Bad news for xbox 360

[MAROTH4MVP]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp does not expect sales of its Xbox 360 game console to suffer if Toshiba Corp discontinues HD DVD technology, Microsoft said in a statement on Monday.

"We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace," the company said. "We will wait until we hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans around the Xbox 360 HD DVD player."

Xbox 360 supports a plug-in HD DVD accessory that allows customers to view high definition DVDs produced only with this Toshiba technology.

Toshiba sources said on Saturday that the company is preparing to exit the HD DVD business, thereby surrendering a two-year battle to control the format of next-generation DVDs.

Customers would be left to buy high-definition DVDs produced with Blu-ray, an alternate technology controlled by Sony Corp.

The Microsoft statement pledged that Xbox 360 customers would continue to be able to consume high-definition movies, television programs, and DVDs they already own.

In January, a Microsoft executive said the company would be open to supporting Blu-Ray technology for its Xbox 360 machine.

(Reporting by Amanda Beck; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

http://ca.reuters.com/article/techno...19764820080218

[Amish Love Machine]

I don't see if affecting the 360 that much.

[Yoda]

Me neither. Especially if they come out with an external Blu-Ray drive soon. It would have to be fairly cheap though, otherwise I'm just going to get a Blu-Ray player that goes straight to my TV instead of having to go through the 360.

[PuNk42AE]

Due to the BR Tech I doubt they would be able to come out with one on the cheap in the next 6 months+.

[iceteebone]

I bet more people switch over to the PS3

[PuNk42AE]

And I bet it will also mean that PS3 price will not drop until the christmas season because of this.

[Amish Love Machine]

They also have a good (and growing) amount of downloadable movies on XBL, many of which are in high def., even if the high def version on disc is BluRay. I downloaded "Shoot 'Em Up" (or whatever it's called) a few weeks ago and it was as clear and crisp as any high def movie on a disc.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by iceteebone

I bet more people switch over to the PS3

Why? I don't care what HD technology I play my games on. If I want to watch a BR movie, I'll go buy a BR player. The games look just as good on the 360 as they do on the PS3. I see no reason anyone would switch from a 360 to a PS3 just because of this.

[shauntacular]

This is a huge reason that I'll end up with a PS3 when I'm ready to start collecting blu-ray movies.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by shauntacular

This is a huge reason that I'll end up with a PS3 when I'm ready to start collecting blu-ray movies.

Ditto. I'm not just going to scrap the 360 though. Microsoft has the rights to some pretty cool games.

They need to be busting their asses to quickly get on the BluRay market. Hopefully they've already taken preliminary steps. They had to have seen this coming.

[PuNk42AE]

During CES a story came out about how they were looking into BR Tech as they say the Warner Switch writing on the wall.

[PuNk42AE]

Sony to see 10% boost in PS3 sales
Phil Elliott 15:00 (BST) 19/02/2008
Analysts agree that HD DVD demise is good news for the console
Sales of the PlayStation 3 could see a rise of up to 10 per cent in the wake of Toshiba's pull-out from the next generation DVD war as a result of educated consumers who have been waiting for the format war to end.
That's according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who also told GamesIndustry.biz that as well as the short term boost, the long term effect will be even more positive.
"Longer term, I think it's a huge boon for Sony, as most retail clerks will be instructed to push Blu-ray along with sales of HD monitors at holiday, so we should see a large increase in PS3 sales year-over-year at holiday," he said.
Ed Barton and Richard Cooper, from Screen Digest, broadly agree: "With the format war over, and the end of the consumer indecision resulting from it, video consumers are likely to purchase the PS3 as the most cost effective, future proof Blu-ray player," they said.
"In the longer term lower price, higher specification set-top Blu-ray players will take on the role as best entry level Blu-ray player but not within the next 12 months. This could result in a small but significant rise in the number of PS3s bought over the next 12 months as Blu-ray players."
On the question of what Microsoft's response might be, given that the Xbox 360 supported an HD DVD peripheral but with no official plans to do the same for Blu-ray at this point, opinion was mixed.
Pachter feels that while committing the Xbox 360 to Blu-ray is an option for Microsoft, either in terms of a built-in device or as a peripheral, both are unlikely - while to compete on that basis with the PlayStation 3 the company can only look towards price cuts.
Barton and Cooper feel that the demise of HD DVD won't have a negative effect on the Xbox 360, and that Microsoft will instead see benefits in other areas.
"If anything Microsoft will appreciate more Xbox 360 owners being driven to the Live Video Store as it makes more margin on HD content supply from XBL than via the HD DVD platform."
Sony is yet to officially comment on the HD DVD situation, while Microsoft has reiterated that it doesn't believe Xbox 360 sales will be affected.
"As we've long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry," the company said.

In the end I think it could go higher than 10%.

[iceteebone]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Why? I don't care what HD technology I play my games on. If I want to watch a BR movie, I'll go buy a BR player. The games look just as good on the 360 as they do on the PS3. I see no reason anyone would switch from a 360 to a PS3 just because of this.

I couldn't afford to just go out and buy a new blu ray player. I sold my 360 in order to buy the PS3 and I don't regret it.

[shauntacular]

I'd be really surprised if you didn't see an external blu-ray drive for the 360 sometime this year. I also wouldn't be surprised if MSFT offered some sort of "trade up program.

I could be dead wrong about this, though. I always did suspect that later iterations of the 360 would include an internal HD DVD drive. Now that the format pulled Betamax (irony! Sony's revenge at long last!) I don't see why they won't just offer an internal BR drive instead.... eventually™

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by iceteebone

I couldn't afford to just go out and buy a new blu ray player. I sold my 360 in order to buy the PS3 and I don't regret it.

That's understandable.

[Shinma]

PS3 outsold X360 in January. I'd be interested in the numbers for Feb. before and after this news.

[belcherboy]

Originally Posted by shauntacular

This is a huge reason that I'll end up with a PS3 when I'm ready to start collecting blu-ray movies.

Outside of video games, I refuse to buy anything on disc. CD's, DVD's, HD DVD, Blu Ray, is a dying media option IMO. I will just get an Ipod type media player when the HD versions come out and load 100 HD movies on one device. No more fumbling through changing discs, worry about scratches, etc. Just download the movies and have option of watching the movie in multiple locations (car, home tv, on the portable screen, etc.).

This latest news will not have a major impact on gaming. Games aren't played on Blu Ray yet. By the time they are, Microsoft will have a new system. IMO, Microsoft won this round of gaming and Sony is in catch up mode. By the time they see some gains, the focus will shift to the next generation IMO. I think the next generation is going to shock people at how interactive and fun it will be. Nintendo really forced the industry to be more inventive.

[Yoda]

Electronics fail. There goes your 100 movies.

[belcherboy]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Electronics fail. There goes your 100 movies.

Yeah, hopefully both my computers will give me a good backup!! (have you ever used Itunes?)

[Sparks4Ever]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Electronics fail. There goes your 100 movies.

Unless your hard drive is salvageable or you back up your hard drive regularly. In that case, your fine.

BB has a good point. Any sort of disc format is never going to be able to deliver the performance a flash drive can. You can already buy a 8 GB USB flash stick for under $100 which moves data twice as fast as any current BluRay drive can. By the time BluRay players become affordable, flash drives will have larger capacities, deliver better performance and will be cheaper to produce.

BluRay may have killed off HD DVD, but I think it's still a long term loser and will never be widely adopted.

[belcherboy]

Originally Posted by Sparks4Ever

Unless your hard drive is salvageable or you back up your hard drive regularly. In that case, your fine.

BB has a good point. Any sort of disc format is never going to be able to deliver the performance a flash drive can. You can already buy a 8 GB USB flash drive for under $100 which moves data twice as fast as any current BluRay drive can. By the time BluRay players become affordable, flash drives will have larger capacities, deliver better performance and will be cheaper to produce.

BluRay may have killed off HD DVD, but I think it's still a long term loser and will never be widely adopted.

I bought a 12 GB flash stick for $35 last summer. Even for storage, Blu Ray isn't going to win. The new Apple Air doesn't even come with a CD/DVD drive. They are planning on everything being downloadable. If you need to move information, pop in a flash stick or send it over the internet. I've heard that online hard drives cost next to nothing as well and are guaranteed. You can save info on them now for a nominal monthly fee if you have important things to save and want to be safe from crashes (I'm not sure if there are still restrictions for media though, I've never used one).

Hollywood is now realizing this fact. This last strike was all about the fact that DVD sales are dying and downloading/streaming is going crazy.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by belcherboy

Yeah, hopefully both my computers will give me a good backup!! (have you ever used Itunes?)

Good point. And no I haven't. I love technology though so this sounds like something I'm gonna have to investigate.

[belcherboy]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Good point. And no I haven't. I love technology though so this sounds like something I'm gonna have to investigate.

I wasn't a big fan of itunes until I used the Microsoft zune software. MP3 players have destroyed the CD. I got a free Sony Ericcson phone this summer that had MP3 capabilities. I bought a 4 GB memory stick for $30 last spring and loaded it up. I never use my 30 GB zune anymore, unless I want to watch videos. I got it for $130. The cool part is I have all my music in 3 different locations. Whenever I want to listen to it, I just have to have one of three devices.

Technology is getting so cheap that it just makes sense (at least to me) to ditch the old ways of getting media. 3 kids on my basketball team got the new Apple Itouch, and I think I'm going to have to get an Iphone for my next phone (the itouch is just the iphone without the phone part). It is just simply amazing and easy to use. Apple really knows what it is doing!

[PuNk42AE]

Well this is interesting news.

Fire up the torch, it's time for some more data to be picked apart and combed through regarding console sales;

PS3 sales numbers outshine the 360 when you compare each console's first 14 months on the market. Apparently, according to a sales tracker called VG Chartz, the PS3 sold 10 million units in its first 14 months while it took the 360 an extra 4 months to get there. The figure was corroborated by the Associated Press and is a cumulative global total.

The 360 still dominates the sales landscape in the US. And as one might expect the PS3 is going strong in Japan, while the 360 is as flat as a lame prom date across the big pond.