"Xbox 360 has a great ability to deliver [high-definition experience] through the Xbox Live (online download) service," Bach said. "It's a great way to get the high-definition concept because it's right there. There's no additional media. There is nothing you need to purchase ... You have to look at how fundamentally compelling the difference is between a progressive scan DVD player and the picture that it can produce and what you get on a high-definition player. The reality is there is some difference, but most people look at it and say, 'I am not going to pay extra for that.'"
The full interview also includes Bach's thoughts on in-game ads, the next-next-gen Xbox, and motion-sensitive controllers. Check it out.
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
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I'd be afraid if that were the case...
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=p
Refrigerator-aged over 12 years!
Small-batch soda from America.
Never got to try Crystal Pepsi, I think...
Vanilla Coke is still for sale around here? Huh....
Wonder if they still sell it in Japan? :O
Hawaiian Punch what about FAAALCOOON PUUUUNNNNCH!
You people sure like to drink flavored toilet water. I drink POWER THRIST I especially love Shockolate is like adding chocolate to an ELECTRICAL STORM!!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs
(I think I tried Crystal Pepsi once and it wasn't bad a little better than the average Pepsi but to be honest I don't like Pepsi. I got a free Retro Pepsi once and I don't mid to tell you it tastes awful)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbxq0IDqD04
(commercial done by the same guy who did the Powerthirst videos)
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that said, i still think 360 will get Blu-ray eventually, just not yet.
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Blu ray won MS. GTFOI and make some damn money off of it.
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Anyone try that new Blue-Raspberry Mountain Dew? Closest thing to a Pepsi Blue these days is a Bah-Ha blast from Taco Bell.
I really hope that next gen consoles don't use optical media.
Maybe by 2011 flash memory will be cheap enough to store 25GB games in a flash card. No load times FTW.
Altough, I don't see Sony or Microsoft using cartridges... maybe Nintendo will.
The HD DVD drive add-on was subsidized by Toshiba (a customer and vendor to Microsoft), which kept costs down. It's doubtful someoneone would subsidize the blu-ray drive, which means it would likely cost more than the HD DVD add-on. Higher costs mean less sales.
The HD DVD add-on never really sold well, which can either be attributed to the format war, or simply customers were not interested in playing HD disc movies on the 360.
Microsoft would have to update the 360 firmware, and support some level of blu-ray specification. This would include supporting JAVA, which is a competitor to Microsoft's technologies. I personally believe this would the biggest hurdle for Microsoft. I can't imagine them going down that path unless they had to do it (ie market demands it). Right now the Blu-Ray market isn't exactly setting the world on fire.
So while Microsoft could support Blu-Ray, what do they get out of it by doing so? They already stated any high definition disc format would be for movies only. Microsoft doesn't get a cut from Blu-Ray movies to my knowledge. So to recoup any costs, they have to charge a lot for the player, which if it costs too much, nobody is going to buy the thing.
"No load times FTW.
Altough, I don't see Sony or Microsoft using cartridges... maybe Nintendo will."
No my good friend, Nintendo will not use them either. Now optical media might vanish, but load times are not the result of optical media; they are the result of RAM on the console itself. Unless the console can contain the entirety of the game within its working memory, you will have load times.
Although come to think of it, you may be right. If the next Wii only duct-tapes two dvd's together in 480p resolution, then memory might be cheap enough by then to eliminate load times.
Also, PS3 is a lossleader than cannot recoup on BD alone (it needs game royalties), so the more people buy PS3 for BDplayer, the better for MS.
Anyway, I'd be more interested in hearing about the much rumored Netflix association than I am a blu-ray drive on the 360.
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Also betting that their deal with Toshiba forced them to use HD-DVD somehow. Otherwise I'm sure it would have never been done at all.
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You assumption that MS is waiting for more discs to be available seems baseless and counter intuitive. However you spin it MS is losing out on alot of sales by not offering Bluray.
And also No, Toshiba did not force Microsoft to support HD DVD or make an xbox attachment. MS made the hd dvd hardware because they wanted to prolong the format war and confuse consumers. That way more consumers will be happy taking sub par 720p compressed with DD5.1 movies that they can have for like 3 days. You sound like one of the guys who bought the hd dvd add-on.
Not that I doubt you are telling the truth about your area but the industry numbers are showing otherwise. Blu ray movies are simply not selling like everyone hoped and expected. Up until the death of HD DVD, people were blaming market uncertainty about which format but now they are having to face the possibility that people aren't seeing the incentive. When the average DVD price is $15 these days... is an average Blu disc ($30) providing you that much more? Add in upscaling and there just isn't enough reason. Only videophiles are buying still unfortunately.
@Nick
I think your statements for MS waiting are so right on. I work as a software company that partners with MS and our software uses Java... and they grit their teeth.
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Plus, I am sure no BD standalone manufacturer want MS to take away the key electronics buying demographic with cheap add-on.
Anyway, I have Netflix, so I would like to see BD, but I dont want a standalone. As for XBL movies - $6 rental is pretty expensive and requires thick ipipes.
I'd rather MS rebuild XBL A&M from ground up that waste their (apparently limited) xbox resources on BD.
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If I were a movie nut who buys/rents movies, I probably would own a PS3 right now. But, like I've stated before, my home will probably have a PS3 in it sometime in the near future. Maybe then, I will be more interested in watching more than 1 movie a month.
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So each person who buys PS3 as a BD player puts Sony deeper in the whole and makes MS shake its fat belly just a little.
When the loss-lead on PS3 stops, then MS will launch a competing peripheral and take its fair share.
And no gamer will be swayed by BD vs. DVD in their choice of system, so its pointless for MS to jump in now.
$8-10 per game
5 cents per BD movie
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:YZaTZI4lY_0J:www.joystiq.com/profile/574957/+royalties+blue-ray+movie&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us&client=firefox-a
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