Blu-Ray Xbox 360 likely to compete directly with PS3
By Jonathan Schlaffer
With the death of HD-DVD announced by Toshiba, existing HD-DVD hardware, media and movies will be sold at reduced prices just to get rid of the now useless things. Which puts Microsoft in the awkward position of having to adopt Blu-Ray for the Xbox 360 which was a supporter of HD-DVD.
Even before the death of HD-DVD it was rumored that an external Blu-Ray drive for the Xbox 360 was a possibility. Now that the death of HD-DVD is certain, Microsoft could release both a Xbox 360 with internal Blu-Ray and an external Blu-Ray drive.
Smarthouse reports that a Xbox 360 with Blu-Ray or external Blu-ray drive could hit as early as May 2008. If Microsoft is smart, it will do something additional as well.
The Xbox 360 has lagged constantly behind the PS3 in terms of integrated technology. It’s high time that the Xbox 360 got internal WiFi, Blu-Ray and the 120GB hard drive as standard.
Microsoft could release the upgraded Blu-Ray model alongside the standard issue model which would lack all those features. It’s too early to tell what prices will be like but it will be a disappointment if the company doesn’t upgrade the rest of the Xbox 360 hardware.
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Tips N4G
February 18th, 2008
More expensive ad-on’s for the 360.
Why spend so much money on a 360 at that point. It would be $599. Why pay that for Halo 3, and Gears of War?
February 18th, 2008
Don’t make me laugh, no way will microsoft do it. Then again weird things do happen.
February 18th, 2008
Wow, Microsoft really, really took it up the ass this time. The day M$ admits that HD DVD was a failure and supports Blu Ray will be the day… Compete with PS3? More like sluggishly catch up with the Playstation 3, you need to buy well over $300 in bulky add-ons just to match. Surpass? In that case, you’ll have half a living room of wires and other useless junk, not an Xbox 360.
February 19th, 2008
Chris,
As much as I respect your opinion, I don’t always agree with you. If Microsoft do indeed release a Blu-Ray add on, then that gives consumers the choice as to whether they want it or not. PS3 customers didn’t have this choice, and ended up being forced to pay extra for it. There are a lot of people out there who bought their 360 to play games and superior multi platformers, not watch movies. At least they have the choice now.
February 19th, 2008
Having a blu-ray drive does not mean blu-ray games, as implied in ur article.
February 19th, 2008
Bunch of idiot, 360 fanboys never can do math. 360 fanboys get a calculator and start add all things up and draw a map what 360 have at $400 and what PS3 have at $400 and you guys gonna say I’m so stupid. You paid 360 $400 no hidef rom, no wi-fi built in. We ps3 fanboys paid $400 and we got wi-fi built in, and hidef rom. You said you got a choice stupid fanboys that come on here and say we got a choice, a choice of spend more money and hanging stuffs outside of your 360.
February 19th, 2008
Yours are just wishfull thinkings. Those are the things you want to see happens. How much will a add-on blu-ray player cost for the 360? Around 250, maybe more. The HD DVD add-on costed 199 at first. They will never have a Blu-Ray built in, they will loose fans. What do you think, that game companies will build a DVD and Blu-ray disc for those 360 owners who gonna be divided between “I have DVD built-in, I have Blue-Ray built-in” What will happen to Xbox 360, gonna be similar to what happened to Sega, it will dissapear.
Nintendo since the beginning knew they did not have a powerfull machine as Sony did, so Nintendo targeted a different audience. Microsoft was thinking they could compete, but they did not take the risk of a built-in HD DVD, so know the lost.
Microsoft has a lot of FPS games, but guess what? Out of USA, people dont care so much a FPS games. Because not every one in low income country can afford to pay Xbox live 50 dollars/month. That is a one week salary in Dominican Republic. However, sony offers you good games which are fun even when not online, in Latin America, people dont care so much about online, there Microsoft failed.
February 19th, 2008
Idiots who think PS3 is better than 360,
we are talking about consoles, not movie players. The PS3 can’t come near the 360’s gameplay so don’t act like your precious cell is the superior.
Sony has yet to provide its users with anything good with the PS3. I’ve got a PSP and haven’t touched it in months because Sony seems to think that a game console should do everything but play games. The only thing keeping it alive is the homebrew scene.
It is a known fact that the 360 has a better graphics engine (look it up). Xbox Live is years ahead of whatever pathetic system Sony’s got going.
The only argument I’ve ever heard from Sony fanboys is that Xbox Live costs money. However, what you don’t take into account is that Xbox Live adds hundreds of hours of additional fun to your games. This makes it well worth the 45 bucks a year that you pay anyways.
People who were smart and bought a 360 won’t care about any bluray or hd dvd because they bought a game system and not a movie player.
DVD’s have only just phased out the VHS so how can these new formats beat it? By the time HD formats are widely accepted, there will undoubtedly be a cheaper more efficient format that renders Blu-ray useless.
February 19th, 2008
bigfella,
I have to say i don`t agree with your opinion. I personaly think that, when someone`s interested in buying a device wich will provide them optional features, they go 360. If they choose to get the whole thing, they`ll know why and what they`re paying for. When i bought my ps3, i knew it was a little expensive but, it has everything i need.
Everyone as diferent needs, and i don`t think you should criticise ones decision on what they spend their money . I love games, music, movies, and many other cool stuff that comes as one single piece of hardware. It`s nice! Why do we get ourselfs mp3 players? We get mp3 players, cause we don`t want to carry around a box full of cd`s. Mp3 players don`t come cheap compared to portable cd players, or even the old radio cassette. My point is, if you don`t need or like the ps3, it`s simple; don`t get one! And please, don`t criticise who does!
February 19th, 2008
If Microsoft were to integrate a Blu Ray player, the price will likely be prohibitive. PS3 just makes the best bet for a games/media rig. Although “Blu Ray Red Ring” kinda sounds neat!
An external drive might be ok for those that already have a 360 at home, but the HD DVD attachment didn’t exactly sell like hotcakes either. I can certainly see it happening, but I don’t know how much money it’s going to make them. I don’t see it slowing the sales of the PS3 at all.
February 19th, 2008
the 360s play DVD for games,ITS DONE.
PS3 will have bigger games because of blue-ray.
GTA san andreas will be exclusive on the PS3,i dont think a DVD can handle it.
February 19th, 2008
bigfella
PS3 blu-ray is used for bigger games and u can add more things in the game,is not ONLY for movies,if the 360 gets blu-ray it will only be for movies NO MORE…not games.
u dont realy know what blue-ray is on PS3.
GTA san andreas will be exclusive on the PS3,i dont think a DVD can handle it.
February 19th, 2008
Hmmm who owns Blu-Ray licensing? oh yeah Sony does, which means that in order for ANY company to manufacture a blu ray player they must get Sony’s approval…do you really think sony would hand Microsoft a blu ray player?? i dont think so. This “news” is all bogus rumors
February 19th, 2008
Erm, are you ‘TechBlorge’ editors such big Xbot fanboys that you have to promote rumours that are just plain wrong (see MS’s response to BluRay rumours - they have denied it completely).
Added to that, they would have to license the drives from the BDA, which they are not a member of - thus very costly. And you think they could do all these changes in oh.. 6 months?
Geez its sad to see all the Xbot fans trying to prop up a box that is flawed, and being outsold (everywhere now). Hate to say it.. but X360 is looking down the barrel, so I doubt MS with throw more bad cash after it - has cost them nearly 4 billion already!!!
February 20th, 2008
Xbox 360 HD DVD is dead
Xbox 360 Has No Media card support
Xbox 360 has no internet browser
Xbox 360 has no games other than FPS
Xbox 360 has a huge failure rate
Xbox 360 has no game worth buying for 2008
Microsoft copy Sony’s EyeToy
Xbox 360 still uses DVD for games in the future is gonna come back to hunt microsoft can u say 4 disc like PS1
Xbox 360 has hard drive on some system
Xbox 360 has lessvideo and audio codec than PS3
Xbox 360 has the worst power ac adapter a brick
Xbox Live is is lagging always has bad tv movie for download at only 720p not like ps3 1080p
Xbox wifi cost $100 wow
Xbox 360 has a ugly looking rush design
PLAYSTATION 3 has the superior Blu-ray Disc drive built in
PLAYSTATION 3 supports all media cards
PLAYSTATION 3 has a useful internet browser
PLAYSTATION 3 has all types of games all A++
PLAYSTATION 3 has no failure rate
PLAYSTATION 3 has the best games for 2008 MGS4 GT5 SOCOM HAZE RESISTANCE KILLZONE 2 UNCHARTED 2 INFAMOUS LITTLEBIGPLANET and many more A++ Games
PLAYSTATION 3 Has the best camera with voice recognition PLAYSTATION EYE
PLAYSTATION 3 has uses Blu ray for games which helps gamers get better games and developer make better and bigger games.
PLAYSTATION 3 has huge hard drive in every system
PLAYSTATION Has more video and audio codec than Xbox 360
PLAYSTATION doesn’t need a power brick like xbox your pc power cored is compatible with ps3 power supply system
PLAYSTATION 3 would launch HOME and destroy Xbox Live for good.
PLAYSTATION 3 has free wifi supports
PLAYSTATION 3 has a better system design than any other console.
PLAYSTATION 3 is the best choice and the cheaper to buy a must have for any real gamer out there that love real next gen technology. Sony will always be #1 no matter what #1 electronic’s company in the world.
February 20th, 2008
GTA San Andreas? Wasn’t that the game that was on last gen consoles? What do you mean by saying it’s exclusive???? And if Microsoft do go ahead with a Blu-Ray add-on, why would they not take advantage of that down the road? If I recall, a few years ago when buying a PC game, you had the choice of buying it in DVD form or CD-Rom form. The dvd form was obviously on 1 disc, and cd-rom was on multiple discs.
It’s all heresay at the moment, nobody knows what is going to happen.
ZZZZZzzzzzzzz…… @ Ivan_PSP
February 20th, 2008
I have seen the future and it doesn’t include the Xbox 360 in it…
February 20th, 2008
Have you gotten laid yet in the future you saw? Or were you still waiting for it then too?
February 20th, 2008
I would think that for the additional price that MS will now include (internally) a BR-drive. I suppose that if BR wasn’t manufactured by one of their direct competitors, maybe they’d have gone BR in the first place.
The fact that the PS3 is the cheapest BR player on the market (and the most future proof), will probably help shift more units to the movie going public.
What does this mean for MS? They are already ‘half-way to high-def’ with the the Elite which sports a HDMI connector, so it would make sense for newer models of the elite to carry onboard BR drives to make it a full HD movie player.
And what about the Wii? Can both Sony and MS compete? Well the ‘Motus Darwin’ controller is on it’s way, so move over Wii, you’re old tech..
Motus Darwin Link
And no, Nintendo can’t sue, the origunal iClub (used to help golfers improve their swing) was here long before the Wiimote.
February 20th, 2008
bigfella, sorry i forgot you mad cuzz a gay lowlife loser mad cuzz he doesnt own anything to brag about lmfao that must suck to be you.
More than you ever will.
February 20th, 2008
“The Xbox 360 has lagged constantly behind the PS3 in terms of integrated technology.”
dumbest. statement. ever. Until the GPU of the ps3 can match the Unified Shader Archticecture of the 360’s gpu, it’ll still lag behind. One has to wonder why the ps3 versions of multi plat games are looking/sounding/playing worse than the 360 version if the ps3 integrated technology was so great. Stop believing the fanbois. they know what every 6th grade boy knows.
February 20th, 2008
Gay lowlife loser? Yeah that’s original. How about you learn to spell before you post things?
February 20th, 2008
The fella who asks a stranger if they actually managed to get layed in the future calls others unoriginal?
ROFLMAO
February 20th, 2008
Kev….
Compare the 360 games that are Ports on the PS3 vs the Games that are exclusive built from the Ground Up on the PS3 and you will have answered your question.
Thanks,
jazeej
February 20th, 2008
I hate the fact that Microsoft is trying to put another add on into their system instead of trying to integrate it into it.
February 20th, 2008
sorry mate no internal blu ray for the shit box that would mean xbox 360 games could be played on the ps3, do some dam research before typing away. also what will the millions of xbox user do when games come out in blu ray instead of dvd i think they would be a little pissed of. external drive maybe.
February 20th, 2008
sony owns blu ray it would be stupid of them to let microsoft have it on 360 no matter how much
money m$ is offering
February 20th, 2008
you xboxers will see with your own four eyes, the DOMINANCE of ps3 commencing circa 2008. eventually, you will understand. it just takes you all a bit longer, lol.
February 20th, 2008
also, ms could have blu ray if they choose. SONY cannot deny them that. FACT ! TOO BAD IT WONT SAVE THEM.
February 20th, 2008
and WARHAWK slays HALO 3 !!!
February 20th, 2008
@mussy
I’ve seen a few illogical statements in my day but yours has to be close to taking the cake. There are two reasons that Xbox and PS3 content aren’t compatible. The major one is different architectures. When the Xbox 360 gets Blu-Ray (IMO, it’s when not if), PS3 games will not play on the 360 and 360 games will not play on the PS3. Simple as that, different architectures are not compatible with each other. I’m just talking about games, not movies.
Then there’s the matter of different DRM systems, at least, I assume Sony would use a different system than Microsoft.
@sam smiles
A customer is a customer, business is business. If company a wants to buy a product from company b then company b is going to sell it to them regardless of who they are and what they represent. Simple business economics.
In fact the BDA (Blu-Ray Association) will be more than happy to welcome Toshiba and Microsoft on board. Like I said, it’s just business.
http://gear.ign.com/articles/853/853203p1.html
February 20th, 2008
you are all a bunch of retards…plain and simple
February 20th, 2008
I stick by my first post. It’s too expensive for Microsoft to put a BR drive in the 360. Even as an add-on, it’s too expensive. (Expensive for the consumer).
I imagine Microsoft will speed up production on their next system, for an late 09 release.
February 20th, 2008
Sorry bigfella but as a ps3 owner, I have to call you on a couple fanboyish statements you made above. Firstly, the PS3 doesn’t have a “huge hard drive.” With games like DMC4 have a 5gb install and lost planet looking like it’s gonna be the same way, even my 60gb model is feeling a pinch due to the media I have stored on it along with other games like oblivion which takes a little over 2gb and all the mods for UTIII that I have. Fortunately the hard drive is easy to upgrade and I will do so when my warranty is up. Second I still can’t call the PS3s game library “A++” as you did. Uncharted was great and I’m playing through it again. UTIII supports mods and plays really well with the controller and with my keyboard and mouse. Resistance was good for a launch title. Warhawk is a lot of fun. And from what I hear Ratchet and Clank was good but i never played it as it’s not my style of game. The Ps3 does have a better 2008 calender if the developers can get it right and not have another orangebox fiasco .
February 20th, 2008
my apologies big fella i meant Ivan_PSP
February 20th, 2008
The only chance microsoft will have now to gain in the market after the fall of hd-dvd would be to come out with an 120 gb xbox-360 just like the elite but with a blu ray player in its system produced by samsung since their in second place when it comes to blu ray player sales. I think microsoft and samsung would be a good competition for ps3..i have always been a ps3 by the way and still am.
February 20th, 2008
firstly there is a lot of bad opinions here.
1. microsoft doesn’t back blu-ray, expect greater efforts into their true plans of downloadable content. we can buy entire AAA games online now. the next xbox will be designed around this
optical formats will die, digital storage is future proof and limitless
2. bluray has seriously hurt ps3 sales, does anyone on this site actually think the ps3 should have sold less than 10 million consoles to date? over a year later and they haven’t gone anywhere near the ps2’s sales.
3. hd-dvd was an option if you liked movies and wanted a high def option. the xbox 360 HAS a dvd drive standard which is still the default movie standard. both ps3 and x360 play those fine.
4. it’s too late for new hardware designs because of hd-dvd bowing out. the next nintendo should release holidays 2009 and the new xbox is due holidays 2010. the ps3 had better be working on releasing 2011 or be left behind. microsoft isn’t going to rush a blu-ray drive to market for 1 year of poor sales due to disinterest.
all the rubbish about gpu and games being better is irrelevent to the discussion. the gpu is better in the x360 and the cpu is better in the ps3. both suffer from not enough memory to do anything with it
February 20th, 2008
Who is Big Fella, any hoo? (sorry, just a joke :)) I wasn’t forced to pay extra for a ps3, I was just Stoopid enough to do just that.. and spent a year wondering weither (?) or not I was a dufus.. It turns out that I was not. Cool! And if Xbox take up Blu-ray it will not be productive to the gamer market in their favor.. The PS3 fan bods will eat any blogg critics like beans on toast! You are right, of course, in saying that the future is uncurtain, but it always was. Now all we have is a level playing field. This is the year of real news. I hope my stupidity pays off, but I can’t wait for the GTA downloadable content to manifest in ways that just weren’t conceivable a year ago! Go techno!
February 20th, 2008
No worries Luke.
Mizu, yeah I think my post was more original that his. And if you really did roll on the floor laughing at your own inane post then you need to get out more, princess.
February 20th, 2008
that = than
February 21st, 2008
Ahh….
Pick the system that plays YOUR games. Wii if you like the Super Mario, Wii Sports, etc. XBOX360 if you like anything cross-platform or exclusives like Halo3 and GOW. PS3 if you like Uncharted or whatever and awaiting MGS4, FF.
So what Blu-ray won unless you plan on watching more movies than games. The bigger space means nothing when the rest of the hardware can’t even utilize it efficiently. And what’s with the mega-spooling on the HD. DMC4 takes like 5gbs up. That contradicts having BR since the whole point was to be able to store ON the media, NOT the HD.
And it’s 2008 and PS3 hasn’t really proven jack except its integrated features that few people use on a mass scale. If it does the job by 2009, well then the fanboys can talk their smack. For now, PS3 “exclusive” games downright suck except maybe Resistance. Warhawk is good? Huh. Re-invented the flight sim with X-wing like fighters.
X360 will unlikely support BR games because that would impede sales of games since most have DVD9 drives. That would be a dumb marketing move. It will likely be an addon that plays movies and might be integrated one day in an elite version. By then, the next-gen will be out and well M$ would once again entrenched itself further in the video game market regardless of the profitabilty. Also, people changed discs on PS1 and PS2 so it won’t be something new until all media is simply digital downloading.
February 21st, 2008
To add, it is unfortunate that PS3 didn’t penetrate the market early because now pretty much halfway into the cycle, games might be coming out that could have helped it early on.
PS2 on the other hand put Xbox 1 on its a$$, and Halo 1 and 2 were like Jesus Christ or Moses for Microsoft. The Halo series allowed Microsoft to gain ground, and then Sony let them catch up and pass them by adding extra stuff to PS3, namely BR. So, they win the movie war but lose the gaming war (for now). Probably 2011 or 2012 will be a better competition.
February 23rd, 2008
Ok, this stuff about blu-ray and hd dvd is just plain stupid. Do you think they are really gonna fill a blu-ray disc with a game. No!. They havnt even fill a normal dvd. we dont need blu-ray yet, Blu-ray is for the future so it isnt really needed right now. so it dosnt matter.
March 3rd, 2008
i would just like a system that plays games none of this movie bs, and look it up the ps3 games ARENT on blu-ray it is at this moment a movie disc. so piss off. and i dont even think blu-ray will be around much longer. i think they will eventually switch to SD MINI cards like they have for mobile memory they can hold up to 8 gigs currently and pretty soon 16 gigs which is (HD DVD Cap) and half of Blu-ray cap and they are small than an inch and the drives dont take hardly any room, i think that is where the Gaming/Multimedia industry will eventually head
March 4th, 2008
I own both a ps3 and xbox, and i buy all my games for xbox and watch blu-ray movies on ps3. I also heard rumor from my friend that his uncle who works with xbox said that built-in blu-ray for games and movies is something they are working on, because of the gta 4 problem with the 2-disc release for xbox. Not only that but it will feature a built-in wifi connection but will be slightly larger to accomedate the heat problem that could arrise.
September 28th, 2008
The XBOX 360(tm) has WIFI by using a WIFI addon that plugs in above the LAN socket, anyway it seems that Blue-ray is the onlything that makes PS3 better. but did you know that the PS in pS1,PS2 and PS3 actually means personal System X so sony are infringing on copyrites onwed by International Buissness Mechines.
October 9th, 2008
Just thought i would add something, yesterday i sold my ps3 and on saturday i will buying a 360 elite, i have gone through every web site seeing if i was making the right choice and i think i have. The only problem i have is 2 years down the road do developers begin to abandon Xbox as DVD’s are to small…im not worried though as Microsfot will NOT let this happen, either a blue ray drive or xbox 720 will be out.
Games consoles (note the word GAMES) should really just play games, i do understand that some PS3 owners love the blue ray which is fair enough, i just think that when Blue ray takes off a stand alone player will get alot cheaper, at the moment i aint paying £20 -30 for a blue ray disc.
In my opinion the games on 360 are miles better, halo, fable, lost odysey, they own Rare who might make something good again. Xbox is gettin Final Fantasy too! PS3 owners always say we got little big planet, killzone etc but there nothing that amazing. Xbox live is better, the games are better, Microsoft keep buying up developers which may be greedy but doesnt bother me, aslong as they keep bringing out the games.
My PS3 literally sat there for months, i played GTA on it then thought i would go and buy another game…..not really anything i wanted….look over at the 360 section and there are loads of games i think i would like to play.
This is just my opinion the whole console wars in gay, both have disadvantages and advantages, just in my opinion xbox is slightly better, if you want a console that has good games then get a 360, if you want to wait a year or so for games and want the blue ray then get a PS3.