Microsoft Plans Blu-ray Xbox 360, Due in May?

Rumours were circulating today (Monday, 18/02/2008) that Microsoft is set to dump HD DVD and bring out a Blu-ray Xbox 360 by as early as May 2008. The move will allow Microsoft to go head-to-head with the Sony PS3 gaming console which has been credited with being one of the main reasons that retailers have preferred Blu-ray over Toshiba's HD DVD.

David Richards reports that insiders at Microsoft in the USA has told SmartHouse that Microsoft have already configured a standalone Blu-ray player that can be connected into an Xbox 360, which could be on sale within three months.

[Le-mo]

So all the negative news surrounding blu-ray and the PS3 was for?????

[permutated]

Shiz N' Giggles? :P

[Bladestar]

lol... for nothing... waste of time... because business is business... microsoft picked HD DVD because they though it served them best... worst comes to worst ... uhhh.. they bring a blu-ray player... done deal... hey if Sony supported VHS after BetaMax went belly up... why wouldn't microsoft do the same.. specially since Toshiba own HD DVD not microsoft.

Once blu-ray wins it becomes public domain... not even Sony can stop microsoft from releasing a blu-ray player.... it's against the law...

[EZCheez]

Sony won't stop anyone from making a blu-ray player, because they'll collect royalties. It's anything but "public domain." More like a cash cow for Sony.

Also, while i can see an add-on being released, I seriously doubt Microsoft would release a 360 with an internal blu-ray drive.

On a side note, is that all one sentence?

[rofldings]

Just because a format wins doesn't mean it's "public domain." It takes YEARS for IP to expire, by then BD will be obsolete. Obviously Sony started making VHS player after VHS won, why lose out on money, but they damn sure payed JVC royalties.

If a 360 BD addon does come out, expect Sony/Panasonic/etc to be taking a cut off the profit.

[psnDevistator356]

Thats funny

[xplosneer]

True, but now they have to use the specs for Blu Ray, which will probably cost them money....

Again though, true, Microsoft did play it pretty smart because it was more uncertain who would win at the launch of 360.

[wageslave]

"Sony won't stop anyone from making a blu-ray player, because they'll collect royalties. It's anything but "public domain." More like a cash cow for Sony."

BluRay isnt anymore "owned" by Sony than HD-DVD is "owned" by Toshiba.

Both are the product of working-groups of technology firms. Neither is "exclusive" to one firm.

"Sony, Matsushita (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, and Samsung."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

MS can sell an add-on, or integrated BR device just as simple as anything. And, it doesnt benefit Sony in the least.

-
Edit @1.9:

Would you wager that the license fees goto the BDA? The purpose of which is it maintain the DMR (lets be honest), do promotion and to su

[crck]

But the BDA probably collects $10 to $20 in licensing fees for every player made. I'm sure Sony gets a big chunk of that money. For those that don't think Sony gets money from every Blu-ray player and disc sold. Ask yourself this common sense question. Why would Sony force a blu-ray player into every PS3 raising the launch price by over $100 if they didn't stand to collect a licensing fee in the future? Why would Toshiba lose a buttload of money trying to make HD-DVD the standard? Why would there even be a format war if licensing fees in the future weren't at stake? But there is no reason for Sony to stop MS. Business is business.

[EZCheez]

But someone is making money off of the format and the people who want to make it, hence licensing fees. I have a really hard time believing that Sony isn't making something off of blu-ray as a format.

Oh, and absolutely nothing against you, but I never look at sources when they're from a wiki page. Guess it's a habit from college. Most unreliable sources ever, and absolutely banned in anything professional.

[FirstknighT]

Why would Sony make money on other companies that choose Blu-ray? Sony doesn't own the name Blu-ray. :p

[Bladestar]

I didn't mean "public domain" in the sense that no royalties can be collected by Sony.... but in the sense that Sony cannot lock or stop microsoft or anyone from releasing a blu-ray player... it's against the law.. they also can't over charger microsoft just because...
Microsoft was going to pay royalties to Toshiba anyways... Microsoft main interest was the adoption of their encoding technology... which even blu-ray addopted... microsoft makes money on the hardware (addon)... and therefore profits from that...

Duhh Sony will benefit from this... only as much as microsoft benefits from Sony selling laptops with pre-installed windows OS... and that will run microsoft codex... I thought you guys would know by now that when it comes to business there is no enemies; only competitors... for microsoft blu-ray is no different than HD DVD... they don't publish movies.. they only care about the hardware... ohh and digital distribution...

The biggest loser here is Toshiba and they took a big cut on the Cell... and are also getting ready to make blu-ray players...

It's all about maximising profits... there is no losers in the format war, or any war for that matter... if HD DVD would win then toshiba would make some extra profits aside from hardware...

I'm not sure how this will affect movie studios that probably have to pay royalties for publishing content on blu-ray... but hardware makers pass the royalties (if any) to the consumer... ohh and don't think for a second that Sony can say, "let's charge microsoft 5 billion just because we say so..."; that's illegal... that means that microsoft or any other hardware manufacturer is able to create products that compete and cost less than Sony... just like Sony created VHS that did the same.

Do you know why Microsoft went for HD DVD? because Blu-ray camp didn't want to support VC-1 codec.... well.. now they do... there is no reason why microsoft shouldn't support blu-ray... win win situation for them.

[EZCheez]

I know Sony can't make a licensing fee for Microsoft out of thin air. You're not telling anyone on here anything most of us don't already know.

And seriously, I laughed when I read this:

"there is no losers in the format war"

Yeah, tell that to whoever's in charge of accounting for Toshiba.

[sonarus]

lol funny how quick die hard 360 owners can switch sides. They have gone from hi def isnt needed to market place has all the hi def i need to hd-dvd is better than blu ray to now. Including blu ray in 360 is in the best intrest of msoft. Sony stands most to gain considering they lead the blu ray front they wnt be the only ones gaining but they will gain the most in other words sony haters get over yourselves. The sooner msoft gets blu ray the better because blu ray may soon become an important choice in deciding which console to buy

[LastDance]

I love it how people think you can just make what ever the hell you want.

[games4fun]

whatever helps you sleep at night, that is some wishful thinking that sony will not profit off this, and an add-on will only make msoft look even worse because people will have to add that on to a 360 and it will be costing more than a ps3 on top of that the ps3 has them built in already

[FirstknighT]

I'm a die hard 360 owner and I always voted for bluray since I already own a bluray player. I bought a Samsung 1200 because of HQV processing. Makes my 300+ standard dvd collection to near hi def. I use my 360 for one purpose and one purpose only................games. I dont care about watching movies or surfing the web on my 360. All I want is top notch games and the 360 is second to none.

[tfur]

"Do you know why Microsoft went for HD DVD? because Blu-ray camp didn't want to support VC-1 codec"

Not really. Microsoft thought it was going to make a killing off of HDi, which of course eventually lost to BD-j. HDi was to be the money maker, not VC-1. Microsoft wanted to have their integrated HD "interactive" OS construct on all HDDVD devices. Fortunately, BD-J Java won.

Microsoft does not own the VC-1 codec, it is a part of a patent pool, that includes Sony.

An interesting article about VC-1:
http://www.theregister.co.u...

[IntelligentAj]

The key word in this rumor is standalone. There is no way a standalone add-on for the 360 will compete with the PS3 which has the drive built in. Also you have to remember, 360 owners don't watch movies on their machines, they only play games(as some people have said while attacking the PS3 as a Blu-ray player first and a console second)

[Cyrus365]

Bladestar,

Msoft supported HD-DVD because HD-DVD uses msoft technology iHD, Blu-ray does not, and wil lnot for the foreseeable future, unless they want to make Blu-ray profile 2.5 or whatever.

Blu-ray uses JAVA for it's inter-active stuff, it's more flexible, and allows more options, however it's more complicated (Thus could take longer, more time spent coding, thus $$$$).

[sonarus]

correction first knight 360 games were second to none. They seem to be dulling this yr things could turn around for the better but they still seem to be dulling

[gonzopia]

Ummm... I know this comes from an Australian source, but Microsoft is based in Redmond, WA - where it's still the weekend, and decisions like this typically don't get made on weekends, let alone announced. This is wild speculation. Though it admittedly would make good sense for the 360 to have a BD drive, I can't see Sony giving up their Blu-ray edge just yet.

[sonarus]

I dnt want to spark the wrath of fanboys but compared to last yr i am shocked at the 360 line up. Did they think they could use 1 yr to beat the ps3 so they fired all their big guns in 1 yr? I know msoft is still new in the game and they are still acquiring studios but this isnt their first console they need to be acquiring studios really quickly. The exclusives they had this yr are dissapearing really quick. Splinter cell and left for dead are rumored to be going. Last yr ps3 had a low install base and was really difficult to develop for but when companies like ubisoft and activision are reaping huge rewards for ps3 games its hard for those same 3rd parties to make that same decision a yr later when the ps3 install base is more than half of 360's and 360 has had twice as much time in the market. If msoft dosent win despite their commanding lead 2008 would be the yr where things turned for the worse. I really don't see things getting better for them either because of that lack of key 1st party studios.

[InYourMom]

get over yourselves! Do you think there were people like yourselves saying funny how all of a sudden Sony wants to use VHS or DVD?

If this is to become a standard then what do you want people to do?? If people want HD movies on a disc they are going to have to accept Br. This has nothing to do with the baby games you 2 are going on about. MS has said from day one that if BR was a format winner they would support it, plain and simple.

As well,this has NOTHING to do with gaming, which still hasn't shown that it's needed. Considering all the GOTY winners and most talked about games are not on the Br format. MS does not plan to use the format for games at all.

I'm still doing all my HD movies via downloads and do not plan on spending any money on Blu-ray (didn't spend any on HD-DVD either).

About the games, which you seem to want to derail the topic with are coming along just fine. This "dullness" you are talking about is a bunch of BS. MS hasn't even announced it's full line-up yet and already there are some great games in the channel. If you think MS are going to suddenly give-up or just stop trying you are mistaken.

[LastDance]

In your mom. Take a deeep breath.

Okay.

Lost oddessy is on 4 disks. okay? okay good.
Project gotham had to strip the game down because of the lack of space.

Whats going to happen in 4 years? 10 disk games?
If the rooms there, developers will use it.
I find it funny that you think Technology WONT develope.
So far all the "next Gen" games ive played are barely that. They are polished games that are more or less the same as last gen with a few exceptions.

In the coming years i believe we will see true next gen innovation come.

Compare a game that came out in ps2s 1st year games to the later ones.

It seems xbox has not alot of growing room left for creativity.
If your fine with the games that have come out so far thats good for you.
ive played many lackluster games on both systems that are suppose to be the next gen gaming and I wasnt very pleased.
But im very eagerly awaiting the true next gen games.

[sonarus]

lol. i am not talking about toshiba i am talking about 360 fans who hated ps3 so much by default they decided to be hd-dvd fans. Same ones who said hd-dvd was better and hd-dvd would win in the end. How they said things would chance was the price drops then things would change cus walmart was introducing super cheap hd-dvd player every time blu ray scored it was one excuse after the other. When hd-dvd got paramount and transformers was highest selling it was "see, told you hd-dvd isnt dead" talks for about a week. So despite their strong reluctance to support blu ray its funny to see how everything is just so cool now that msoft is going to support it. Its like i guess blu ray wasnt so bad after all after all microsoft is going with it who are we to stand against microsoft

[drewdrakes]

wageslave - youre absolutely right. 100% agree.

EZCheez - I use wikipedia everyday. School, job, it always works. Its completely reliable for the stuff im searching for. My college actually encourages it. It is quite reliable, you just have to have common sense...

BTW.. i have an HD DVD player, guess what...i get HD movies 50% off from amazon, who can say that without pirating? ya...thanks...

Also, I dont really want to get in a language battle, but people seem to be saying that java is better and more diverse than microsofts languages. The only advantage java has is portability, thats it. Meaning it can be used on various operating systems. Microsofts Visual Studio is SOO much better than anything java has its not even a comparison. Microsoft just knows what theyre doing in this department and knows what developers want.