Microsoft: Lite-On NOT Making Blu-ray Drive

[malware]

It was yesterday when I first saw the report from DigiTimes, and I decided to wait on purpose before posting it here. First it was the 1st of April, second it sounded too good to be true: "Lite-On IT is developing built-in Blu-ray Disc-(BD) ROM drives for the Microsoft Xbox 360 game console" that will start shipping in the second half of 2008. Well I was right, the unspecified DigiTimes sources have misled a lot of hardware news sites. Microsoft responded today to the rumour with the following statement: "No. Lite-On is not manufacturing Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360. As we have stated, games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster game available ... For our customers who want a premium movie experience we offer the largest library of on-demand HD content available and the ability to play back DVDs in high definition." This is the second time when a rumour is spreading around the web that Xbox 360 will get Blu-Ray support, but unfortunately that's also the second time when Microsoft crushes all hopes with a single sentence.

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[EastCoasthandle]

No surprise here. MS has made it clear they are not supporting BR and they don't have to either LOL.

 

[BumbRush]

im not bd fan but the way ms is acting, i think its just sour grapes, their format didnt win now they are sulking, i bet somebody puts out a db/hd-dvd combo driver thats marketed spicificly to xbx360 owners who want support for both formats.

EDIT: lets all just hope its not madcatz

 

[Snipe343]

^ what you just said sounded like HD-DVD wasn't dead, and hd dvd wont be made soon. and lol at the madcatz thing XD

 

[WarEagleAU]

The first report of MS getting a BD Drive seems alot more credible. I think they just want to make it a huge splash when it lands...

 

[Ravenas]

No way, MS doesn't care for BD, they just believe in digital downloads.

Why would MS ever adopt Blu Ray, after all MS is a company who likes to keep everything locked in their company. If they want something new, they buy the company who creates it.

 

[Wile E]

If they are concerned with providing the best games with the best content, aren't they gonna run out of storage space on the DVDs at some point?

 

[qwerty_lesh]

wont m$ still use hd dvds for games? or is the media completely dead now, i guess another thing they might offer with this digital downloads thing is, silly hard drive upgrates for 360's so people can store games similar to how steam works but on their 360's. its not too far fetched and would be an explaination to why they dont give two hoots about having their games on brd's

 

[Steevo]

Digital downloads for more content. Excellent idea and no worse than a machine that phones home and tattles. Nintendo is doing it, MS is doing it, upgradeing games for users. While Sony is giving away your credit card numbers.

 

[Ravenas]

Digital downloads for more content. Excellent idea and no worse than a machine that phones home and tattles. Nintendo is doing it, MS is doing it, upgradeing games for users. While Sony is giving away your credit card numbers.

Besides the fact that DD doesn't support true HD and it isn't physical. I'll rent movies via DD, but anything I buy will be a hard copy.

 

[Steevo]

Are we talking games or movies?


Full HD on a 32" LCD. Right.



Try 120" DLP Projector, then you will see the difference, is minimal.

 

[rhythmeister]

M$ are a bunch of tools, I can't believe anybody thinks anything otherwise! They couldn't care less what the consumer wants, just how they can increase their profit. If we all had 120GB Xbox 360s and 20MB broadband that wasn't "upto 20MB" (thanks virgin mediocre u twats!) then maybe it would be acceptable but quite frankly I think it's just another snub at Sony for winning the format war

 

[candle_86]

if you buy a console soley for media you bought it for the wrong reasons. I own an Xbox that can play back Region-1 DVD's as we all know this was not a selling feature and not included at first. Why do i have it, thats simple my model had one on it when i got it from the pawnshop a few months ago. I had a playstation in 1996 back when CD-Players still where pricey yet i didnt play music with it. A console is for game in my mind, if i wanted Media playback ill buy a player for it when its worth it. Who cares who won a stupid format war, do most users have Hi-Def TV's or are standard def flat panels still common. Is blue ray priced competivily with DVD content the anwser is no. Also you are all forgetting something if MS includes blue-ray support they have to pay sony for every console. The enemy isnt MS, by not including blue-ray they are keeping it priced where it is. Got a gripe take it up with Sony for charging royalites per player sold.

 

[paybackdaman]

screw disks...they should just switch to memory units...like i don't know...SD. No more scratches, faster loading times, and hey, you can put Blu-ray content and HD-DVD content onto it and it will still work...after some mounting with the help of software.

 

[candle_86]

actully i perfer the idea of digital content via something akin to steam for game delivery, it has become my primary method. I don't loose games ever (i do not use EA download crap), I dont have to worry about the media being damaged by scratch's or by wearing out, yes CD's like floopys wear out, i have a CD copy of Starfleet Acadamey thats warping from age.

 

[Wile E]

The downside to DD is hard disk failure.

I'll pass. Give me my physical media, thank you very much.

 

[candle_86]

thats why a content system compared to steam works better. Your media can be downloaded at will, its never lost. So you might have to redownload your stuff, but if you scratch your disk thats another 60 bucks for your game. In the next 10 years physical media will be a thing of the past for most users, with speeds increasing, and drive space and realibilty increasing its on it way. With solid state drives now appearing the failure rate drops to almost 0 and when that becomes mainstream there is nothing to loose. Mark my words in a few years time the CD/DVD/Blu-ray will go the way of the floopy.

 

[rhythmeister]

thats why a content system compared to steam works better. Your media can be downloaded at will, its never lost. So you might have to redownload your stuff, but if you scratch your disk thats another 60 bucks for your game. In the next 10 years physical media will be a thing of the past for most users, with speeds increasing, and drive space and realibilty increasing its on it way. With solid state drives now appearing the failure rate drops to almost 0 and when that becomes mainstream there is nothing to loose. Mark my words in a few years time the CD/DVD/Blu-ray will go the way of the floopy.

The problem is that the xbox 360 is not only sold as a games console but as a device to stream media (built in Media centre software) and play films from DVD media and now from solid state drives/ CD media. Now that M$ are advertising its' HD capabilities blatantly in every advert I see and there is NO option to play HD video on the console in any other way than from downloaded content (at a premium price may I add) they are not helping out a lot of their customers but hey, the majority probably have credit cards and broadband so that makes it ok I guess Apparently Blu rays' successor is already on the cards from what I've been told in my local Richer sounds (by a HD addict by the way) so maybe M$ are waiting on that but they COULD just bite the bullet and do a deal with Sony/ whoever else is tied up in Blu ray, although I don't wanna hold my breath on that one