We've absolutely lost count of how many times Microsoft has had to deny rumors of an Xbox 360 with Blu-ray drive, but here's another one. Following a resurgence in the rumor last week, GamePro was told today by a Microsoft official that the company continues to have no plans of introducing a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360.
The statement goes on to say that "games are what drive consumers to purchase game consoles, and [Microsoft] remains focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available." OK, that's good and all, but if the Blu-ray thing is out, could the NetfliXbox 360 idea still be on the table?
[Via Engadget]
Reader Comments (63)
Posted: May 5th 2008 5:28PM (Unverified) said
I stop caring for the umpteenth time. If Microsoft releases one, great. If not, who cares?
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Posted: May 5th 2008 10:37PM EngadgetSoFunny said
I keep thinking for some reason, that we should care a bit. My 'theory' is that Microsoft has started designing the Xbox 720(or whatever the sequel will be called) with these blu-ray rumors from chinese communist offical newspapers and wii-style remote rumors from mtv etc.
My guess is they might release it sometime next year or the following year and just be working through prototypes but may be manufacturing the blu-ray drives in advance due to the low-yield of blu-ray diodes and other issues that have caused blu-ray player + ps3 shortages/delays before.
If you have a 1,000,000 blu-ray drives ready for when you finalize the design specs and start manufacturing, it would make manufacturing go more smoothly, versus if you put in an order for 1,000,000 blu-ray diodes and waited for your order to be fulfilled before beginning production.
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My guess is they might release it sometime next year or the following year and just be working through prototypes but may be manufacturing the blu-ray drives in advance due to the low-yield of blu-ray diodes and other issues that have caused blu-ray player + ps3 shortages/delays before.
If you have a 1,000,000 blu-ray drives ready for when you finalize the design specs and start manufacturing, it would make manufacturing go more smoothly, versus if you put in an order for 1,000,000 blu-ray diodes and waited for your order to be fulfilled before beginning production.
Posted: May 5th 2008 5:36PM (Unverified) said
Meaning the 360 won't benefit from having bluray. It's most likely going to be an external if anything. I don't think it will be cost effective for MS nor will it really boost their system.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 5:37PM (Unverified) said
Your right. It's a 360, it's a game machine and has a ton of great games so more time gaming less time watching movies. The "other" system is an over glorified movie player that happens to play some games as well.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 7:22PM EJ A said
omg, BIGGEN thanks for mentioning that. I first thought Firefox 3 on my MBP wasn't handling joystiq properly and then I scrolled up and saw that annoying-ass ad.
'stiq, this is worse than that big-ass GTA5P ad. Please fix.
on topic:
Unless the internal BD-rom drive reads 12x DVD (the speed of the current DVD drives), there's no way this is plausible.
External Blu-Ray add-on is a lot more believable.
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'stiq, this is worse than that big-ass GTA5P ad. Please fix.
on topic:
Unless the internal BD-rom drive reads 12x DVD (the speed of the current DVD drives), there's no way this is plausible.
External Blu-Ray add-on is a lot more believable.
Posted: May 5th 2008 10:43PM Korova Pamplona said
at least you see something, even if its a f'n commercial. I just get a black screen and the back button doesnt work. It feels like skipping along a sunny meadow and all of a sudden black night falls and someone hits you square in the face with a frying pan and you try to turn back to the meadow ... but its not there anymore. AHHHHH! nightmare. not want
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Posted: May 5th 2008 5:41PM (Unverified) said
That would be epic if they released a bluray 360 w/wiimote rip off bundle. It would be high cost with the bluray player, but market to the casual gamer with the wiimote. So pretty much no one would buy it.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 5:53PM (Unverified) said
Don't get mad because you don't get the best third party games, enjoy those Gamecube and PS2 ports...
Just think wii2 or 3 you might get GTA4.
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Just think wii2 or 3 you might get GTA4.
Posted: May 5th 2008 10:55PM Gun Barrier said
oh man! i really hope KH3 goes on the Wii or 360.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 5:43PM (Unverified) said
Don't care.
I'm waiting on the External VHS Player for Wii.
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I'm waiting on the External VHS Player for Wii.
Posted: May 5th 2008 6:32PM (Unverified) said
I would love to see a UMD player on the PS3, myself. Too bad it won't happen, since it would be even more detrimental to the PSP sales.
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Posted: May 6th 2008 10:01AM (Unverified) said
barely discernable hairy Man Bear Pig boner added.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 5:52PM RobAccomando said
Internal Xbox360 Blu-Ray = meaningless to xbox360 gamers
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Posted: May 5th 2008 7:24PM RobAccomando said
I meant, it can't be used for gaming purposes. Although I wish it could. Too bad.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 8:32PM (Unverified) said
It's actually quite important right now for new consumers to have a built in Blu-ray drive. I am in the specialty gaming retail business and often times the reason a customer cites buying a ps3 is because it is a blu-ray player. With the pricing being very close this can tip a decision in favor of the ps3 so during this very pivotal Holiday season the 360 would do well to be on equal footing with the ps3 in every aspect.
It is still a better game machine (it's a fact - deal) but the blu-ray functionality is something that matters now that the format war has been settled. XBLive is the obvious advantage gaming wise, but the mainstream consumer isn't interested in that to the same level as hd movie playback. HD movies are certainly available on XBL but again, the mainstream consumer isn't in tune with that yet, but undertands buying a HD disc to play in a device.
It would be very beneficial to Microsoft to make this happen and it seems like it will
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It is still a better game machine (it's a fact - deal) but the blu-ray functionality is something that matters now that the format war has been settled. XBLive is the obvious advantage gaming wise, but the mainstream consumer isn't interested in that to the same level as hd movie playback. HD movies are certainly available on XBL but again, the mainstream consumer isn't in tune with that yet, but undertands buying a HD disc to play in a device.
It would be very beneficial to Microsoft to make this happen and it seems like it will
Posted: May 5th 2008 10:10PM (Unverified) said
MS will have at least one price drop by this holiday season and with the ever growing line up of great 360 games Sony is in for a ruff ride.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 11:42PM (Unverified) said
Sony will have at least one price drop by this holiday season and with the ever growing line up of great PS3 games MS is in for a ruff ride.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 6:14PM (Unverified) said
The Dave:
Does it really matter why the ps3 is gaining momentum? People are buying the console, the player base will be there which means eventually developers will take the console seriously.
Devs go where the money is. Larger install base means larger chance of titles being developed for the ps3.
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Does it really matter why the ps3 is gaining momentum? People are buying the console, the player base will be there which means eventually developers will take the console seriously.
Devs go where the money is. Larger install base means larger chance of titles being developed for the ps3.
Posted: May 5th 2008 6:22PM (Unverified) said
I still don't see any real benefit for M$ to sell Sony's product. We know that it won't be used for games and I highly doubt that M$ would make any real money from selling these things. There is no way that Sony would allow them to sell the system with Blu Ray for less than a PS3. I really don't think it makes sense for THIS generation. Next is a whole different story.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 6:22PM (Unverified) said
I'd be shocked if an Xbox 360 is released with with an internal Blu-ray drive because of the seek times. There might be some games previously written for the 360 that never took the load times on a 2x Blu-ray into account, and they'd probably take forever to load on a Blu-ray Xbox.
When I read a rumor about "Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc ROM drive," I immediately tune it out. "Bundled?" Maybe.
Reply
When I read a rumor about "Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc ROM drive," I immediately tune it out. "Bundled?" Maybe.
Posted: May 5th 2008 6:40PM RKN said
Microsoft would NEVER release a 360 with a built-in Blu-Ray movie player. It would raise the price by at least $100 and will greatly lower sales, as the PS3 has suffered.
I feel that Sony should have gone Microsoft's route and made the Blu-Ray movie player as an optional external add-on and put the games on DVD. DVD is still plenty for current-gen games as we have seen.
Back when the 360 was announced and I heard it still used DVDs for games, I laughed, but I turned out to be quite wrong.
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I feel that Sony should have gone Microsoft's route and made the Blu-Ray movie player as an optional external add-on and put the games on DVD. DVD is still plenty for current-gen games as we have seen.
Back when the 360 was announced and I heard it still used DVDs for games, I laughed, but I turned out to be quite wrong.
Posted: May 5th 2008 8:25PM (Unverified) said
Well, if HD-DVD had won, maybe the prices wouldn't have shot up on the discs and players like Blu-Ray did.
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Posted: May 5th 2008 6:52PM Rask said
My take is this. If MS released an external BR drive at around the 99$ to 149$ mark, I'll bite. I've had a 360 for years and haven't had the RROD(and it's on a LOT as my media center extender, DVD player and games machine).
Anything higher than that and it's pushing it a bit too close to PS3 territory and I'll be picking that up instead.
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Anything higher than that and it's pushing it a bit too close to PS3 territory and I'll be picking that up instead.
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