Microsoft Bashes Blu-Ray

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

I've really come to like digital distribution for PC games, mostly because Steam is so convenient and ridiculously cheap (at least when there's a sale on). I don't really mind leaving a download running overnight for a game I'm going to play for several days/weeks, or at least not so much that I won't put up with it. It is pretty annoying sometimes, though. I'm less thrilled about it on consoles for various reasons, but that's a different story.

When it comes to video, though, give me a disc, particularly if it's something I want to keep, not just watch once. Even if I do just end up ripping it and using the copy on my hard drive, the physical disc is like a free backup and generally holds up better/longer than one you burn yourself. It's also nice to be able to get a full box set of the entire run of a TV show in 1080p, complete with all the various extras that are usually left out of digital versions, and not have to waste hundreds/thousands of GB of disk space just to have them all available whenever I want (or pretend that ISP service and various streaming services are reliable enough to not randomly break right when I want to watch something or throttle my bandwidth or impose a monthly download cap or...).

Considering that I currently can't consistently stream anything higher than 360p without errors and that some games have taken me multiple days to download and that there are plenty of people in much worse situations than I am, I kind of have a feeling that physical distribution of some sort won't entirely go away for a while. They'd be cutting off too much of their potential market. Eventually it'll be more practical, but not yet.

 

[LordSphinx]

I don't like how people seem to assume that the only alternative to digital media is Blu-Ray. The DS is using cartridges. USB flash drives could be the next big thing, as the current technology allows for more storage and faster loading times from them than from a BluRay Disc. I think that the future of physical media will be a return to cartridges, as they are faster, more customizeable, are costing less and less to make, and they cut loading times. I'd pay 5 bucks more for my games if that meant next to no loading time.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

Yeah no. I'm not downloading movies. I love my physical copies. I can show off my library of great films (once I build it up, of course). I'd question the relevance of television broadcasts with Hulu and such, but never the relevance of physical copies of movies.

Maybe if I could afford a media PC or something to hook directly up to he TV. But then there's the constant whir of a computer, the threat of unsupported codecs, and unexpected slowdown if your PC suddenly can't handle it anymore. I prefer a dedicated device to this.

BINGO!
Having a physical library maybe cumbersome, but it's much more gratifying to put a disc in to watch a movie than it is to Download, or stream it.

In the grand scheme of things, Digital Distribution can be much more of a problem. So my HDD runs out of space and I get a new one to help out, so I have to switch out HDD's now.
Also what happens if my HDD gets fucked over and I loose everything. Sure they'll maybe give me a second copy, but that's highly unlikely.

 

[Jared]

Micrsoft seem to be on a mission to insult as many people as they can it seems...

 

[Schlagwerk]

It's a big deal for game developers that have to pay additional royalties to MS for each additional disc they launch a game on.

I can't find any hard figures for this, but I'd imagine due to the cost of the Blu-ray medium it all pans out.

Needlessly uncompressed? I have yet to play a game with better quality of media (crisp textures, amazing sound, in game graphics that look better than most cinematic efforts by studios).

I like my FLAC for music too, but a video game isn't about just the quality of the assets. I'll leave this one at 'subjective'.

 

[Sebenko]

OH! I get it!

The reason they keep calling things crap is because they have nothing good to say about their latest super-gimmick, the Wii Kinect.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Is Microsoft finally going down the tubes? I mean, everyone hated Vista, the Kinect is a joke, and now they're acting like modern technology is the work of the devil. I think if a decent competitor (probably not Apple) could manufacture an OS with the level of compatibility of Windows, MS would be like Apple was in the early 90s.

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

Because I'd absolutely love to download MGS4 and have all 40GB or whatever it is sitting on my PS3's HD.

I think it's petty when companies bash each other like this.

 

[DVTK00p]

Bitstream vs PCM or in lay terms; Compressed audio vs Uncompressed. 1080i vs 1080p.. You can't tell me you get full digital quality on both audio and video while streaming. And if you do, please share some of the wealth you've used to purchase your own private fiber optic connection. His statement is bunk.. MS is just being spikey and authoratative. They've been trashing on Apple a lot lately too.

 

[gphjr14]

Keep cost down?
So why aren't X-box games cheaper than PS3 ones?
The disc cost less so shouldn't microsoft pass the savings on to the consumer?

 

[Falseprophet]

There's going to be a place for physical media as long as digital distribution is controlled off-stage by distribution companies. It wasn't so long ago that e-books disappeared from Kindles nationwide [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/books-disappear-from-amazon-as-old-media-battles-new-retail.ars] because Amazon and Macmillan got into a behind-the-scenes tiff. When people spend a chunk of cash on something they want to own, they get really mad when it turns out they were just renting all along.

 

[WelshDanny]

Firstly, my internet connection is shared by about 8 people so downloads can get stupidly slow. Secondly, I like having a disc in a box! You can't take a film round to a friends to watch if its a download.

Have Microsoft not noticed how every single major movie and tv show comes out on blu-ray.

That company really talk out of their arse when they try to promote their own products.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

That attitude won't Change, remember when they said TV killed radio, BS remember when VHS would destroy Cassettes...idem etc etc etc.

one thing we learn is that most companies remain with this motto:

"never take people for idiots even if we know they are"

 

[Jaebird]

If I had to decide between digital distribution and Blu-Ray, I'd go with the format that doesn't take an average of 1 hr. and 30 minutes to gain access to (sometimes less than that, for me). Yes, Blu-Ray is expensive, but it's proven to be worth paying in most cases.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

Blu-Rays aren't going anywhere soon.

1) Many people enjoy having the physical disc. Blu-Rays don't damage very easily (from normal wear, tear and use. Your car keys will prolly scratch it, but setting it down on a table won't), and if it does get damaged, it's just one disc. Digital distribution means that if your computer/console/whatever crashes, at BEST you will have to spend X number of days re-downloading content, and hoping you remember all you had (or, if you back up your games/movies regularly, you have to shell out for external hard drives). At worst, you lose everything and have to start repurchasing.

2) Bonus content. Director commentaries, cast and crew interview, "making of", etc etc. will be harder to get a hold of.

3) Portability. With more and more laptops and computers coming with Blu-Ray players, if a family member wants to take a couple movies with them when they go out, they can just grab the discs, not transfer files to their own computer, eating up more hard drive space.

 

[Snow Fire]

Blu-ray will be killed soon enough, probably by the holographic versatile disc which can store up to six terrabytes of data, has a transfer rate of one gigabit, and the HVD standards were already approved, and published in June 07. And then, the 5D DVD standard will kill it.

 

[Ghostkai]

HD DVD...

Sorry, I was too busy laughing at how petty this is.