We heard on March 6th 2008 that Sony was in talks with Microsoft about an Xbox 360 with a Blu-ray drive, then we heard on March 14th that Xbox 360 said no to Blu-ray as they wanted to focus on digital downloads. Just a couple of weeks after that we heard that Lite-On were going to develop a built-in Blu-ray Disc drive for a new model of Xbox 360, this is after Microsoft crushed the previous rumors.
Today its being reported from a Chinese newspaper called “Economic Daily News”, that Microsoft has ordered an Xbox 360 with internal Blu-ray drive from an Asustek subsidiary. The subsidiary is called “Pegatron Technology”, and they say the order has come direct from Microsoft.
When you hear many rumors like this from many sources, it tends to leave you thinking, “Something Blue is going to happen”. Microsoft did not deny the Lite-On Blu-ray rumor and they have not said no to this latest news. To add to the excitement, it’s also being said that the new Xbox 360’s with built-in Blu-ray drives could be shipping between July and September this year.
Since HD-DVD lost to Sony Blu-ray, it’s obvious that the 360 could do with some sort of Blu-ray option, internal or external. Now would 360 owners dump their current console for a new one with Blu-ray or are they happy with high definition downloads?
Source: Read
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As a ps3 owner, I feel sorry for all those early X360 adopters who trusted microsoft. Now it seems that as always, microsoft are changing up to try to compete with the better ps3. My advice to x360 owners who want a Blu Ray x360, instead of buying a new one just buy a ps3.
PS3 took longer to come out, but because it was a 10 year system. X360 was rushed without proper consideration for a future past three years. The biggest reason microsoft need the blu ray player isn’t so users can watch bd films, it’s because they know that dvd doesn’t have enough storage space for the new generation of games. This will mean that come next year, x360 users will at some point find themselves having to upgrade to play one of the big titles. Developers are already talking about storage space being an issue. Metal Gear Solid 4 on a DVD? It won’t happen and you can bet that this ps3 exclusive will eventuly be ported to x360…..and it will need Blu Ray.
Michael your storage space comment is fanboyism. Its called compression and it only gets better and better as time goes on. Take UT3 for example, they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to get all the maps on the DVD but they did along with all the downloadable content that is out for ps3/pc and exclusive extra characters, split screen, and so forth. I repeat all of that fit on a DVD so no, no one will have to upgrade to play future big titles. And besides, I would much rather have my games compressed and running at 12x (dvd) than to have developers be lazy and just throw content everywhere just because they have more space and it run at 2x (Blu Ray) - PS3 Framerate issues in every game anyone? (Have to admit Uncharted rocked! :-D) Thats why there are so many required installs before you can play your game on PS3 is so it can read from the hard drive too to pick up the slack from the Blu Ray drive. So if they add Blu Ray to xbox either internally or externally, it will not be used for games… only for movies so no worries current owners. I’m not a fanboy of xbox even though still as of now its a better experience (When the lights show up green and not red! :-p). Competition is key but that is for the businesses, not us as a community. All of these people keeping the bickering alive need to give it a rest and realize that WE are all gamers looking for a solid experience and there is no use burning bridges. Game on.
I personally think that if a blu-ray drive is to come the the 360 internally that they will also include a external drive as well. It only makes sense for exsisting owners. If games will come on Bluray is a possibility but I doubt it because all other 360’s are already equipted with DVD Drives. If they allowed games to be played from an external Bluray drive that would be cool. I believe the only option is to do what they were doing with the HD DVD and have a duel format disk. Bluray on one side and DVD on the other. But I agree with Blake that compression is everything and 12x vs 2x means better and faster games for the 360. Why people think that DVD cannnot hold the games is beyond me with the many times we have heard it won’t fit to it actually fitting on DVD. It’s a myth people give it up.
I also believe that the 360 should get the Bluray drive for a reason to compare Download vs Physical Disk. I personally don’t buy movies because they are too expensive. Once you watch it why do you want to just put it on a shelf to collect dust. I rent or go to the theatre and I also do On Demand from my cable company and the 360. I believe this will show how much better download is as I can find a lot to watch on my cable On Demand service and My 360 without ever going to the rental store. I really can’t tell you the last time I went to rent a movie. I only go to rent games. Donwload is the future.
As far as downloadable media goes I would rather have a 1080p physical disk then to wait until the 720p file downloads. So I think that microsoft needs to get a blu-ray drive no matter what.
I’m not sure why M$ feel the need to have this, other than point scoring. Blu-Ray is not taking off outside of the PS3 so why support another struggling format?
It really comes down to your download speed from your service provider. That is what makes the difference in download time. I have a good service at home and I downloaded a movie in less then 2 hours. The 360 also tells you when you can start watching the movie even befor the download is finished so somewhere while watching it it will finish so you don’t have to wait the full time for it to download before you can watch a movie. One day I will download a movie when not playing games so I can really tell how long it takes for me. What I said befor is for the HD Movies but the standard definition it is even faster. A SD movie took less then a hour and it looks fine. for HD, 720p is not 1080p but for movies it is just fine plus my 360 upconverts it to 1080p anyways. Movie downloads are not as bad a you think as long as you have a good internet service.
Not sure what the download service is like in the US but in the UK it’s limited to a few films, most of which are old. I purchased an Elite in anticipation of the new service and so far I’ve yet to download a single film. That and my 360’s fan noise really puts me off.
I’m in Canada but I know that the service is best in the US. In Canada we have about 75-80 Movies on the service. It was slow a first but it seems now every week there is something new coming out now. No TV shows as of yet though. If you make a silver account for the US you will see the potential of the service as they have tons of content to view. Unfortunatly you need a US points card to pruchase anything and you need to be in the region or else it won’t work. I also need to make a Japanese silver account to see what content they have over there as I hear it is unique compared to other places.
CAD, I didn’t know you could do that - sounds very interesting so I’ll definitely have a look. In the UK the latest downloads (from memory) are Superman I, Superman IV, National Lampoons Vacation and Private Parts. While I’m not suggesting they aren’t great films it’s hardly enough for to not consider a Blu-Ray PS3 or mourn the loss of HD DVD. I think if there was a 360 upgrade I’d consider it but I’d only purchase if I haven’t bought a PS3 in the meantime and the fans were silent.
yup pay for the internet subscription + XBL + Movie= ???? or get a bluray disc, and i dont think xbox will get an internal drive because they have to reconfigure everything, like 2x speed and harddrive for installation, hardrive is available for xbox which is ultra expensive but are not for game installion they are only for media purposes, if they MS do come out with internal bluray drive then it will be called XBOX 360 Service Pack 2