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Xbox 360 Finally Getting Blu-ray

Posted by timothy on Sat May 03, 2008 04:59 PM
from the poison-death-rays-all-taken dept.
XBox (Games) Media Microsoft Upgrades Hardware
Starturtle writes "Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer had admitted that Microsoft had been working on support for Blu-ray under Windows during this year's Mix08 conference. Rumors began to swirl and many began to expect Microsoft to announce a Blu-ray peripheral for the Xbox 360. However, Microsoft came out and denied all rumors, stating that they were not exploring any kind of Blu-ray add-on or in talks with Sony about integrating Blu-ray into the Xbox experience. After months of rumors and denials, the Xbox 360 with a Blu-ray disc drive is due to be manufactured soon and shipped in Q3 of 2008. Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, is reported to have received the winning order from Microsoft for a Blu-ray equipped Xbox 360."
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  • Big Corp Lies (Score:3, Funny)

    by log0n (18224) on Saturday May 03 2008, @05:05PM (#23286708)
    News at 11!
    • They were hoping to announce it when they bought Yahoo!, but since someone isn't playing ball they just figured they'd put it on two peoples' blogs.

    • What's your point? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Kohath (38547) on Saturday May 03 2008, @08:19PM (#23287908)
      Did you have the right to know Microsoft's future plans 6 months ago? Does Microsoft have the right to know yours?

      Why should they pre-announce a new feature 9-12 months in advance? People might wait to buy an XBox 360 until then. And sales would go down for 360s and fewer games would be made, and Microsoft shareholders would lose, and current 360 owners would lose. I wonder why they might lie?

      What would you do? Tell the truth and screw over the 360 owners and the MS shareholders?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Perhaps because lying is immoral. Even those who obey strict rationality / utilitarianism would come to the same conclusion: if I lie, people will not trust me, or my word on my products / warranties / commitment to the customer in the future.

        I see your point, but a much better way of handling things without giving away your plans is to blanketly state "we do not comment on unannounced products," similar to most other major corporations.

          • Re:What's your point? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by vux984 (928602) on Sunday May 04 2008, @02:22PM (#23293804)
            Also, saying "we do not comment on unannounced products" pretty much admits that the product in question exists.

            Not if your smart enough to reply that way when asked about products that don't exist too...

            Hey Microsoft, are you going to realease Windows for the Cell processor?
              "we do not comment on unannounced products"

            Are you going to release a universal remote to compete with logitech's harmony?
              "we do not comment on unannounced products"

            What did we learn? not much.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by donscarletti (569232)

        There is a huge difference between not telling the truth and lying. Not telling the truth is declining to comment to keep a secret without being deceptive, in most countries that is always an individual's right outside of court and even inside court when you're the one on trial, a company also doesn't have that right when dealing with shareholders and certain commissions, but that's a different matter. Lying is saying something that you know to be false which is a completely distinct matter.

        Now there are p

  • corporate denials (Score:5, Interesting)

    by speculatrix (678524) on Saturday May 03 2008, @05:15PM (#23286756)

    the corporate denials were being taken with a very big pinch of salt by everybody... sure, they weren't in talks with *Sony* to put a Bluray drive into it.

    phew, at least that dilemma is sorted out. just one big one left...

    the next 360 game should be Steve Ballmer on a snow board chasing Jerry Yang, trying to hit him with a chair, called Yamped!

  • And they're still refusing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by oberondarksoul (723118) on Saturday May 03 2008, @05:15PM (#23286758) Homepage
    to confirm it. All this article is is a claim that a Blu-Ray version of the 360 is being manufactured - which is what rumour sites have been suggesting since the death of HD-DVD. Until Microsoft confirms it, or we see one in the wild, this is still hearsay and speculation.

  • What is the point exactly? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 03 2008, @05:17PM (#23286768)
    Why do people want Blu-ray in their 360? Just to watch Blu-ray videos?

    Certainly no game manufacturer would do a Blu-ray game since it could not be guaranteed to be in every machine. So what is the point?

    If you want to watch Blu-ray videos then you could use some other method, why hook it to a 360?

    • Re:What is the point exactly? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by somersault (912633) on Saturday May 03 2008, @05:37PM (#23286862) Homepage Journal

      If you want to watch Blu-ray videos then you could use some other method, why hook it to a 360?
      First, why the hell not?

      Second, to reduce the clutter of more boxes under your TV (apart from the extra drive of course).

      Third, it will also presumably be a lot cheaper than buying either a PS3 or a dedicated blu-ray player. And if you already have a 360 (some people do, for some reason..), why not?

      * proud owner of a PS3 >_> currently pissed off that GTAIV isn't playing nicely with PS Network *

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by gEvil (beta) (945888)
        Third, it will also presumably be a lot cheaper than buying either a PS3 or a dedicated blu-ray player.

        I dunno. I just got a new 40GB PS3 for $230 using some well known deals/tricks (plus the 50 buck credit that Amazon gave me for buying a $50 360 HDDVD drive last month).

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by somersault (912633)
            The Cell processor is hardly 'standard' computer hardware.. the 360 is a lot more standard, kind of similar to Macs of yesteryear in that it uses a PPC processor. I agree that they are rubbish, but that's mostly just because they're designed by Microsoft rather than the individual components. The only decent hardware I've ever seen by MS was the sidewinder force feedback joystick (the first one - the second was rubbish). Everything else breaks; wireless mice and keyboards someone stupidly ordered at my comp

            • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

              by @madeus (24818)
              I'm not sure why you feel the XBox 360 is dated (from a functional point of view).

              It's true that most cross platform ports do look identical, at least when they are not moving. Unfortunately when they are moving, there are issues on the PS3.

              GTA, for example is worse quality on the PS3 (upscaled from less than 720p, unlike the 360 version, and it's much jerkier in very active screens), the only other cross platform title I've seen which comes to mind is Assassin's Creed, which is also far from smooth on the

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by ClamIAm (926466)
        it will also presumably be a lot cheaper than buying either a PS3

        I don't believe this. The PS3's current price reflects the fact that Sony is not only the gatekeeper for that platform but also that they manufacture a bunch of its components themselves. MS has a disadvantage here because they can't do neat tricks like deciding "we're not going to make any profit on parts X, Y, and Z until it costs less to produce them".

        The funny thing is that it seems like MS has been trying really hard as of late to make
        • I meant the individual drive, rather than a 360+blu-ray player. If the 360 with blu-ray costs more than a PS3 then I just think it will make people see how much value for money you really get with a PS3.

          The Wii can't even play DVDs (well, technically it can, but there is no software to do so.. :/ ), so it shouldn't even come into this. I have a Wii but I don't use it much. It's developed a weird and annoying problem with showing random white flecks in some textures and in the menu too.. I'm wondering if it
      • Not to say that it won't happen, but you may be premature in saying that a current 360 owner could purchase an external BD-ROM drive for their 360.

        Based on the article, my interpretation is that they've been contracted to build 360's with integrated BD-ROM drives. It could just be poor wording, but to me I wouldn't be expecting BD-ROM addons right away, at least based on this.
  • After the secondary-market price of the original unit goes down as a result of this, I may actually buy a used 360.

  • What purpose would it serve? (Score:4, Funny)

    by feepness (543479) on Saturday May 03 2008, @05:27PM (#23286812) Homepage
    No developer could take advantage of it given all the 360s out there with DVD drives.

    And furthermore, you're going to add another new layer of complexity onto an already flaky hardware?

    It's like building a beautiful sculpture on top of a condemned building about to collapse.

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by kai.chan (795863)
      The XBox360 architecture was never designed to support anything other than DVDs. Even with the HD-DVD peripheral, XBox360 games could not have taken advantage of the extra space that seems to be in demand nowadays. But I agree, XBox360 is the worst reliable piece of consumer electronics in recent history. At first, I didn't believe at how a piece of electronics can have at least 30% failure rate; but I was made a believer when every one of my friends' 360 broke down.

      • when every one of my friends' 360 broke down

        All one of them? That's 100%!

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Dutch Gun (899105)
        The Xbox architecture was never designed to support anything other than DVD's? Nonsense, it was built with extensibility in mind, just like any other console. The fact that there was an HD-DVD add-on proves that. An integrated Blu-Ray (or even an add-on) won't be any harder for them.

        What *is* true is that games can't take advantage of the storage space, because you have to build games with the lowest-powered SKU out in the market - that is, DVD drives. Technically speaking, I suppose they could make bot

        • ... And, it's also true that the 360 is one of the most flawed pieces of major consumer electronics in recent history. I don't think it's quite as big a deal as most people think, though, since MS is replacing them for free...

          that's a warranty, which they promised, presumably, before they knew it was going to fail on such a large scale. they're legally obligated to honor that warranty. if microsoft were to replace it for free, AND give us a half off coupon for the next time our 360s fail (by which time the warranty will be gone), i might consider giving them credit for that.

          ... and people like adding to their GamerScore*. * Whoever thought this up at MS should get a promotion. It's one of the simplest yet most brilliant things MS has ever done.

          i disagree. whomever thought this up should be stolen by google, so that steve ballmer [wikipedia.org] can throw a game chair!

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Danse (1026)

            that's a warranty, which they promised, presumably, before they knew it was going to fail on such a large scale. they're legally obligated to honor that warranty. if microsoft were to replace it for free, AND give us a half off coupon for the next time our 360s fail (by which time the warranty will be gone), i might consider giving them credit for that.
            Actually, they extended the warranty to three years after they found out how high the failure rate was.

        • I have to agree about gamer points, I added a full set from Assassins Creed to my roommate's account before I realized how easy it was to create my own. Finally something more than personal satisfaction from doing needlessly hard optional quests.

          I have to say though, all of seen of the PSN store is the Rockband section and it's leaps and bounds ahead the xbox live version. The only advantage the 360 has is that you don't have to exit out of the game to access it.

          • Finally something more than personal satisfaction from doing needlessly hard optional quests.
            Gamerscore is STILL just personal satisfaction, man.
      • The XBox360 architecture was never designed to support anything other than DVDs. Even with the HD-DVD peripheral, XBox360 games could not have taken advantage of the extra space that seems to be in demand nowadays.

        Kind of an odd statement. Which system do you believe is architectured better to take advanatage of large space?
  • All articles seem to point to a new 360 SKU with "built in" Bluray, so are we to believe that they have abandoned the "add-on" idea? It seems to me that an "add-on" would be better as it would prevent the alienation of the early adopters.
      • By the time MS releases this, there will probably be a $99 BluRay player available at Walmart, Or whatever the Australian equivalent is. Now that Blu Ray is the clear winner, people won't be so hesitant to buy them, and prices will drop.
        • Actually Blu Ray [gizmodo.com] hasn't been selling better since the death of HD DVD. They have a few theories but I think that for a lot of folks out there(like me) DVD is good enough. DVD is easy to backup,cheap, and with an upscaling player looks good enough on most folks sets. There are also a ton of SDTV sets out there and it will be a long time before they are all replaced. Let's face it,it just isn't as big a deal for most folks. With VHS the tapes were clunky, got eaten by the machine, looked crappier everytime yo

          • Actually Blu Ray [gizmodo.com] hasn't been selling better since the death of HD DVD. They have a few theories but I think that for a lot of folks out there(like me) DVD is good enough. DVD is easy to backup,cheap, and with an upscaling player looks good enough on most folks sets.

            I have no way of backing this up, but I would guess that I'm fairly typical: I spent so much time waiting for a clear victor in this format war that by the time one appeared, I wasn't sure I even wanted one anymore. I mean, I'm sure I'll wind up with one at some point - when the price drops substantially (it hasn't yet) or when my 360 dies and the replacement comes out. But otherwise, I think I waited long enough that "okay, this is gonna be the format, honest" isn't enough of a justification to get me to

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by MBGMorden (803437)
            It's a little more complex than that.

            20,000 people might be willing to buy them at $500. With that volume, it might cost $350 to manufacture.

            If 25,000 people are willing to pay $375, but the manufacturing costs only drop to $300, then it makes sense to keep the price higher and sell less.

            If 1 million are willing to pay $150 though, and the manufacturing costs drops down to $125, then it's worth it at that point to drop the price in order to sell more, and lower the production cost.

            In the old scenario (befo

  • Killer Features (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CopaceticOpus (965603) on Saturday May 03 2008, @06:11PM (#23287086)
    There are only a few real killer features that separate one console from another. Integrated Blu-Ray movie support was the PS3's biggest advantage. If the 360 can manage this and beat the PS3 on price, Sony may be screwed.

    The 360's killer feature is Xbox Live. They nailed it, and it's going to be a license for them to print money just as Windows has been. Even if Sony comes out with better online support, it's too late. What good does that do when all your friends are on Microsoft's service?

    This may be a death blow to the PS3, because it may not have anything left to offer over the 360. Better reliability and the ability to run Linux in a limited environment aren't going to be enough.
    • So you're saying that even thought the PS3 has been seriously outselling the XBox360 all year worldwide, that suddenly everyone's friends are going to be on Microsoft's service? The Blu-Ray addition is a stopgap measure on Microsoft's part to try to pull back into 2nd place in the console wars, but since they're way behind the curve there's no way they're going to be able to manufacture them as cheaply as Sony. I don't think the PS3 has anything to worry about from Microsoft-- it's the Wii that remains th

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Akaihiryuu (786040)
        Indeed. The Wii is going to win the "console war" this generation for outright sales. The PS3 will be the console of choice for the more "hardcore" games. Not saying that the Wii won't have any, but a lot of "big" games like MGS4 are going to PS3-only. The 360 is basically dead everywhere but the US. 360 sales in Japan are abysmal, not even close to what the original Xbox sold (and even it did terribly there). I've owned a Wii since launch day, and I'm going to get a PS3 once the price goes down a bit
        • I really hope that isn't true. I have really enjoyed my 360, and while I was a big fan of the PS2, the PS3 just hasn't done it for me.

          So, for now at least, I'm 360 all the way.
          • A little part of me died when they stopped doing backwards computability. How hard is it for a $400 PS3 to emulate a $100 PS2?

            If they hadn't dropped that, I'd be kicking my old, dusty, 1st gen PS2 to the curb right now and replacing with something sleek and shiny.
            • To be fair, the backward compatibility involved putting the complete PS2 hardware (basically PS2 on a chip) in the PS3, and this raised the cost of an already expensive system. The software backward compatibility in the later PS3's has a lot of problems, it doesn't work properly with a lot of games. I'm fine with keeping my PS2 for PS1 and PS2 games (but then I have one of the newer slim silver ones, my ex got the older PS2 when we broke up).
          • If you're interested in American-style games (PC ports, FPS's, driving games, etc), then you'll be fine with the 360. I'm pretty sure the 360 will take the #2 spot in the US. If you're interested in Japanese games though (like I am), then the 360 would be your LAST choice (as the system is basically dead in Japan now).

        • ... a lot of "big" games like MGS4 are going to PS3-only....
          Of course, that's what they said about MGS2 and MGS3...
          • Big difference. The 360 IS in #2 worldwide, but that's only because of the US. I'm pretty sure that the PS3 is not going to surpass the 360 in the US, because the 360 has and will continue to have most of the American-style games (FPS's, driving games, PC ports, etc). So I guess it depends on your point of view. If your view of big games concerns American-style FPS's and games like that, then the 360 is probably the right choice for you. If your view of big games is Japanese games like MGS4, then you'd
    • Sony also has more, better first-party exclusive games coming out in the future. And the PS3 isn't as loud as the 360 so your movie watching experience won't have as much fan noise.

      The 360 and the PS3 are both good systems. XBox Live is indeed an advantage. There's no need for the console war propaganda posts. Having two excellent competing choices is better for gamers.
      • I can see where I'd look like a fanboy, but honestly I don't care about that. I'm just someone sitting on the fence for both HD movies and for newer consoles. I'm still enjoying my PS2, but eventually I may find the 360 too hard to resist, even if Microsoft is the last company I'd want to support.

        I agree that competition is good, and I hope the PS3 will remain a strong player.
    • I bet they're getting a handsome licence fee for every Blu-ray reader sold. So Microsoft will be paying them every time they sell a 360.

      They've already won the format war, they have little chance of winning the console war (A large chunk of PS3 sales have been purely for its capability as a good Blu-ray player / DVD upscaler), if they're smart they'll stick to what they're making money on now and work on getting it right for the next generation.
  • ... QUIETER Bluray drive, 20gb disk or greater, HDMI, IR remote for Harmony compatibility, at say $299?

    SOLD.
  • I always found these "confirmed!" stories that are still just rumors funny. Yeah, it may very well be a rumor that is true, but at this point, it's still a rumor.

    I won't take it as anything other than a rumor until I see indisputable photographic proof, or a press release from Microsoft.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by donaldm (919619)

      What will the cost be? TFA doesn't say anything. Also, can you hook it up to your 360 simultaneously with your HD-DVD drive?

      You can now buy laptops with inbuilt Bluray reader and DVD/CD read/write drive for not much more than that same laptop without the Bluray reader. The reason why it is relatively cheap to do this is the actual Bluray diode is right next to the DVD/CD diode and the mechanics and electronics are fully integrated to share/decode the two diodes. Go to your local computer store and eject the BD/DVD/CD drive and you can plainly see both diodes.

      If Microsoft produces a Bluray add-on like they did with HD-DVD driv

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