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[XanTium]

Should Microsoft Release a Blu-ray Addon for Xbox360 in 2008?

[mlapaglia]

if blu-ray ends up winning, then yes.

[avatar1976]

QUOTE(mlapaglia @ Jan 21 2008, 05:17 AM)

if blu-ray ends up winning, then yes.

Agreed and it's certainly looking that way at the moment, but I still think HD-DVD will be around at the end of 2008 and it's just going to create confusion if M$ release another add on drive to play blue ray but not HDDVD before HDDVD is dead.  So on the basis of that I said no they shouldn't release one in 2008, if the question was should MS release an addon drive capable of doing blueray and HDDVD, my answer would be without question yes.  People would be far more likely to "jump in" then, Microsoft should never have taken sides in this disc war between Toshiba and Sony, however they subscribed to the art of war quote "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".
Worth noting with all this, the blueray drive has not helped PS3 sales much in fact it's probably been to their detriment.
(fixed spelling)

[freezerburn31]

i think m$ did a smart thing by having the hddvd drive seperate from the console, that way no matter which format wins they can always change it. however sony is kinda screwed with having  the blu-ray built in. and would be devastaing to them if it fails.
but in the long run it may help sony if things go they're way, even now some games are being made to take advantage of the extra disk space available on the bluray format

i guess only time will tell

[avatar1976]

QUOTE(freezerburn31 @ Jan 21 2008, 08:17 AM)

i think m$ did a smart thing by having the hddvd drive seperate from the console, that way no matter which format wins they can always change it. however sony is kinda screwed with having  the blu-ray built in. and would be devastaing to them if it fails.
but in the long run it may help sony if things go they're way, even now some games are being made to take advantage of the extra disk space available on the bluray format

i guess only time will tell

Hmm but on a purely blu-ray player type scenario?? (which is all we're talking about with the 360). Micrsosoft have repeated over and over again they will not release games on HD disc format this gen, we're probably talking about a handful of games that would use that much space, eg Blue Dragon.  I think the next xbox model will almost certainly have bluray / HDDVD drive standard in the box, in fact I hope it does both bluray and HDDVD (or the oposite of whichever one dies).
Got a bit off topic there sorry, I do feel bad for all the 360 users out there who bought the HDDVD addon drive.  I held off simply because I don't actually have a HDTV and I'm of the opinion HDDVD has already lost in Australia.  I would have considered buying one of the addon drives had Toshiba done the right thing in AU but they bumped off their distributor to AU just at the start of the HD war (stupid).  They've only just started pushing out some HDDVD titles in AU in the last 3 months or so, where as bluray has been everywhere.

[jesterrace777]

Doesn't make sense since Microsoft's focus seems to be HD downloads via live  and the fact that they are still supporting HD-DVD.  If both of the others tank though it would make sense but for one fact.  I don't see MS paying royalties to Sony for the technology (which they would have to).

[pinkerton]

I voted no, mainly because I think the 360 is far too noisy to be a media player, I also already have a PS3 for BluRay which is far quieter. The 360 is a games machine and currently the best one, which is what it should concentrate on being.

This post has been edited by pinkerton: Jan 21 2008, 04:10 PM

[traxxasman]

might as well

[gsharpshooter]

i want a built in blu ray player no more addon crap holes lol

[pinkerton]

To add to my last comments, if MS insist on having a HD player then why not just add BluRay to the HD DVD drive making it dual format? I believe this is the future anyway, my new PC drive suppports both.

[blind42]

For me it depends , I would like to see a drive sure why not, but how much would the drive cost $300+ or more? or we talking a drive thats under $200.

 If the drive is $300 , why would anyone buy it especially if its just a strait up bluray disc player. You could invest your $300 into a ps3 and even add a bigger game libary to your home and have a bluray blayer for what $99 more.


 The only way M$ would benefit from releaseing a bluray drive is if it was a dual format drive and fliping the bird at everyone who already purchased a hd-dvd drive.

 I also believe M$ is just the company to do this to , flip everyone the bird who bought the hd-dvd drive they already did to people who purchased older 360's by releaseing one with Hdmi.

[sicknasty413]

I debated on what to choose for this poll.

On one hand, blue-ray = eh. Yes, I'm slightly bias towards HD-DVD and the Microsoft platform. I don't even own a Playstation, Playstation 2, or Playstation 3 because I'm not very fond of Sony's gaming products. And because the PS3 incorporates a blue-ray player, I tend to tie the two together and hate both.

But, if I step back from my opinion and look at it rationally, if blue-ray wins (Which some declared it has).. then I guess it would be the better economic move to bring a blue-ray add-on to the Xbox 360. We all know the Xbox 360 is the better gaming platform (..not biased opinion.. completely truth. lol), so bringing the "best" of HD movies to the "best" gaming system just seems smart. It would appeal more to the masses and increase both Xbox 360 sales and blue-ray sales.

Having a dual-format player would probably be a good way to go as well. But if they we're strictly going to release a blue-ray add-on, it'd have to be at a price that competes with a similar spec'd PS3.

(fyi, I selected "yes")

This post has been edited by sicknasty413: Jan 21 2008, 10:49 PM

[red.manifestation]

I would like one if the price is right. Otherwise if its $300+ just buy a damn PS3.

[Odb718]

jesterrace777 is right. They'd never do it. Even if they added DLC to allow an external BR player not made for the 360 they'd still have to pay something to sony. (one would assume)

I personally don't think they should do it.

[flashfreak]

QUOTE(avatar1976 @ Jan 21 2008, 06:46 PM)

Got a bit off topic there sorry, I do feel bad for all the 360 users out there who bought the HDDVD addon drive.  I held off simply because I don't actually have a HDTV and I'm of the opinion HDDVD has already lost in Australia.  I would have considered buying one of the addon drives had Toshiba done the right thing in AU but they bumped off their distributor to AU just at the start of the HD war (stupid).  They've only just started pushing out some HDDVD titles in AU in the last 3 months or so, where as bluray has been everywhere.

I bought the addon when it came out over here, just cos i love being up to date with the technology. I only had king kong until transformers came out. I had been waiting eagerly for it. JB Hi-Fi started selling HD-DVDs and not just blu rays when transformers was released. Anyway, after watching the movie, i was a bit disappointed. The picture wasnt 'perfect' as they say, and i could see noise/specks on the picture. The sound was 100%, no doubt about that. Im using a 40" Samsung 1080i LCD. Anyway, just the other day, i got the ultimate bourne collection for $80 (from JB- bargain!). I put it in but once again, it didnt look the best and i was pissed off.

So i decided to try the VGA cable i had to see if it did anything, and what do u know, it did! HD-DVDs look absolutely perfect now, the 360 will upscale DVDs, and games even look better! I didnt think component was that bad, but this cable has improved everything! Problem is, i only have the 1 vga input on my tv, and thats what my comp is in, so at the moment im switching, till i can sell my 360 and buy one with HDMI.

Component cables shouldnt be that bad, but to be honest, on a screen like mine, they are. If anyone else is having quality problems, try a VGA or HDMI lead. It seriously makes EVERYTHING look better, and you'll be amazed at what your 360 can do. I thought it was good before and the visual defects were just the 360's limits, but it turns out it was the cable. It seriously feels like i've upgraded the console...