Rumorang: Xbox 360 Blu-ray console shipping Q3

by Christopher Grant { May 2nd 2008 at 9:54AM }

Here we go again! This time around we've got the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reporting that Pegatron (an OEM subsidiary of Asus that handles "motherboard and component OEM manufacturing") has been tapped to assemble "Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc ROM drive." The admittedly unreliable language indicates an internal drive as opposed to another external attachment but, with shipments expected to begin in Q3 of this year, we'll now soon enough: internal or external; true or false.

[Via Engadget]

Tags: Asus, Blu-ray, Rumor

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

McWeen @ May 2nd 2008 9:57AM

Ugh, please don't release another SKU. You are just going to confuse parents and piss people off.

Anonim @ May 2nd 2008 10:07AM

Don't tell me you belive this s***?

Inserting Blu-ray drive would made soooo many problems with compatibility that even moronic writers and fanboys should know it is not possible.

Blu-ray is slower - it has much MUCH bigger access times.
It would brake probably every second game!
Would Microsoft re-relase ALL games to made it compatibile with new speed?
Made NEW versions with HDD installs?
Mandatory HDD?

LOL.
Get a grip on reality Joystiq!

Vidikron (FU) @ May 2nd 2008 10:14AM

@Anonim

They would likely be using a faster drive than what was available when the PS3 was released. That seems rather obvious.

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ May 2nd 2008 10:15AM

ok Anonim. now think about what you just said.

when did they say that the games would be on Blu-ray? the Blu-ray drive DOES read DVD's just as well as any other DVD readers. it just reads the Blu-ray differently. if they started puttin games on Blu-ray, they would alienate everyone that bought a 360 so far (thats like 13 million people). if they did that, that would be one of the biggest video game missteps of all time. just because there is a Blu-ray drive doesnt mean the games have to be on there, but they do put movies on those too, remember?

Jon @ May 2nd 2008 10:16AM

You do know you can play DVDs in BluRay drives, no? Unless they skim on a DVD compatible laser diode, current 360 DVDs should work just fine in a BluRay drive.

Christopher Grant @ May 2nd 2008 10:28AM

*grips reality*

Is that better?

Kripy @ May 2nd 2008 11:01AM

Last week when I called xbox repair center to send my 360 again I started talking with the representative and ended up in with taking about the bluray and he told me that microsoft was going with bluray very soon. dunno if it was because I told him about the demise of HD-DVDs and that I was gonna buy a blueray but still it shocked me to hear that.

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ May 2nd 2008 10:59AM

You could grip my reality whenever you want. :)

.... oh shit, wrong window.

xGeneral DEATHx @ May 2nd 2008 11:02AM

Christopher-

Reality, being the harsh mistress that she is, coyly and politely asks that you loosen your grip on her arms a little, and to stop shaking her so violently while you loudly ask "Where's my dinner?".

Anonim-

Guess I don't have to join in on this, but I will...current 360 titles run on DVD's, which Blu-Ray drives WILL read. Perhaps you should take pointers from Mr. Grant on reality-gripping...he's got the b*tch in a headlock, giving her a yoga noogie as we speak.

Korova @ May 2nd 2008 12:23PM

I think they totally should release another SKU and call it XRAY! I'd game that.

BananaBoat @ May 2nd 2008 5:23PM

I don't think anyone would get pissed over them adding a Blu-Ray SKU. Games won't be on Blu-Ray any time soon, and really this would just be a more expensive "Media" edition or something.

Looking at it from MSofts perspective, they didn't put HD-DVD into the 360 at launch because they feared it wouldn't take off (and rightly so, since it didn't). Now that Blu-Ray is the defacto winner of the format wars, it would make a ton of sense for them to jump on the bandwagon as soon as possible, if for no other reason than to steal customers that would have bought a PS3 for no other reason than because it's the cheapest Blu-Ray player. I don't believe that games would be coming on blu-ray though, since Blu-Ray's read times are deathly slow, and require games to pre-cache to HDD to run properly (which is what the PS3 does with those installations of games) The 360 wasn't designed for that.

Then again, my vote is for this being a mistranslation, and the real product being an external Blu-Ray drive

SoulBlade @ May 2nd 2008 10:04AM

Not sure if anybody saw it, but NPD reported that Blu Ray sales plummeted after some analyst said most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between DVD and BluRay.

I think putting in BluRay at this point would be a waste for MS. It'll probably hurt their profit margin and as stated, another SKU just sucks.

Dadidito @ May 2nd 2008 10:12AM

I have to admit that HD for blue ray and dvd is not that big a deal. It looks crisper yes and more detailed yes but the jump still isn't as big as from VHS to DVD visually wise to me. It seems that too me that many people say as such. I don't get any less enjoyment watching it from dvd as I do for blue ray. I personally think the only place you can really see the difference is in games. Games are the only ones that are benefiting completley from the HD era. They look great! 640P, 720P, 1080P, doesnt' matter because it all looks undeniably better than the old resolution on standard.

Phranctoast @ May 2nd 2008 10:14AM

Thats sounds about right..... considering, most people are idiots.

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ May 2nd 2008 10:22AM

well i can tell the difference. the thing is you have to have ALOT of extra equipment to be able to tell the difference, and i think that will be the deciding factor across the board. normal people wont want to buy a whole new setup, they'll just wanna plug the Blu-ray player into their current set up. if anyone has seen a Blu-ray movie on a 1080p TV then you know what im talking about, the picture is so clear that it almost looks like your at the filming of said movie rather than the theater watching the end result. that could also be another turnoff for people.

go check out the setups at your local Circuit City or Best Buy if you dont believe me. i was amazed since i watch my Blu-ray movies in 1080i the amount of difference between 1080i and 1080p. still not as big of a jump from VHS to DVD but it is a bigger jump than people give it credit for.

hey alex @ May 2nd 2008 10:25AM

Are you thinking of the recent NPD report? Stand alone Blu-Ray players sales have declined since January by 40%

http://tinyurl.com/5kvdml

Rumors circulated about HD DVD's demise in January, and by February, it officially ceased to exist. At the time, it was thought that HD DVD and Blu-Ray confused the market. One HD DVD was out the way, it was assumed people would start buying Blu-Ray players.

NPD is saying that people are fine with DVD and have issue with the cost of stand alone Blu-Ray players, as the reason why more people haven't adopted the format since HD DVD's departure.

As far as a built-in in Blu-Ray player in the 360, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense right now. Why introduce a slower more expensive part, for the purpose of playing Blu-Ray movies when you don't have to do that? Microsoft offers movies over Live. If anything, it would more likely be an external option, if it were ever offered.

ViagraFiend @ May 2nd 2008 10:33AM

"I have to admit that HD for blue ray and dvd is not that big a deal."

haha wtf is wrong with people!

deaftly @ May 2nd 2008 11:18AM

Yea bluray player and movie sales are pretty much in the shitter, it also didn't help that bluray movie prices went up the day hddvd died. By the time bluray takes off it'll be too late with digital downloads probably becoming the thing to do.

Alex @ May 2nd 2008 12:25PM

Dadidito,
640p? Surely you mean 480p? I have never heard of 640p.
Is 480p even HD? Isn't that the resoloution normal TVs run on?

ViagraFiend @ May 2nd 2008 4:40PM

Alex-

480p, is known as EDTV. Basically in the middle of SDTV and HDTV. Contrary to the people that cant afford it, Blu Ray content is much much better than regular DVD's.

Zoot Suit Jedi @ May 2nd 2008 10:04AM

I must admit that this is not my area of expertise, but can blu-ray read the DVDs that current XBOX 360 games are burned on? I hope so, because a move like this would make their library-to-date osolete. I think I smell bulls**t here.

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ May 2nd 2008 10:10AM

yes the Blu-ray player can read DVD's. remember the PS3 can play just about any DVD or CD you throw in there. if they stuck it in a 360, they would almost certainly keep making the games on DVDs (which would work) unless they want to put them on Blu-ray all of a sudden and alienate like 13 million people.

the 360 will get a Blu-ray drive, its just a matter of when.

JerkfacedFed @ May 2nd 2008 11:59AM

This post is to alleviate all of the concerns for people who dont want to do the research, with a little speculation:

Blu-ray drives can read BD/DVD/CD including Xbox 360 disks (because they will have special firmware signed by microsoft)

The Xbox 360 has a standard PC DVD-9 drive that reads:
DVD 12x, CD 32x

It is rumored that Lite-On is the manufacturer for the new drive.

Shopping around, Lite-On already makes a standard PC BD-ROM drive that reads:
BD 2x, DVD 12x, CD 32x

The PS3 reads:
BD 2x, DVD 8x, CD 24x

So as long as it can read the DVDs at 12x, I do not see any problem in adding in the capability to play BDs.

The drive will probably be a 4x, because thats the current speed most manufacturers are making right now, which will help with the horrible load speeds of movies on current set top Bluray players and PS3s.

Either way, this move is for movie lovers, not for increased space on games.

I see it making its way to the Elite SKU, with a larger hard drive upgrade replacement going both the Pro and Elite models with no price drop for now.

Later when Sony decides to price drop, Microsoft will do the same, and just continue to sell the same SKUs I mentioned earlier.

They will probably release an external drive as well so that they do not alienate their early adopting customers.

360 gamers, dont worry about the smaller capacity of DVDs. Remember that the future of games is quickly leaving optical disks behind as a storage medium. For movies it might be a more convenient path, but just look at the success of Steam.

Xbox Live can easily do many things to overcome drive capacity with the advent of huge 2.5" HDDs on the market:
- Put games on multiple disks
- Allow the installation of one or more disks to the HDD so that either no disk or one disk is needed to play the game
- Sell full 360 games on Xbox Live Marketplace ni the same manner as the Xbox Originals
- Sell games on a double sided BD/ Compressed DVD with installation? Sony seems to think its fine to allow installations for all of their games, so why not?

What do you guys think?

JerkfacedFed @ May 2nd 2008 12:00PM

-Dominic @ May 2nd 2008 10:05AM

This would only make sense if the Blu-ray drive is capable of of playing the original 360 games. I think a $100-$150 add-on would be the cats meow till the next console comes out. They cannot risk alienating early adopters by producing games on Blu-ray, it would be
Sparta, I mean madness.

rc @ May 2nd 2008 10:07AM

They had better do something. HDTV's will be flying off the shelf this Christmas and a lot of PS3's will be going with them.

Nicholas Sulikowski @ May 2nd 2008 10:10AM

Having an addon Blu-ray drive would seem like a better option to me, in that they could really only use the format to play movies. Using it for games would only make gamers have to buy a new system to get the Blu-ray games. And having it as an addon would probably make for a rather cheap BD player.

Though I must say, the fearful thought emerged in my head that Microsoft may do both: release an addon, and make Blu-ray games for it in a Sega CD or 32x manner.

Christian @ May 2nd 2008 10:10AM

Microsoft panic mode?

MariosInferno @ May 2nd 2008 10:58AM

Yeah...because they just got done outselling the PS3, again.

And what about the other folks that still have regular 360s, are they going to release games on both Blu-Ray and DVD. Please....this is not going to happen. DVD is still perfectly fine for this gen.

Vidikron (FU) @ May 2nd 2008 11:01AM

@MariosInferno

Ummm... why would they release any games on BR? Why don't some people seem to understand that BR drives can read DVDs? This is not complicated. Also, I'm pretty sure the PS3 is outselling the 360 worldwide.

MariosInferno @ May 2nd 2008 11:07AM

"Ummm... why would they release any games on BR? Why don't some people seem to understand that BR drives can read DVDs? This is not complicated."

I understand this. But, then you admit that the sole purpose is to play movies. That being the case, just release an add-on. Don't add another SKU to the table...there's no point.

"Also, I'm pretty sure the PS3 is outselling the 360 worldwide."

That's fine. The PS3 was outsold in N. America. Plus, outsold or not worldwide, why would they be in panic mode? The ONLY market they can't penetrate with any success is Japan. MS is doing perfectly fine. It was a stupid comment.

Vidikron (FU) @ May 2nd 2008 11:16AM

Well, yeah, of course it would be for movies only. I don't think there's any question about that. As for why they would make on internal, that seems obvious as well. I think most people prefer internal drives over add-ons. If you were in the market for a new 360, which would you prefer to have? The interal drive would be cheaper (to produce AND to buy compared to a 360 + add-on) and be a cleaner look in the entertainment center. And who says they won't do both an add-on and have a model with an internal drive?

As for the "panic mode"... I never claimed they were. I was just pointing out that the PS3 is still outselling the 360 worldwide, despite the fact that they were barely behind in the 360's best market when the last numbers were released.

Lone Starr @ May 2nd 2008 11:18AM

Not panic. This is just competition -- in other words, if true, a very good thing.

tc @ May 2nd 2008 11:20AM

a 360 blu-ray drive would indicate a victory for microsoft, not a need to panic. Granted, its a smaller victory after a crushing a defeat, but their ability to adapt is only to their credit.

Chris! @ May 2nd 2008 10:18AM

Do people really care about Bluray? Also with the economy the way it is people are going to want to spend $10 on a dvd not $30 for a bluray dvd.

Vidikron (FU) @ May 2nd 2008 10:25AM

Or you could rent... or you could just buy the BR movies much cheaper online. I've probably spent an average of $12-15 each for all of my BR movies... but most I simply rent via Netflix.

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ May 2nd 2008 10:27AM

more than one way to skin a cat.

FOXHOUND @ May 2nd 2008 10:32AM

I currently own 7 BR movies. I had more that came with the free BluRay offer last year, but I ditched'em since a couple of the movies were out of stock that I selected.

I've only bought two BluRay movies in a regular chain retail store(Target, MovieStop)and that's because it was at DVD pricing. MovieStop occassionally has them under $25; but the majority are still more than I'm willing to pay.

The rest were purchased at second hand shops or eBay/Half.com for the significantly discounted price.

baby sea tuna @ May 2nd 2008 11:01AM

Unless it's something I plan on watching again and again (which is...well, pretty much nothing) I'll Netflix. 4 out of the 5 BRDs that came free with my PS3 are still sitting unopened on my shelf, with no additional BR purchases.

Kodros @ May 2nd 2008 11:37AM

Chris! - I'm pretty sure that the MSRP difference between a DVD and a Blu-Ray is only $7. And it will get lower. I can honestly say that I will never buy a DVD again.

baby sea tuna @ May 2nd 2008 11:40AM

Fair enough, but I compared with Ratatouille, both d/l'd from LIVE and on BRD and I didn't notice any major differences, either in panning framerates or artifacting in blacks or any of the other major indicators. Like I said, that may just be me, but I think if it's a glaring difference to someone, then they must really be actively looking for it.

Regardless, I still think it would be a mistake for MS to put a BRD into their machine 2.5 years through its lifecycle. Their HD VoD service is quite adequate.

Obie @ May 2nd 2008 10:17AM

External seems to make more sense. That way M$ would not have to bump up the base price of its console. Plus it would give 360 owners the option to buy the cheaper attachment instead of buying a PS3 for their HD fix.

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ May 2nd 2008 10:26AM

that certainly seems like the more sensible move since an internal one would probably be very expensive. if they made and external one and charged like $199 for it, even though it and the 360 together would probably cost more than a PS3, average people would still probably buy the 360 set up because the two lower prices seem less.

im actually very surprised by all the internal rumors, since i thought they would just replace the HDDVD add-on with a Blu-ray add-on and call it a day.

LeadBoxx @ May 2nd 2008 10:23AM

Could be cool to get one and still have my HDDVD Drive hooked up as well.

ThePremierAssassin @ May 2nd 2008 10:26AM

This is such bullshit...

Really the madness needs to stop. Maybe an add on is in the works and even then I HIGHLY doubt that.

However an addon is much more preferable to a whole new sku.

If they do make another sku they'll be just as bad as sony in that aspect....

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ May 2nd 2008 10:29AM

how would they be just as bad as Sony? 360 has more SKU's than PS3 and much more differences between each SKU than the PS3.

VampireHunter Z @ May 2nd 2008 11:00AM

Actually Sony had 4 SKUs. 20GB, 40GB, 60GB and 80GB. The 360 only had 3.

Anyway what they should do is drop the Arcade version without HDD and bump the Premium HDD up to 40GB. Then add WiFi to the Elite so that it has some incentive other than the HDD. When I eventually get a Blu-ray player it will be standalone.

Vidikron (FU) @ May 2nd 2008 11:03AM

But with the exception of a few stragglers, they haven't had any more than 2 available in the same market at any one time.

MariosInferno @ May 2nd 2008 11:12AM

"But with the exception of a few stragglers, they haven't had any more than 2 available in the same market at any one time."

Don't think this matters...

What Sony has done thus far with the PS3 has been far more confusing than anything MS has done with the 360...as far as availability and SKUs. At least the Core and Premium have remained since inception...and they added the Elite.

Matt B @ May 2nd 2008 11:23AM

More confusing mario, really? Would the average consumer looking for 360 know to look on the back to make sure that it had the much vaunted FALCON board savior of the 360? So not only do you have to pick from 3 skus, but make sure it has the christ child mobo too.

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