Xbox 720 until well into its lifespan. Sony's first adopters can play PS2 games, Microsoft's have a smaller hard drive, no HDMI port, DRM issues that get in the way of upgrading either, and now this.
  • ...and I will say it: a/v port savings.

    You could have an Xbox + separate stand-alone Blu-ray drive, but that means having to switch tv stations, or a/v junction box settings each time you want to switch between the two.

    With a blu-ray addon drive, you only need 1 set of A/V ports for all of it. As someone who has already run out of available ports, I would shoot for it if the price was right.

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