Microsoft's Bach tamps down Blu-ray Xbox rumors

IDK ... a lot of Microsoft rumors have come true ... Elite model, falcon chipsets, arcade model, HDMI

People, IT IS NOT COMING. THANK YOU!

Hey, don't be mean. Maybe now that it's years past its expiration date it might actually be drinkable!

I wish I still had some Pepsi Blue, that was some good stuff. They just came out with 3 new Mountain Dew flavors that are out for a limited time, I think I'm going to buy some extras to save over the years once they are gone! Then I will sell them on ebay for millions.

Me hearts Hawaiian Punch.

=p

Pepsi Blue Label

Refrigerator-aged over 12 years!

Small-batch soda from America.

I still have some Vanilla Coke stored away... Granted, it's in cans (though still probably good!)

they still sell Vanilla Coke here in Arizona. Along with Mountian Dew Live Wire all year round.

Screw Pepsi Blue, I want me some Crystal Pepsi.

JS Beckerist, the Coke will eventually eat through the cans and make a giant sticky mess. It may take 2 years to do so, but believe me - it'll happen.

I actually liked Pepsi Blue. :(

Never got to try Crystal Pepsi, I think...


Vanilla Coke is still for sale around here? Huh....

Huh, I just noticed... that Pepsi Blue label has Japanese written on it. At the bottom to the right it says ペプシ　ブルー (pepushi buruu).

Wonder if they still sell it in Japan? :O

"Me hearts Hawaiian Punch".

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)

Crystal Pepsi was soooo good. Pepsi Blue not so much, anyone remember Kona Pepsi, now that was BAD.

Mr. ESC, if you liked Powerthirst, then you'll love the non-fictional drink, Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbxq0IDqD04

(commercial done by the same guy who did the Powerthirst videos)

Most likely the only one here ... but MAN I miss Pepsi Blue...

Anyone try that new Blue-Raspberry Mountain Dew? Closest thing to a Pepsi Blue these days is a Bah-Ha blast from Taco Bell.

sorry pressed the wrong reply button.

Baha Blast FTW. It's the only Mountain Dew I can drink without feeling like my teeth are rotting out.

Why Microsoft would want to deal with the overhead of disc format when they can sell HD digitally is beyond me. In my honest opinion, Blu-Ray will be the last wave of optical media we'll see in a long time.

Holographic storage will eat blu ray soon... I think it's a giant joke personally. Blu ray makes me laugh at money grabbing superfluous formats

If only they sold it in a can Cesaria... if only...

Well...

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.

Microsoft technically could make a blu-ray add-on for the 360 to play Blu-ray movies.

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.

agreed nick. Maybe Microsoft will take a few billion dollars and give us all 50 mbs internet access across the states. Then we can stream all our Movies, TV, Music. I do not see users DLing huge files but sites like hulu.com prove that Streaming is a way beautiful thing. For files on the go we could always have optimized versions for portable electronics.

@Fernando

"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.

nick's right. Its a programming and support hurdle.

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.

arrgh, is anyone currently working with holographic storage? I haven't heard anything about it lately.

microsoft may be "waiting" but its a big mistake, tons of people are buying ps3 at my store and bluray playback ( as well as being one of the best bluray players on the market ) as well as gaming and media center functionality are the reasons I am hearing over and over. We have seen a huge spike in the 40gb sales and havent had 80gbs since about a week after hd dvd conceded loss. We have right now abit under 200 MGS4 bundles in the back of my store that I can say confidently will sell out in the first day.

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.

@Unboring

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.

I then came to your trash and drank the rest. I miss that stuff but I'll admit that there weren't admirers of the stuff.

Remember, Sony is still losing money on each PS3 they sell, hoping to make it up with game royalties, which I believe are higher than BD movie royalties.

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.

Apparently the royalties are in the order of

$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

I can definitely see your point. I just feel that MS is going to have to come up with some type of gimmick to compete in other markets.

agreed.