Important 360 news next week

[Isildur´s Heir]

More news, but take this as a grain of salt.

Some guy at neogaf is saying that the employees at his local Gamestop told him that they are getting a new SKU, and essentially what is happening (with the HDMI being added to the Premium systems and the HD-DVD drive prices dropping) is the Elite’s feature, minus color, are being dropped down to the Premium systems, and then there is a new SKU for a system that is basically an Elite (don’t know which color) with an integrated HD-DVD drive.

If that´s true, i was right about one thing in my last post, the external HD-DVD prices will drop.

http://www.slashgear.com/rumor-xbox-360-ultimate-126711.php

One thing is for sure, there are a lot of rumours about an upcoming 360 with a HD DVD drive, just search the net.....that´s a lot of people wrong....or...?

 

[Spider-Vader]

I hope it's they'll have an add-on Blu-ray device because Blu-ray has a million more movies than HD-DVD.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I hope it's they'll have an add-on Blu-ray device because Blu-ray has a million more movies than HD-DVD.

Or theyll announce that they are buying every movie studio ever and with that ending this horribly stupid format war.

 

[Spider-Vader]

Fine with me.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I know that blu-ray is winning, and frankly, i don´t give a f*** about it, about either format, i care about content.

And right now, HD-DVD has very little content now. Warner Bros dropped them. They only have the film libraries of Viacom and NBC Universal, that's it. Blu-ray has the film libraries of Time Warner (the largest), Sony (which includes several studios such as Columbia, TriStar, MGM, and Screen Gems), Lion's Gate, Fox, and Disney (which is rather large too).

Sorry dude, the Format War is now in the last stages and blu-ray appears to be the victor. Because of the Playstation 3 and movie content.

I don´t know much about the diferences between both, except for capacity, but i know that HD DVD has triple layer, which makes it slightly bigger than blu-ray dual layer (51Gb vs 50Gb).

Most production facilities go by single and dual layer. Which is less than blu-ray's. If blu-ray had a triple layer (which it will) it is going to be bigger than HD-DVDs.

About the rumour at hand....
I don´t know if it´s true or not about the "ultimate", i´m just giving notions on why it can be true.
And for the record, MS can put games on HD DVD if they want to, all they have to do is reduce the price of the external HD drive even more, so that all can buy it.
And i can give you two more reasons....

The external HD-DVD drive was made to play movies, not games.

1- Everyone was expecting the Elite to have a HD DVD drive back when it came out, meaning that people wanted it, even ifthey had a "original" console.

True.

2- It´s the way the 360 can have Metal Gear Solid 4, the on and off rumour flying about.
Kojima said that the 360 couldn´t handle it because of the format, because of the capacity of the blu-ray vs DVD.
Well, if that is the only thing, by having a HD DVD drive, the 360 can have MGS4.

Not going to happen, again, having a game on HD-DVD is literally cutting off the vast majority of Xbox 360 owners who do not own an internal or even an external HD-DVD drive.

Microsoft seems to be content with having mutli-disk games this generation also (Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey).

 

[Addendum]

Sorry dude, the Format War is now in the last stages and blu-ray appears to be the victor. Because of the Playstation 3 and movie content.

But he said he didn't give a **** about the format war

 

[Jerry!]

This format war is just one of those things I don't want to understand. I don't want to understand the mindset of buying all those Blu ray and HD-DVDs that some people have. There's this one guy, imdaly I think, who has got to have purchased the entire HD-DVD library. And now that it lost, he will be buying Blu Ray basically because he has to if he wants to keep watching new releases in high quality. Its crazy. I could never understand people like that. And I don't feel sorry for them either. Is the quality difference worth THAT much money? I can't believe that. All you had to do is just wait this **** out and saved a lot of money in the process.

 

[DorkyFresh]

Kojima said that the 360 couldn´t handle it because of the format, because of the capacity of the blu-ray vs DVD.
Well, if that is the only thing, by having a HD DVD drive, the 360 can have MGS4.

it's not that simple. if MS starts distributing HD-DVD only games then they'll be screwing over millions of people who have a 360 but don't want an HD-DVD. they'll either have to deal with it or be forced to by an HD-DVD player just to play those HD-DVD titles. that's one of the reasons why Sony wanted blu-ray built-in with the PS3, so that EVERYONE who has a PS3 can enjoy blu-ray games....as opposed to only those people who would have a PS3 with a blu-ray add-on.

 

[Addendum]

This format war is just one of those things I don't want to understand. I don't want to understand the mindset of buying all those Blu ray and HD-DVDs that some people have. There's this one guy, imdaly I think, who has got to have purchased the entire HD-DVD library. And now that it lost, he will be buying Blu Ray basically because he has to if he wants to keep watching new releases in high quality. Its crazy. I could never understand people like that. And I don't feel sorry for them either. Is the quality difference worth THAT much money? I can't believe that. All you had to do is just wait this **** out and saved a lot of money in the process.

The thing that always got me about the format war is that you have people who think being "financially invested" in either side means simply having an hd-dvd player or a blu-ray player, instead of, say, buy some stock in Toshiba or Sony where you can :gasp: make some money

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Let´s imagine that it is true and that there will be an ultimate 360 coming out.
First, yes, you guys are right, at first it looks like a bad move, it will alienate many 360 owners.
But, like i said, people were expecting the HD drive to be on the Elite, which means people wanted it, no matter owning a 360 or not.
Second, by cutting down the price of the external drive will allow people that don´t want to buy a new 360, to get the HD DVD, which, in the long run, will make everyone have it.
Second, and more important, people buy a console for one game, people buy a 360 for Halo 3 or a PS3 for Uncharted (just examples, but believe that people will buy a PS3 for MGS4), why can´t you guys imagine that people will buy a HD DVD external drive for a certain game, when it will be much cheaper than any console on the market (it already is, and with a price cut...)?

I´m sorry to say, but you guys are a bit on the blind side, you guys are not looking at the big picture, and the big picture is great (if this rumour is true, of course)..
Lets, once again imagine the Ulitmate 360 (by saying that, lets imagine that it is true and it´s coming out)...
I can guarantee one thing, there are already HD DVD games being made.
It makes no sense to release a console with HD drive and not have games being made for it, which are already in the making, and kept secret.
There is already a external drive for movies, why make it internal if there is not something going on...?
That makes the 360 the last console to go into the format war, but the first to use it, it makes tons of sense on a business angle, it will give an edge over the PS3, more even when Sony is getting ready for a big year (not only because they need to, every big franchise is coming out).
With that in mind, and being true, you can bet your ass that the Peter Jackson´s Halo is one of those games, because i can´t believe for a second that Peter Jackson is making an FPS.

Of course, all of this are no more than assumptions...

 

[hippie_hunter]

The thing that always got me about the format war is that you have people who think being "financially invested" in either side means simply having an hd-dvd player or a blu-ray player, instead of, say, buy some stock in Toshiba or Sony where you can :gasp: make some money

I would never invest in either company based on how much both sides are losing from this damn thing.

 

[cookiva]

Let´s imagine that it is true and that there will be an ultimate 360 coming out.
First, yes, you guys are right, at first it looks like a bad move, it will alienate many 360 owners.
But, like i said, people were expecting the HD drive to be on the Elite, which means people wanted it, no matter owning a 360 or not.
Second, by cutting down the price of the external drive will allow people that don´t want to buy a new 360, to get the HD DVD, which, in the long run, will make everyone have it.
Second, and more important, people buy a console for one game, people buy a 360 for Halo 3 or a PS3 for Uncharted (just examples, but believe that people will buy a PS3 for MGS4), why can´t you guys imagine that people will buy a HD DVD external drive for a certain game, when it will be much cheaper than any console on the market (it already is, and with a price cut...)?

I´m sorry to say, but you guys are a bit on the blind side, you guys are not looking at the big picture, and the big picture is great (if this rumour is true, of course)..
Lets, once again imagine the Ulitmate 360 (by saying that, lets imagine that it is true and it´s coming out)...
I can guarantee one thing, there are already HD DVD games being made.
It makes no sense to release a console with HD drive and not have games being made for it, which are already in the making, and kept secret.
There is already a external drive for movies, why make it internal if there is not something going on...?
That makes the 360 the last console to go into the format war, but the first to use it, it makes tons of sense on a business angle, it will give an edge over the PS3, more even when Sony is getting ready for a big year (not only because they need to, every big franchise is coming out).
With that in mind, and being true, you can bet your ass that the Peter Jackson´s Halo is one of those games, because i can´t believe for a second that Peter Jackson is making an FPS.

Of course, all of this are no more than assumptions...

1- Yes, the elite was rumored to have an HDDVD drive, but that was back when there was a format war. Now, there basically isnt, and installing an HDDVD drive would be epic fail for MS.

2. MS, as someone said earlier, seems content with making multidisk games. Blue Dragon, Lost Oddessy. Why would they not follow this trend?

3- Why would people buy a drive honestly, to only play one game. HDDVD is about to die. People will not be able to take advantage of it. If the format war was still going on, I would say right on. Now, though, it seems like epic fail to me.

My guess is tied into what happened during Xmas. Yes, you are right, the Xbox Live failures. Microsoft hasnt said anything about what happened, and I think I know why. IPTV would take quite a bit of work, and who is to say they didnt start testing it out, and in doing so, lagged the servers. Now, I know its stupid to do this during Xmas, but its honestly a better idea than this massive atomic Xbox.

 

[Addendum]

Some people buy a console for one game. I don't.

I initially passed on the original Xbox when it first came out. The only game at the time that interested me was Halo, but 1) there weren't any other games at the time that said "you must play me" and 2) the original controller wasn't comfortable for me. I eventually got an Xbox as more games I wanted to play on it came out, and Microsoft redesigned the controller.

I didn't get my 360 until this November because at that point the number of games I wanted to play on it was greater than the number of games I want to play that haven't come out. Plus, by that point Microsoft had installed the Falcon board which left me feeling better about buying one.

With the PS3, there is only one game that I'd like to play on it- MGS4. However, I will not buy any system for just 1 game. The rest of the library doesn't interest me. And the more I play my 360, the less interest I have in MGS4.

And I agree that if Microsoft put an HD-DVD drive in the 360, then that's just a dumbass move. I just think the "important news" is just related to xbox live.

Besides, remember a little thing called the PSX? Sony's media center that was a DVR and a DVD recorder, and could also play PS1 and PS2 games?

Of course you don't. Not even Japan would buy it

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

You guys might the right, i don´t know what the big news is, no one does...
But the rumours of an ultimate 360 is out there, and one thing is certain, Toshiba will to try and turn the war in their favor, with or without Microsoft´s help, they are not just going to throw in the towel.
To allie with Microsoft is the only way they can still have a bit of legs to go on...

There is also one other rumour going on, that Gates will announce it is licensing the 360 platform to other manufacturers.
But that i just find stupid...

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Guess there is no Ultimate 360 afterall.
It seems that Microsoft alrady denied it.
So, the question remains, what is the big news?

 

[Apollo]

built in HD DVD drive will be a waste, bring on the Blu-ray drive!

 

[XtromaniaK]

Both will be a waste. Just wait for DVD's equivalent of the Super VHS.

[I'm not being completely serious, but I do think there will be a new format within the next 4 years]

 

[Spider-Vader]

Maybe it is GOW 2. Didn't he do something for Halo 3?

 

[Lando81]

its going to be an announcement of a Blu Ray Drive. trust me. i know.

 

[Apollo]

^ then i'd be very happy.

 

[Ghostvirus]

I miss the days when the only time you had to buy a new console was when it broke. Hey how about getting the console right the first time, so that you don't have to keep coming out with versions. Oh right you all need more money.:

 

[imdaly]

This format war is just one of those things I don't want to understand. I don't want to understand the mindset of buying all those Blu ray and HD-DVDs that some people have. There's this one guy, imdaly I think, who has got to have purchased the entire HD-DVD library. And now that it lost, he will be buying Blu Ray basically because he has to if he wants to keep watching new releases in high quality. Its crazy. I could never understand people like that. And I don't feel sorry for them either. Is the quality difference worth THAT much money? I can't believe that. All you had to do is just wait this **** out and saved a lot of money in the process.

Thankfully for me, I don't care if you feel sorry for me and others or not.

I've got something like 90 HD DVDs. There are about 400 HD DVDs out there (only counting those released in the USA). That's hardly "the entire HD DVD library". And now that it looks like it may have lost, will my HD DVDs no longer work? Will the money that I put into my player and discs be worth nothing? Hell no. I still have 90 High-Definition movies, many of them with features and capabilities that Blu-ray is still trying to figure out how to do. And the beauty of it all?....they all still work.

You ask if the quality difference is worth that much money? IMO, yes it is. I get better picture, better audio, and lots of awesome new features. It's worth it.

If HD DVD does lose out in the end (which I do think it will now, unfortunately for us all), then so be it. I've got myself a 5-year warranty on my HD DVD player, so it might just "break" around the time a dual format player comes out that's a good one with the Blu-ray 2.0 capabilites is available for $300. At that point, I can swap my HD DVD player out for an HD DVD/Blu-ray player and go from there, and I didn't "waste" a cent.

In the mean time, you will not see me ever selling off my HD DVD collection, and I'll continue supporting the format as long as great movies are coming out for it.


(and just for your information, the word "Blu-ray" has the hyphen while the word "HD DVD" does not. )

 

[Fading]

Not to count right now you end up getting your money back for a player. With recent Bogo sales you end up getting like 11 free movies when you buy a player, and current BR and HD-DVD movies have come down heavily in price, and in some places their almost DVD price. Heck a lot of deals lately have you saving money buying a BR or HD-DVD movie instead of a DVD.

I agree with imdaly. All the ppl acting like going with high def movies is a waste of money, but if it's your thing it's not. Better picture, more features, and upcoming internet features, plus with a PS3 it can still have more features installed via firmware updates. HD-DVD players were down to $100 which took DVD years to achieve.

I think a similar amount of ppl were saying the same about DVD, that it'd never take off, that VHS was good enough, and look now DVD is the king of movie formats. DVD can't stay on top forever, it will eventually get replaced, and as HDTV's take off more and more your going to want to watch high def things on that TV that can play high def things.

As for the Microsoft announcement, I agree that it's probably not a game. It could be hardware, or a new deal they struck to get exclusive game rights. My guess tho is a new web enabled feature.

 

[DIRECTOR]

putting a Built-in HD-DVD drive is a bad idea

 

[Fading]

putting a Built-in HD-DVD drive is a bad idea

I agree with what others have said before, it just makes 0 sense to put one in. With the PS3, the games are actually on BR disks, so even if it had failed as a movie format the BR drive would still be used by the games.

The 360 on the other hand started out with a DVD drive. All games to this point in time have been on DVDs. If they went with an HD-DVD drive it would only be used to play movies (of course it can read DVD games, but the games still wouldn't need an HD-DVD drive), and with HD-DVD sales already slowing fast it would just be pointless. And to start releasing 360 games on HD-DVD's would just tick off pretty much 99% of 360 owners as they'd have to buy a new more expensive X-box to play any future games.