Xbox Head Proclaims Blu-ray Dead 547
Blacklaw writes "Microsoft has sided with Apple in a rare case of solidarity between the two companies, and declares that Blu-ray will be 'passed by' as a high-definition format. In many ways, it's hard to disagree. US markets have seen the demand for legal digital downloads of PC games exceed sales of the physical object for the first time, and Apple famously refuses to put a Blu-ray drive in its Macs, as Jobs prefers to send people towards iTunes to download their entertainment. That said, there's an argument for physical media, too. A recent survey suggested that the majority of gamers prefer physical discs, and digital downloads have the secondary effect of entirely cutting out the popular market for second-hand films and games — a plus for publishers, but a big negative for the consumer."
Hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
Eventually, yes...but I think optical media will still be around for a while.
Purely from a gaming perspective, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft includes Blu-Ray in its next Xbox. I doubt the next Xbox will be far enough in the future to support only digital downloads (due to ISP bandwith concerns), they won't be able to just stick with DVD9, and they would be pretty stupid to try to release their own optical format.
All that being said, I'll agree that Blu-Ray is likely the last (or the second to last) optical media standard that will ever hit mainstream status.
Of course they want physical media gone (Score:2, Interesting)
It's one step closer to the pay per play model. If people can't sell or give away their old titles, everyone will have to cough up.
Jobs obviously has a shitty home theatre if he believes the "HD" crap in itunes is acceptable on anything other than little screens, with low-fi sound systems.
Re:If indeed, truly sad news (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm pretty sure that "Get over it" was the message when CDs came out, and yet we've got a resurgence of vinyl. Vive la differénce! Everybody wants something to hold and us and keep and love; media is not immune to that, and I am glad.
Re:If indeed, truly sad news (Score:4, Interesting)
In a sense, you are correct in that media publishers have always sought the advantage of being able to control access to their content so that they can charge you many times for the same thing. It's not enough that they can "print money" by charging excessively for that which cost them pennies to produce, now they want to charge repeatedly for things that cost an order of magnitude less to produce.
I have already said "goodbye" to paying for TV. With my last move, I was unsuccessful in bribing the cable internet installer to "forget to block the TV signal" which meant I was faced with (a) hacking on the physical cables and locking devices, (b) paying for the TV services or (c) doing without. I went with option (c). I would simply rather do without. Turns out that while I get fewer digital TV channels than I did with analog, I get some in hi-def and I can watch The Big Bang Theory for free. And while I don't get access to everything else I might want to see, I have found that I don't miss it as much as I thought I would and can do without just fine.
Getting away from the various sources of media has been an interesting experience and I find that it doesn't harm me in the least. On the contrary, I think it was actually good for me.
People are largely addicted to their media streams and are unaware of what their life might be like without all that noise to fill the empty moments and spaces. I'm here to say, it's not that bad! I got a new bicycle and I ride it. It's fun! Build things! Create things! This is how we used to entertain ourselves back in the day and it still seems to work.
Microsoft Still Bitter Over Sony Kicking Their Ass (Score:1, Interesting)
Microsoft backed the piece of shit technologically inferior HD-DVD format and got destroyed by Sony in the market.
This is nothing but inane crybaby sour grapes.
You really have to wonder if there is anyone who is involved with the Xbox fiasco at Microsoft who isn't a complete idiot like this latest clown running his mouth off. When you get beaten so badly by a competitor like Microsoft was by Sony you keep your damn mouth shut and don't remind the who damn world about the subject. Especially when Blu-Ray sales continue to grow rapidly and outpace the VHS to DVD transition.
You really have to wonder how much longer Microsoft will keep the clusterfuck that is their E&D division around much longer:
The 8 billion dollar Xbox fiasco
The completely forgettable Zune
The dead on arrival Microsoft cellphone OS
With Microsoft's failed search efforts now blowing through Xbox sized billions in losses you have to wonder which of the two will be first to get the axe.
Back in early 00's... (Score:3, Interesting)
I worked as a consultant primarily with small and medium sized production houses who were transitioning from other editing platforms to Final Cut Pro and from SD to HD. They would ask, "Should I invest in Blu-ray or HD-DVD?" My answer would be neither. Those of us in the industry saw that by the time one format won out, it would remain dominate for 18 - 24 hours before everything went Digital Download anyway. And this was back in 2004. The only question would be the method of digital content delivery. Would it be a store like iTunes, would it be streaming through set top cable boxes (On Demand), or would it be some kind of web streaming service like Youtube or Hulu? Or would it be a combination of all? So far it's a combination of all.
I can't remember the last time I used my DVD player. I bought a Mac Mini in 2005 and hooked it up to my TV's DVI port and attached a 320 and now 1TB external harddrive to it. At the time, the apartment I lived in didn't have SciFi as part of the basic cable package. I purchased season 2 & 3 of Battlestar Galactica and quickly figured out for 2 months of the TV/Internet/Phone bundle I could buy all the TV programs I watched off iTunes and download them the next day . And the Quality of picture was good enough on my 32" TV.
That's what I did until Hulu came along. Then I just started watching the shows I wanted on it.
Most videographers I know are still creating regular DVD's and then if a client wants their movie in HD, they save it as an H.264 file onto a thumb drive or have the client provide an external HDD.
Re:I sorta agree, but (Score:3, Interesting)
If your house burns down and destroys all your DVDs the store you bought them from isn;t going to let you replace them all for free -
This is tangentially related to the story topic, but I have definitely had physical media replaced. It wasn't through the retailer though. One instance I recall was that I accidentally dropped one of the disks to C&C Generals and rolled over it in my office chair. Totally ruined it. I wrote a polite letter to EA Games, included what was left of the original media to prove I wasn't trying to scam them, and they sent me a replacement disk.
They weren't obligated to do this by any means (that I am aware of). But they did. That was good customer support.
Of course I never expected them to do this, so by the time I received the replacement disk I had already gotten a pirated copy and was playing that. It was so convenient to use the cracked version that I just kept on doing so. But I felt righteous knowing that I also owned a usable physical disk.
Company declares competitor's product useless... (Score:2, Interesting)
Sour Grapes (Score:0, Interesting)
This Just In:
Xbox executives are still salty about not getting blu-ray on their consoles, Decide to make ridiculous claims that blu-ray is dying.
Re:If indeed, truly sad news (Score:3, Interesting)
>>>I have no loyalty to gamestop
It's not gamestop that I'm worried about, but gamers like me who enjoy selling our older games on amazon.com or ebay.com. If the used market "implodes" as you say, we'll be cut off from a large supply of money (which we use to fund purchases of new games).
Re:If indeed, truly sad news (Score:5, Interesting)
What is being redefined, slowly but surely, is what rights you have as a computer user, what your computer is allowed to do, and what rights you have to "purchases" of content. Using encryption marks you for greater scrutiny by law enforcement. In some people's minds, merely using DeCSS or other software is against the law. It gets worse every day, in a little less freedom here and a little less freedom there.
Re:frog in the cauldron (Score:1, Interesting)
Gay wolf. Gay bear. Gay lion ...
Followed by Muslim wolf. Muslim bear. Muslim lion ...