Over the last couple of weeks people have become increasingly vocal about the lack of Blu-Ray on the Xbox 360 and now Microsoft have decided to fight back.
Xbox’s UK boss, Stephen McGill, has come out and stated that Bly-Ray will be passed by before it can make any degree of impact and that people are now agreeing that Microsoft did the right thing by keeping the price low by not bundling the Xbox with a Blu-Ray player.
His damning comment in full is
“I think people now recognise what a smart decision it was to keep the pricing low, and actually Blu-ray is going to be passed by as a format. People have moved through from DVDs to digital downloads and digital streaming, so we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly, no download, no delay. So, who needs Blu-rayâ€
I hate to break it to Stephen but I can’t stream 1080p inhouse never mind over my dodgy ADSL connection so the era of digital streaming may not have arrived worldwide yet.
As for whether or not the world needs Blu-Ray, well I predicted back in 2008 that Blu-Ray will only really become mainstream by the end of 2010 and it looks like I may have been wrong about that. My local video stores Blu-Ray section has infact shrunk over the last year and I still know very few people indeed with a Blu-Ray player.
My feeling is that the mainstream doesn’t really care that much about HD movies right now and Blu-Ray or streaming will only become a mainstream technology when HD becomes the norm on TV.
So what do you think, is Blu-Ray here to stay and is Stephen just chewing on sour grapes?
Source: CVG
*You may be wondering about the header image, well I have no idea what Stephen looks like and a Google Image search returned all those people, so he’s one of them, maybe.
Last Updated: September 23, 2010
Fox1
September 23, 2010 at 08:49
Friday come early? :devil:
bokka1
September 23, 2010 at 09:03
I will always want some sort of physical media. MS will have to move to BR for the next gen console.
Bonk
September 23, 2010 at 09:04
As long as people will have the need to own physical things blu-ray will become the norm. It is absolutely fantastic. If the discs hit the R100 mark, i will be replacing my dvd collection with blu-ray.
ReAVeR
September 23, 2010 at 09:55
I’m with Bokka. I need that physical media. And I know many mainstream non-technical ppl care about HD and would have taken the Blu Ray plunge a long time ago, especially now that you can pick up decent players for R1500. However, as much as the player’s prices have been steadily dropping, the movies themselves are still hellishly expensive for most.
eXp
September 23, 2010 at 09:56
This guy is on crack. I love my PS3 blu-rays functionality. HD is out of this world, and I can only see Blu-Ray getting bigger.
RSA-Ace
September 23, 2010 at 09:57
Last time I check the blu-ray adoption rate was higher than DVD (launches aligned).
I think we a good 10 years away from digital really overtaking physical media. Only asian markets are ready for digital media. There are quite a few ISP’s even in first world countries which still have capped (<50GB per month) and slow speed internet. Now if you take into account the 'others' market they aren't nearly ready.
ooquis
September 23, 2010 at 10:08
This is tipcl MS!why the HELL did they even bother with HD-dvd if its going to be passed by as a format? O yes thats excatly wot happend to it!!BLu ray is the future and sony thinks ahead when making there hardware unlike MS who thinks tomorow and no wonder there consoles only last till tomorow!
Nazcanlines
September 23, 2010 at 10:36
If you have any interest in buying blu rays that aren’t at murderous prices (R300 at Musica!?!?) you can get them off ebay for a little over R100 and sometimes under if you scratch around, and most people send them as gifts so no customs tax.
AC!D
September 23, 2010 at 11:14
Well Blu Ray isnt passing me by. Ill be getting a remastered Dead Space Exraction HD on Blu Ray with Dead Space 2, Medal of Honor Frontlines HD with the new Medal of Honor on Blu Ray, Sly Cooper HD collection, Team Ico collection, Prince of Persia HD Collection, Splinter Cell HD collection, GT 5 which would need 6 or 7 discs on DVD and possibly 3D Blu Ray movies in a year or two when 3D TV prices are cheaper. Blu Ray has been good to me and justifies that huge price tag PS3 had at launch.
Geoffrey Tim
September 23, 2010 at 11:16
Back to the future trilogy gets a blu-ray release next month. It’s going to go nicely in my collection, at a speed of 88 mph.
AC!D
September 23, 2010 at 11:24
That brings back fantastic childhood memories. I hope TellTale do the series proud with the new game. I really really hope its good.
Damn now you made me want to but the the tilogy you bastard 😆
AC!D
September 23, 2010 at 11:26
I really do miss Micheal J. Fox. I really loved his movies. Sean Connery has also disappeard from the silver screen. All the best actors i grew up with are slowly fading away.
Fox1
September 23, 2010 at 11:34
Blu-Ray will always take the backseat as long as DVD is still in production. That’s just how average Joe people are. Let 3D movies catch on, then people would have no better choice but to change to Blu-Ray 😎
AC!D
September 23, 2010 at 11:53
Who cares about the average Joe? Why are you so concerned with the average Joe? Ask yourself if Blu Ray benefits you with extra content and viewing pleasure. If it doesnt then make your usual Sony related negative comments. Somehow im guessing even if it did benefit you and you used Blu Ray you would still hate on it.
Just so you know The Blu Ray Group = DVD Group. Which means when they decide DVD is dead its dead and Blu Ray will be standard. Not the consumer.
Philip
September 23, 2010 at 11:57
I couldn’t really care less about Blu-ray. In terms of storage capacity, sure, it’s all fine and dandy when you compare it with DVD, I’ll grant at least that, but in terms of movies… nah. Then again, I’m not a big content consumer in the film/TV department, so it’s not really Made For Me(tm). (You can probably infer from this that, outside of gaming, I don’t really give two hoots about HD video. 3D I don’t even bother with discussing.)
bokka1 is probably correct in saying that the 360’s successor will need to implement Blu-ray as physical storage medium, though. After all, if games like Mass Effect 2 are already shipping in multi-DVD packages, the lazy gamers of the world (see what I did there?) will probably whine at length about how they have to lift their fat asses to swop discs in each game they own.
Gavin Mannion
September 23, 2010 at 11:59
Like this http://bit.ly/c5unjm
RSA-Ace
September 23, 2010 at 12:01
“DVD will always take the backseat as long as VHS is still in production”.
It’s the same every generation.
RSA-Ace
September 23, 2010 at 12:05
I think the new spec BluRay discs (BDXL) with greater than 8x drives will be in the consoles.
REMEMBER THIS COMMENT IN 2½ YEARS TIME.
Fox1
September 23, 2010 at 12:15
I’m hating on it?
Fox1
September 23, 2010 at 12:20
To think about it if the xbox did have Blu-Ray it would have been disaster for MS. The poor console would have went from RRoD to YLOD to RRoD to YLOD.
Philip
September 23, 2010 at 12:28
Exactly, just look at all that Righteous Nerd Rage. Fanboyism + Apparent/perceived Flaw + Comments Section = Trollin’ for teh lulz.
Anyway, I’ll freely admit that the entire last bit of my second paragraph was just a hook for that terrible pun. I don’t really care either way 😛
Philip
September 23, 2010 at 12:34
Yes, this makes perfect sense. Stand back, everyone! This is a master at work.
Face it, MS blew it. They pushed HD-DVD, it didn’t pan out, and they didn’t want to face segmenting their consoles into BD/BD-less variants the way they’d already done with hard drives. Also, adopting the competing standard was probably too bitter a pill to swallow.
Sir James vannie Kaap
September 23, 2010 at 12:48
Whenever I hear MS mouth off about Blu-Ray and how no one uses it. I’m always reminded of all those poor people who spent money on Xbox 360 HD-DVD drives. The right thing MS would have been to allow them to get a portion of their money back, or at least exchange the HD-DVD drives for a game or two. Anyway, this is clearly a case of MS crying over spilled milk.
McGill, you may not know this, but I actually use Blu-Ray, and enjoy watching movies or playing games on a high definition TV. It’s quite an experience (actually it never gets old).
ewie
September 23, 2010 at 12:50
Microsoft did not blew it, blue ray was not complete yet when they wanted to release, so they went without it, they never had a share in either blue-ray or HD-DVD.
They do however have a key part in as both the formats support the vc-1 codec that is used for media playback.
Sir James vannie Kaap
September 23, 2010 at 12:52
VHS will always take the backseat as long as betamax, laserdisks and electronic disks are still in production.
Granted, that was a step back in technology… :happy:
Sir James vannie Kaap
September 23, 2010 at 12:59
I’d like all the Indiana Jones movies on blu-ray, but I currently have the extended Lord of the Rings movie collection on the B, and let me tell you… HDTV + BD + LOTR = AWESOME!
Sir James vannie Kaap
September 23, 2010 at 13:05
I import my blu-rays, and will only buy locally once Musica and other stores price blu-ray movies reasonably.
Local is not always Lekker!
Sir James vannie Kaap
September 23, 2010 at 13:10
I think where Microsoft is making the mistake is they’re ignoring territories without high internet connectivity, and the joke is ultimately on them, because that includes MOST markets. Sony on the hand sells their wares everywhere and tries to keep their technology as inclusive as possible.
In fact, I’d rather gain a foothold in developing markets than maintain a stronghold in developed countries. The profit is out there! :happy: 😛
Philip
September 23, 2010 at 13:31
Sorry, ewie, but I have to disagree with you on that one.
While they didn’t found the HD-DVD standard (Toshiba did), they certainly did put their full support behind it ([citation needed]? http://www.technewsworld.com/story/46376.html There you go). They sunk a lot of money into betting on the wrong guy (which, if not shares per se, is most certainly a sizeable investment): they blew it.
Nick de Bruyne
September 23, 2010 at 13:35
I must be honest and say that as a video game format, Blu Ray wasn’t a necessity for this generation of consoles, so in that regard I think MS has a point about keeping the games DVD and then having an add-on HD DVD player.
In terms of movies, it’s a different story. Blu-Ray movies are fantastic and the fact that you can get one in your PS3 is a massive bonus. Back to my first point though, from a gaming perspective, Blu-Ray was never requiered in the gen, the slow reading speeds have unfortunately been the counter for its massive storage space.
I still don’t think Blu-Ray is going anywhere though, the amount of people with players and so on may not be stellar right now, but its enough to keep it going until it booms. Which, by the way, is when they lower the friggin’ price!
moose007
September 23, 2010 at 14:03
Give my games and movies on a usb3 flashdrive and ill be happy..if you only gonna use 2 gigs its fine or 32gigs,either way,no scratches stuffall..
Fox1
September 23, 2010 at 14:04
Some shops bought back HD-DVD drives.
Sir James vannie Kaap
September 23, 2010 at 14:04
Nick, you could make the same case for the PSOne, that the move to CD wasn’t a necessity since Nintendo was still using cartridges (the dominant medium at the time, ignoring some PC gamers). Similarly, the push to DVD for the Playstation 2 was also not a necessity, since CD was the dominant optical medium of choice for PC gamers. The inclusion of a harddrive for the Xbox 1 was also not a necessity since everyone was using propriety memory cards.
Blu-ray may not seem like it was a necessity at launch, but it’s certainly become useful.
Nick de Bruyne
September 23, 2010 at 14:41
Yeah fair enough, I just don’t think that MS are like waaaaaay behind for not using it or anything like that.
RSA-Ace
September 23, 2010 at 15:23
The thing is Sony is more than a console maker. If Blu-ray does well Sony get money from Sony Pictures and the sale of HD TV’s. If 3D does well Sony gets money from the 3D TV’s.
I think it was in Sony’s best interest to use blu-ray (and 3D) because of all the added income in other parts of the company. If MS sold TV’s I bet they would be pushing the same things Sony are…
Fox1
September 23, 2010 at 15:34
Do you actually know what the royalties was like when BD was launched? The xbox would have costed 100% more just to have BD integrated. For a few years BD players were selling a R1000 more than a 60gb PS3.
James is one Crazy Hombre
September 23, 2010 at 16:08
In South Africa and Europe Fox1, it never happened. Gamespot in the States bought them back, but that was not because of some directive from Microsoft, merely because they’re a fairly decent store.
AC!D
September 23, 2010 at 19:02
The cost associated with Blu Ray and the PS3 were to do with Blu Ray Diodes which had a shitty yield production ration 1 out of every 3.
It had nothing to do with Royalties. Everyone pays roylaties to someone even Sony to MS for some software on the PS3. MS tried to jump the gun before Sony launched and Blu Ray and HD DVD just werent ready. If they had laucnhed a year later i guarantee they would have had either HD DVD or Blu Ray in the 360.
AC!D
September 23, 2010 at 19:06
Blu Rays dont scratch. Do your homework. They have a new coating that protects from that. DVD’s on the other hand dont have that luxury.
Nick de Bruyne
September 23, 2010 at 19:13
Care to test that idea out on your new PS3 game? I sure as hell wouldn’t
AC!D
September 23, 2010 at 19:20
So if you owned only a Xbox 360 console you wouldnt be upset:
– that you cant get Dead Space Extraction with DS2? Which supports both dualshock and Move controls by the way incase you were wondering or even Medal of Honor frontlines with the new game?
– Cant get remastered HD collections of classic games?
– Cant get games with 50GB of content like MGS4 and GT5? Oh and before someone starts the whole but MGS Rising debate its not the same because the game is hack and slash and will be light on story according to the director himself.
– Have to see your favourite developers like ID software change Rage from a open world game to a 3 part open world game to be able to fit on DVD’s?
– Dont get upset when the director of FFXIII comes out and says they cut out half the games content? Now i wonder why they did that :whistle:
– Dont get upset when MS sell you a arcade bundle without HDD telling you that you wont need it and then suddenly all of a sudden you have to buy over priced HDD’s so you can play these 2 to 3 disc games. Could have been avoided with Blu Ray NO? You cant even play Halo Reach in co-op apparently without a HDD apparently. Nice one MS.
Heres a list of things MS have said we dont need:
– 1080p gaming and then suddenly they added an update for that.
– A HDD and now suddenly games are coming out needing a HDD.
– Blu Ray and yet all the last gen HD collections are coming to PS3 and not 360. Then you get the developers like Rockstar, Square Enix and ID software complaining.
– 3D and yet they signed a partnership with LG a few months ago to bring 3D to either 360 or the next box.
– Games bigger than 200MB on Live and yet they lifted restrictions on that a few months later when Sony started allowing bigger games on PSN
Its funny MS says a lot dont they?
I think some of you need to stop listening to what MS says so much and make your own informed opinions.
AC!D
September 23, 2010 at 19:31
@Nick: Well if you are an animnal and take a knife or sledgehammer to it then yes you could scratch it. The point is from normal wear and tear and accidents Blu Ray trumps DVD…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxyiAk3AzN0
Fox1
September 23, 2010 at 22:16
MGS4 :sick:
GT5 :sick: :sick:
FFXIII :sick: :sick: :sick:
Dead Space Extraction :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick:
HD Collections of game we already played :sick:
ID who laughed at consoles from the start :sick:
Nick de Bruyne
September 23, 2010 at 23:00
I’m so glad about this though, because I take really good care of my discs but mistakes happen, and when they happen I don’t want them to cost me anywhere between R300 and R700
kat
September 23, 2010 at 23:55
They aren’t scratch proof, just scratch resistant, meaning harder to scratch. But believe me it can be done. I deal with a lot of PS3 trade ins