Rumors float around the Internet questioning when Microsoft will ship a Blu-ray enabled Xbox 360 or add-on device like they did with the, now failed, HD-DVD. At CES 09 Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices division, says this request is “way down the list.”
Mr. Bach had some great selling points as to why a Blu-ray player has little value in the world of Xbox 360. The primary reason, of course, being the Xbox 360 developers cannot take advantage of Blu-ray as a development platform for games. This was the price Sony, or the consumer, paid to own a PlayStation 3 since all games are printed on the media and are, in effect, Blu-ray “capable.”
We say capable because not all (any?) PlayStation 3 games currently make full use of the Blu-ray media. Many games will reprint the game on the media for optimization purposes, fill the game with international voice overs for all countries or, otherwise, stuff the media with something that will serve a useful purpose. Sony has near-future-proofed their device by giving game developers years of growth in terms of utilizing the Blu-ray capacity.
Microsoft chose to take the smaller old-style DVD format for games and media. Adding the HD-DVD didn’t add a large deal of risk because, as we saw, they can discontinue the model and not change their core gaming demographic. We still laughed a bit at them, but that was where it ended. Bach also said that it’s not really a great economic time to push a new 360 SKU on potential customers with additional cost just for Blu-ray movies playback.
They could add Blu-ray game development support as well but that would just alienate the “28 million Xboxes” they have already shipped.
“OK, let me get this straight: I’m going to add something to the product that’s going to raise the cost, which means the price goes up, consumers aren’t asking for it, and by the way, my game developers can’t use it.” (gamespot)
Of course, the first thing that came to our mind was “well, you did it for HD-DVD, how is Blu-ray different?” The key areas we can think of really come down to Blu-ray is a Sony technology and they are a direct competitor and, to top it off, HD-DVD allowed them to fight against the PS3 at the media level of the industry. They minimized the risk by making the product a secondary add-on device and, if HD-DVD had won, they’d have the winning format already under production (still not for games).
It seems Microsoft has changed their battle plans a little. They started out talking up the media aspects of the 360, using Media Center, renting movies and TV shows and had the HD-DVD as a subproduct. Today, they’re investing in Netflix for media and everything else favors the games.
Which is fine, we like games.
Now that Blizzard feels their engine is solid, it’s time to move on to creating content for the full game. Jay Wilson, Diablo 3‘s lead designer, says the game engine is in an advance stage of completion and much of the art team has moved onto Act 2. Don’t read into that, he said game engine.
@Microsoft Points
This makes more sense, doesn’t it? I’m not sure what the deal was previously – did the games cost a different number of points in different regions? If so, it doesn’t make a difference which way you make transactions but for the customer it’s always easier to think in their native currency rather than some arbitrary points. And, if you get some extra $$$ when converting, that’s even better.
@Origin return policy
Are you sure, Jonah, that they will be able to monitor if you played through the game? One would have to read the fine print, probably, and I’m too lazy to do it 😉 They should implement some fail-safes into the user agreement if they don’t want the policy to be abused.
Anyway, seems like a good idea to demo games. People will buy them thinking they will return it if they don’t like it but a part of them will be too lazy to do that later 🙂 Win some, lose some for EA, but should result in a net gain. However, this may mean they won’t win the Worst Company in America Award next year…
@Borderlands 2 on Vita
YAY! I played the first Borderlands on my PS3 and I really liked it. It wasn’t as boring as Diablo, although the core mechanic of both games is similar – kill, get loot, upgrade weapons. Rinse and repeat. The second part coming to Vita is great news and I really hope they add some DLCs to the bundle. Still, it’s another non-exclusive game for the Vita so why even bother, right? 😉
@Next gen launch titles
As much as I enjoy indie games there’s one thing that I don’t like about the industry moving in that direction as much as it is. It’s simple – I don’t need a 1.6 GHz, 8-core, 8GB RAM machine to play Limbo… I understand that games are games and there are a multitude of great games with simple graphics but that doesn’t justify creating a new generation of gaming consoles. Unless there are developers and publishers willing to break the boundaries of what the current gen can support, I don’t even see why we need ‘next gen’ hardware. Hopefully, what’s happening now means that we will get as many AAA titles as before and, in addition, a slew of amazing indie titles.
QOTW: Nothing’s changed since last week 😛
Podcast
@Microsoft getting some sense
Microsoft points were a barrier to many people I know. Awkward unspendable amounts. Having to buy more points then needed. Not to mention that a game that is £7 looks more cost effective than a game that is 800MS points (equivalent prices). I am glad they are gone. Just have to cash in my codes and good riddance.
@Gamers can return digital titles on Origin after a week
What’s Origin?
@Bungie’s Destiny
I am really looking forward to it. I have great respect for Bungie. Destiny is an ambitious project. However, I can’t speculate on whether it will outshine Halo. Let alone Star Wars. So far all it looks like is a Halo MMOFPS. Prove me wrong Bungie.
@Borderlands 2 coming to PlayStation Vita
What’s Playstation Vita? Is it somehow related to Origin?
@Sony/Microsoft announces launch titles/line-up/window (the Internet has no clue either)
I pre-ordered a PS4 because by the time Xbox comes out in Europe my exam period will start and I will have no time. The line-up is impressive but makes not much difference. In the end, launch titles are pointless. What will sell the console are the exclusives which will come out much later in the console cycle. By the time Halo 5 comes out I will probably already own both consoles. So, for now I am going for the cheaper one that comes out earlier.
@QOTW
Very console gamer. I own practically every console that came in the past 10 years (minus PS vita which sucks). I have a laptop but it has crap specks. Much like Pavel, I stopped chasing performance as it is a very expensive business. Especially if you are not a teckie. I still have a 100 or so games on my Steam account (bloody sales), which I sometimes play.