CES 09: Microsoft rules out 360-equipped Blu-ray...again

GameSpot writes: "At last year's Consumer Electronics Show, Warner Bros. made seismic waves by announcing that it would no longer be supporting the Toshiba-backed HD DVD high-definition digital media playback player. The move spurred a number of other studios to follow suit, signaling the end of the Microsoft-supported device and giving the format war win to Sony's Blu-ray Disc player, which comes built in with the PlayStation 3."

[Aaron Greenturd]

Other things we are ruling out this generation:

A. winning
2. coming in 2nd
D. not charging for Live
4. making an affordable console that isn't gutted
5. not attacking Sony at every opportunity

Just wanted to let you all know, because we like to be above board with our business practices. Also, we don't talk about Sony, and Sony really is last. Our year head start doesn't count because it would make us look bad.

So again, we don't talk about Sony.

But yeah we are ahead of Sony. Just so you know. Cause it's true.

Seriously.

[UnSelf]

6. arrogance
7. denial
8. foolishness
9. Loathe
10.Gluttony

[theycallmeryan]

I think you're confusing MS with Sony (not a fanboy in any way, just saying).

[UnSelf]

when is Sony EVER any of those things? please giv me examples

in Sony i see:

Confidence
Loyalty
Respect for Comp.
Quality ova Quantity
Exuberance

For the record im not a fanboy either but i can clearly state examples for both of my posts as to why i feel each respective co. deserves those respective titles

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

@Bubbles

Spoken like a true (Sony) fanboy. All three companies, MS, Sony and Nintendo are like that depending on where they are in the market, but you are probably too blind from fanboyism to see that. Here are a few for you to enjoy:

http://www.gamepro.com/arti...

http://digg.com/tech_news/J...

There are plenty more, but instead of hurting your feelings further I will just give you the famous Ken Kutaragi:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsS...

If anything, I would say Sony is more arrogant than any other company just because of their overnight success with the PS1 and PS2 (that I'm not sure if they are aware of why they got that success). Both MS and Nintendo have been underdogs in the videogame industry.

[UnSelf]

in every example u provided i see confidence displaced thoroughly.

in the 1st example (which seems to boast the most arrognace to u im guessing) Kaz is in a sense tellin how much confidence he has in his system and line up. Why would any self righteous guy in his position name an exclusive from a direct COMPETITOR?? Thats like asking Martha Stewart would she want any of Racheal Rays secret recipes to any of her dishes.

It would undermine all of Marhtas cooking and take away faith from her own supporters and followers. We all know Kaz would like not 1 but 3 exclusives from MS if he could have em wit no consequence but theres just to much at stake in telling an interviewer that.

Also, it clearly shown that the interviewer is tryna to stir up some beef wit that type of question.

Example: Rap artist Cam'ron said in an interview that he'll neva snitch on anyone no matta what. When asked would he even snitch on a rapist living next door to him and his son he sed he still wouldnt.

Now come on.....u really think someone in they right mind would allow that to go on or do u think he just sed what he sed for whateva reasons he sed it for? Ppl say a lot of nonsense in interviews esp. ppl in with a lot to lose (Kaz) becuz of his position. Wen i sed list exmaples i meant through their titles and hardware.

Fk spokespeople, action speaks louder than words my friend and the PS3 and its titles, are the manifestation of brilliance in ever nook and cranny

And Nintendo an underdog? All the validity of ur words flew out the window wit that one

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Bubbles, as a fanboy there is no point in arguing with you. You are too blinded by it and will only read what you want to see.

I will only point out that I said Nintendo "HAVE" been an underdog and not "IS" i.e. reffering to the Gamecube era when PS2 dominated the market. It is safe to say that the validity of your ability to comprehend went out the window with that one.... I'm not even sure you understand what I wrote or gave you in those links.

I'm going to game now and not waste my time with fanboys like you.

[Aaron Greenturd]

Dear Bubbles,

Please sell all of your video game consoles, uninstall your web browser, operating system, and dismantle your computer, in that order.

You make people like me look sane.

And don't ever make a continuation of my post. What I say is satire, what you say is nonsense.

Signed,

The Internet

[UnSelf]

Please keep ur corny comments to urself or in the OZ.

Also, plz learn to read. My comments werent a direct continuation of yours as it clearly states.

OH and for the uninformed or those who havent heard, naming urself afta an exec while slightly changing his/her name to that of a seemingly funny bad word is completely lame, unoriginal and mundane.

Satire? lol, now that my friend is funny.

Should i define Ironic for you?

[FarEastOrient]

Look at us fighting on the forums, actually I enjoy it, this is my "reality tv." ^_^ Don't forget about the toy, the wii, we should be bashing about that one for while and how it sells all these consoles but doesn't sell games.

OK than I'll start

2008 Games average metacritic scores above the entire library --> 5.6

[IzKyD1331]

Final Fantasy XIII on 6 discs FTW!

[FantasyStar]

Aw. I'd like Blu-Ray for my 360...but then I'd have 2 gaming consoles that can do Blu-Ray. Nevermind I guess....

[FarEastOrient]

I am playing White Knight Story and you what I noticed about it compared to Infinite Undiscovery and Lost Odyssey. There are no "pop-in" of graphics and lack of lengthy loading times between battles and on the game map. The cities are actual cities and it is nice to see that walking from street to the other forces a loading flash like in Infinite Undiscovery.

[IzKyD1331]

As long as MS is stuck in the last generation, multi-plat games like GTA will suffer because of the limited disc space

[DavidMacDougall]

Thats what annoys me most

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Microsoft has a choice of formats, this is gaming not movies. With. Console makers can use anything, like the black disc Sony used, the little disc the Game Cube used, or the arious cartridges used. You droids assume that Blu is and will always be the only method, just look at past consoles... <---you done wrapping your brain around that?

[SonySoldierEternaL]

^
go suck a fat one Jason

"you done wrapping your brain around that?"

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Wooks wike someone is thwowing a fit :D baby want your ba ba? Yes he does... guchi guchi guchi gooo.

[Sibs]

Jason, a movie being on a Blu-Ray disc doesn't make it magically better, it is better because Blu-Ray discs have 50gigs dual layer spaces, versus DVD having 9 gigs dual layered space... the less compression used, the better the quality (usually).

[Danja]

putting Blu Ray in the 360 wouldn't be the best thing to do for M$ and they really couldn't include a Blu Ray drive even if they wanted to...

Manufacturing cost would rise plus whats the purpose of putting in a Blu Ray drive if the games wont benefit from it...since Devs would still have to make there games on DVD's...

[lord_of_balrogs]

^^^bubbles for you for being rational (even though I know your a Sony supporter)

MS has no reason for a blue-ray drive, it would raise costs and the whole appealing aspect of the 360 is the fact that it is cheaper than the competition.

[rroded]

they could just do a add on like that hd thingy...

but fact is they want you dl'ing off their service but if they saw a profit in it Im sure they would.

[Consoldtobots]

MS would have to redesign their data caches for bluray drives if they wanted to use it for gaming which = never happen unless they want to alienate their "28" million userbase. At the same time they have NO next gen storage format. OF course the quick and easy answer to this has been "digital downloads are the future, bluray is a waste of time".
However there happens to be one very big wrinkle to this quick and easy answer, in trying to make an end run around bluray just to spite primarily Sony but in reality hurting the bluray disc consortium which consists of every important heavyweight out there. You are effectively cutting all the gamestops,bestbuys,cc,walmarts , etc. effectively the whole industry which support your console sales(and by extension a lot of profit from your game titles in DISC form) out of the picture.

Where does this digital download future leave them? Would they still support a company that supposedly plans to cut them out of the picture in a very big way? The answer to this one shouldn't be too hard.

[Highatus]

Completely agree, if they were to implement Blu-Ray they would alienate their current user base therefore lose consumer confidence.

This article is ridiculous.

[theycallmeryan]

Yeah but games would still suffer. Its an alternative though.

[FarEastOrient]

Why not Blu-Ray, Microsft is already paying royalties to the DVD Association which Sony is a member of.

[Playa7970]

just face the facts microsoft you lost the format war suck it up and get over it digital downloads will not take over ever... you the hell wants to download a full HD movie that will take all day then you cant take it anywhere.....also for games its not going to work what if i wanted to play that game at friends house

[theycallmeryan]

I prefer discs but you could re-download it a friend's house. It'd take an hour or so though :S.

[Playa7970]

it would take so much longer than a hour and seriously how long are you going to wait at your friends house and also that would mean your friend would have the game

[divideby0]

MS will not do BR just to save face and not play nice with Sony. They have NO alternative to BR and the sad thing about it...the gammers lose out in the long run with not having a better all around machine.
Please dont even talk about Digital Distribution, because its years away of becoming mainstream since many just dont have the uber connections to deal with it. Also the cost of the better connections is limiting many

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

It depends on in what respect you mean alternative. If by alternative you mean:

- Blu-Ray as a movie format, well there is digital distribution. Although not as good as Blu-Ray.
- Blu-Ray as a storage format for games, they could do HD-DVD discs, but why now? Perhaps for next generation.

[PS360PCROCKS]

why would Microsoft use BRD? Games can't use it and it makes the console more expensive. Stupid stupid move if they did, completely useless.

[theycallmeryan]

Because 30 million people have 360's with no BD and games have already been made on DVDs it would be a stupid move to put it in now and piss off their fanbase.

[MerkinMax]

Right when he said Blu-Ray was "way way way down" the list of thing people want I thought of everything that people want first.
1. NO RROD
2. Quieter Console
3. Free XBL
4. Built in WIFI
5. Killzone 2
ETC ETC. I own a 360 but it is really sad when you think of these negatives while owning the console.

[Magic_The_Celt]

SCREW DOWNLOADING TITLES

seriously, it only works with PSN and XBL Market games, small games like that are ok but whole full retail games? nah to impractical, people want to buy something they can actualy hold.

[karlostomy]

Steam?

http://store.steampowered.c...

seems to work quite well, imo....

[Magic_The_Celt]

Wow steam is on consoles now!

oh wait...

Yeah like someone below me said, an insane amount of people dont have their consoles hooked up to broadband, and even if they did downloading titles leaves much to be desired

No more trading in games
no more renting games

These are two things i will never accept.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Yeah Steam is nothing, nobody uses it, and PC's arn't a gaming platform (rolls eyes)

[joebahrjoebahr]

if you think all those things abotu ANY system your sick dude.

[DELTABOY04]

dont they understand if they make it an add on that eliminate the reason to get a ps3 if your a movie junky..price it at $150.00 then it would make a impact.

[rroded]

maybe they see it has a money looser?

-see above post-

[dkgshiz]

I'm pretty sure people would just buy a PS3. Who would want to have a $150 add on? Thats why the PS3 is actually cheaper. With a 360 you need tons of add ons. 20gb hdd-$100 Wireless adapter-$100 and if the 360 were ever to get a blu-ray add on, it would probably be about $150-$250. With the PS3 everything you need comes with it. MS would be just a bunch of hypocrites if they started to use blu-ray. Before they said HD DVD is the future. Then that flopped. Now they say Digital Downloads is the future. If they switched to blu-ray they would just be using there rivals own product. Sorry 360 owners. But it looks like your going to have to stick with DVDs. Too bad :(

[dkgshiz]

hell,Lots of people don't even have Internet. You wont see digital downloads get popular for about 15 years. When everyone actually gets Broadband. Plus, I like to have a hard copy of a game or movie. Disk based things are much better.

[dkgshiz]

If MS were ever to get blu-ray for the 360. It would be pretty embarrassing. Using your rival companies own product. Besides, MS loves there Digital downloads.

[Lord Vader]

100th "M$ doesnt want BluRay article" read.

8D

[theycallmeryan]

I believe its the 126th one. Lol jk.

[Why dis]

Is this the way folks try to make people care about ps3?

MSFT said not how many times now?

[Strife Lives]

having bluray is still too expensive to not justify a price increase and the less important aspect is it would make Sony look 'right' all along.I dont think Msft cares about that,cuz 360 does have HDMI now.

[ll_UNDERSCORE_ll]

I wonder how many people have bought one of those HD-DVD drives Microsoft was selling a yr ago. I wish I can see the look on their faces when the news broke out that the movie studios will gradually stop supporting that type of format. >>>> :(

[jlemdon]

But HD-DVD was kicking it's arse for a while, the only thing I was disapointed at was the XBOX fans.

they really didn't support, PS3 fans will support Sony with anything they throw at them so I'm glad that Blu-ray has won. It teaches those cowards to fully support...ahem(MS).

[hankmoody]

Well, I bought one and I didn't fall on the floor and sob when it lost the format war. I'll admit that once Warner Bros announced they would go Blu-Ray only, I knew it was the last nail in the coffin. Still, I'm getting use out of it, thank God.

[Marty8370]

Other things MS are ruling out this generation:

1.making a 360 that works
2.ripping off our customers
3.fixing RROD. lol
4.Winning the generation

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

It's still beating the PS3...:)

[Droid Control]

I FULLY understand M$ reasons for not including blu-ray at this point,but i personally wanted it for my 360 so bad...

guess i'll have to wait until the 720 before we see a M$ console playing Hi-Def discs...

I don't mind downloading movies, but as long as i have 6 TB of storage and i can KEEP that damn things instead of just renting them...

I want to OWN movies, not rent them...
Blu-ray is the ONLY optioin for that right now...

[caffman]

nuff said

[theycallmeryan]

Agreed, my 360 (20GB) has about 2 gigs left. My PS3 (60GB) has about 20 so i'm not too worried about that. If you want to own movies, Blu-ray is the place to get them unless like you said, you have TBs of storage.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

One thing I love about "gaming consoles" is they have the freedom to use any custom storage format they want. Not to mention if MS chooses one of the "many" other storage options, it would prevent piracy because those drives will be unavailable. My Mortal Kombat Sega cartridge won't fit in my Super Nintendo, MY Nitendo 64 cartridges wont work with my Satur, my copy of Resident Evil 4 Game Cube won't work with my Playstation 2.

What is the fascination with PS3 fans wanting MS to go Blu? you know they won't, you know Nintendo won't, so why? They don't need it for movies, hell by the time the next Xbox comes digital downloads will be the standard. By the time the next Xbox comes Microsoft will be saying "What should we use, 50gb, 100gb, 300gb or 1tb?" Sorry Playstation fans MS isn't going Blu and just like "past" consoles it's not going to hurt them in any way...:)

You have a goodn

[SonySoldierEternaL]

jason, keep posting so I can keep taking away your bubbles biatch!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

returned

[Graphics Whore]

Microsoft to come save Blu? Damn your dumb. DD has a 0.4% usage rate by the next generation analysts predict it'll jump to 15%

That's still way below marginal to be considered a dent, especially since Blu-ray is over taking DVD adoption rate. Iron man sells 1 million, The Dark Knight sells more? Ring any bells?

You should really just completely not post things on N4G you keep getting shut down.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

DD ---> forward
Disc <--- back

It's comming to an end, so have fun with your wall of disc. Mine on the other hand will be stored on a single drive the size of a poptart. Why do PS3 fans need to beg Microsoft to adopt Blu-ray? I mean Sony fans write blogs and post in forums every week and MS keeps slapping you back. Why the need to beg, is there somthing to worry about? Is the PS3 that needs saving or is it Blu?

Have a goodn...:)

[Graphics Whore]

So you're going to download 420 GB's of data how? Via 24mbps lan connection? In what? 10 years? Get real dude.

Uncompressed real 7.1 FLAC audio, with real uncompressed raw HD footage.

Microsoft isn't slapping anybody in the face lol, you're just ignorant.

It's funny that you're such a anti-sony supporter when you talk about standardized hard drives and SSD's when the Xbox 360 has a maximum of 120 GB's of proprietary hardware.

and then PS3 has a hardware cap of 1Tb. The Irony, it's hilarious.

Goodnight :).

[elorm9]

I hope you enjoy having to wait to DL your 9GB+ games. I can just go out to the store, pick up my copy, and play it immediately.

[ultimolu]

Why am I not surprised?

[hankmoody]

I won't die without it. HD is nice but I think between my cable box and Netflix, I have all the HD I need. I also have the HD-DVD player but I use that more to play regular DVDs, that way I don't burn out my 360.

[poindat]

Unless they want to go fully DD with the next console, which I seriously doubt would ever work considering the state of everything right now (inconsistent connections, some people without a connection, low speeds, high prices) I can't see them NOT using Blu-ray. Note how I'm saying next console. A Blu-ray addon for the 360 would be useless since the only benefit would be the ability to run Blu-ray movies. Games would still have to be made for DVD standards.

Do any of you still want to be stuck with DVD after 2010 or 2012? I know I don't. All it would be is America falling behind the global tech, yet again.

[fossilfern]

Right you know what it is do you want a format that holds 30gb dual layered or a format that holds 50gb dual layered? Clearly youd want the 50gb format. And im sure all the people that bought the HDDVD add on wasn't happy that the format is dead and im sure people dont want to buy a PS3 or a blu-ray player for their own personal reasons and im sure people would just want an all in one system with blu ray without buying a PS3 so why dont MS get their heads out of their own arse holes and listen to what people want and a majority of 360 owners want a bluray player for their 360 and I read somewhere that Sony would happily do a deal.

[nombon]

so what about the next xbox, will that come with a blueray drive because thats what i thought these types of articles were but they never mention anything for the next xbox.

[Koolkid09]

if microsoft was to jump on the blu-ray committee wouldn't they make a profit.

[Knightofelemia]

Its too late in the lifespan for microsoft to add blu ray to the xbox. I to support Sony but I also have a 360 why would i want 2 great gaming consoles that play blu ray just pointless. I slapped 400 bux down on a PS3 and 200 bux on my 360. I will not slapp 400 bux for a 360 no matter what kind of bells and whisltes it has built into it. By the time the nextgen systems hit there will probably be a disk that out does Blu ray, or games will be a digital download and the only thing they fight over is who can make the biggest harddrive.

[demolitionX]

too bad to be an xbox owner! I really don't care. What I really care the most, if a game needs multiple DVDs, PLEASE don't downgrade it to ONE DVD. END OF STORY! enjoy 360 owners your 8 GB media and DD. :)))

[JOEdANGEL]

The man makes several valid points on why MS should not include blu-ray in its immediate plans. After all they didn't include an HD-DVD drive to begin with, because of its cost and uncertain future.