Next Xbox; If not blu-ray, Then what?

[Katana314]

I could see them using digital distribution; you buy all your games online.

 

[Lopsided Weener]

Green ray...exactly the same as blue ray but green

And the disks look awesome. =D

Discs will probably stick around for a while, though I can see the appeal of much tighter controlled digital distribution to all consoles.

 

[Macrobstar]

Digital distribution

This, all games will be downloaded in HD quality and stored on a large HDD

I would not buy that, i prefer to have a physical copy of a game so I actually own it, download should always be an option but then so should physical media

 

[Macrobstar]

Digital distribution

This, all games will be downloaded in HD quality and stored on a large HDD

Yes. Because everybody has a high speed internet connection.

You are aware that around 40% of consoles are not hooked up to the internet, right?

well along with 80% of statistic being made up (good job)
There is the thing that the planned release date is years away, they want to make this generation last aslong as they can.

Realistically physical media is on the way out in gaming, see the rise in development of i-phone apps and xbla and psn titles as proof of this. It's impossible to get those games without an internet connection right now and both those industries seem to be doing quite fine. It's highly likely the next generation of consoles will be the last in the traditional system and downloadable titles being the mainstream is the most effective way to get a product to your audience.

A delivery system where the recipient never needs leave the house, its clearly possible given the amount of pc gamers who do only buy downloadable titles. So don't be caught by suprise when it happens.

Thats gonna suck, I want to actually physically own my games, I want to still have them if the console blows up and not have to re download them, digital distribution will never completly take over, or at least I hope not

 

[Macrobstar]

Digital distribution

This, all games will be downloaded in HD quality and stored on a large HDD

Yes. Because everybody has a high speed internet connection.

You are aware that around 40% of consoles are not hooked up to the internet, right?

well along with 80% of statistic being made up (good job)
There is the thing that the planned release date is years away, they want to make this generation last aslong as they can.

Realistically physical media is on the way out in gaming, see the rise in development of i-phone apps and xbla and psn titles as proof of this. It's impossible to get those games without an internet connection right now and both those industries seem to be doing quite fine. It's highly likely the next generation of consoles will be the last in the traditional system and downloadable titles being the mainstream is the most effective way to get a product to your audience.

A delivery system where the recipient never needs leave the house, its clearly possible given the amount of pc gamers who do only buy downloadable titles. So don't be caught by suprise when it happens.

Thats gonna suck, I want to actually physically own my games, I want to still have them if the console blows up and not have to re download them, digital distribution will never completly take over, or at least I hope not

heaven forbid you have to press a button
THE HORROR THE HORROR

yes the level of sarcasm is warranted

Oh yeh I forgot that in this magical land of ours download is completely instant and odesn't require a stable internet connection throughout, what disadvantages does the disk actually have? Oh No! you have to walk to the store, excersize! THE HORROR THE HORROR!

 

[RoBi3.0]

Digital distribution

This, all games will be downloaded in HD quality and stored on a large HDD

I think that the PSN mishap is a great illustration of why 100% digital distro is a very bad idea.

As far as the next XBOX goes my money is on Blu ray. Sony would be stupid to try to block it if they even could. There are a lot of xbox in the world today and a lot of games for them. Evenn if Sony only made a dollar in licensing fees for each game disk sold they would be rolling in the money. It is a great position to be in when your biggest competitor is having to give you a cut of their cheese.

 

[fgdfgdgd]

Retrospect is awesome!

And depressing.

I know right? I just think back to then when I was in high school arguing with some fanboys about which would win and my main point was that most of the previous format wars were won by the higher quality regardless of the price. *sigh* good times, and I really gave it to them when HD-DVD went belly up.

 

[RoBi3.0]

Retrospect is awesome!

And depressing.

I know right? I just think back to then when I was in high school arguing with some fanboys about which would win and my main point was that most of the previous format wars were won by the higher quality regardless of the price. *sigh* good times, and I really gave it to them when HD-DVD went belly up.

Sorry good sir, I disagree. The previous format wars were won by the formats backed by the porn industry. In the case of hd dvd and blu ray the game industry had a lot to do with who won, as well. At one point the PS3 was the cheapest blu ray player on the market, and it did more then just play movies.

I wholeheartedly believe that if the XBOX had come with a integrated HD DVD drive that format would have won.

 

[Macrobstar]

Digital distribution

This, all games will be downloaded in HD quality and stored on a large HDD

Yes. Because everybody has a high speed internet connection.

You are aware that around 40% of consoles are not hooked up to the internet, right?

well along with 80% of statistic being made up (good job)
There is the thing that the planned release date is years away, they want to make this generation last aslong as they can.

Realistically physical media is on the way out in gaming, see the rise in development of i-phone apps and xbla and psn titles as proof of this. It's impossible to get those games without an internet connection right now and both those industries seem to be doing quite fine. It's highly likely the next generation of consoles will be the last in the traditional system and downloadable titles being the mainstream is the most effective way to get a product to your audience.

A delivery system where the recipient never needs leave the house, its clearly possible given the amount of pc gamers who do only buy downloadable titles. So don't be caught by suprise when it happens.

Thats gonna suck, I want to actually physically own my games, I want to still have them if the console blows up and not have to re download them, digital distribution will never completly take over, or at least I hope not

heaven forbid you have to press a button
THE HORROR THE HORROR

yes the level of sarcasm is warranted

Oh yeh I forgot that in this magical land of ours download is completely instant and odesn't require a stable internet connection throughout, what disadvantages does the disk actually have? Oh No! you have to walk to the store, excersize! THE HORROR THE HORROR!

Um your wrong, i interupt my steam downloads ALL THE TIME. So good job on the research buddy. And as instant as i need it to be, considering i can preload it before its released so ding on release date its effectively instant (even if you have a bad connection).

And lets see disks can be lost, broken (oh wait dont certain consoles occasionally destroy the disks in their system as well)and stolen. All of which would leave you without a game. And its not the going to the store thats the issue, its the having to spend time on that when there are better things to do like see you friends, or do some exercise, or play said game.

Well the same can be said for digital media, hard drives can be broken or lost, account details can be forgotten or hacked, I don't htink the industry will completely switch to digital media until it satrts outselling physical, which it doesn't, plus how do people who don't have credit cards or don't want to trust there details with someone online buy games? how do people without an internet connection buy games, and plus what about people who want to take games and play them at there friends houses, oh no thats fine just tell him your steam login then a few hours later hey presto!

 

[fgdfgdgd]

I know right? I just think back to then when I was in high school arguing with some fanboys about which would win and my main point was that most of the previous format wars were won by the higher quality regardless of the price. *sigh* good times, and I really gave it to them when HD-DVD went belly up.

Sorry good sir, I disagree. The previous format wars were won by the formats backed by the porn industry. In the case of hd dvd and blu ray the game industry had a lot to do with who won, as well. At one point the PS3 was the cheapest blu ray player on the market, and it did more then just play movies.

I wholeheartedly believe that if the XBOX had come with a integrated HD DVD drive that format would have won.

You may Disagree all you wish Sir/madam but the fact remains that the formats of past and indeed the present of which retained the better quality/capacity were chosen by the porn industry and the current gaming industry. It may have been the cheapest but at nearly $40 a movie (AUD) it was double the price of DvD's at the time; Only recently has Blu-ray become as cheap as DvD.

And I wholeheartedly agree with that possibility, but I also wholeheartedly believe that Microsoft didn't integrate it to keep their overall price down so that they could beat Sony out the gate in sales and hope that people would latch onto their new format with their new console, a risky bet that cost them their format but in the end kept their console cheaper and sold more units; hindsight is 20/20 vision, I think they made the right choice to risk their format and not their console.

 

[RoBi3.0]

I know right? I just think back to then when I was in high school arguing with some fanboys about which would win and my main point was that most of the previous format wars were won by the higher quality regardless of the price. *sigh* good times, and I really gave it to them when HD-DVD went belly up.

Sorry good sir, I disagree. The previous format wars were won by the formats backed by the porn industry. In the case of hd dvd and blu ray the game industry had a lot to do with who won, as well. At one point the PS3 was the cheapest blu ray player on the market, and it did more then just play movies.

I wholeheartedly believe that if the XBOX had come with a integrated HD DVD drive that format would have won.

You may Disagree all you wish Sir/madam but the fact remains that the formats of past and indeed the present of which retained the better quality/capacity were chosen by the porn industry and the current gaming industry. It may have been the cheapest but at nearly $40 a movie (AUD) it was double the price of DvD's at the time; Only recently has Blu-ray become as cheap as DvD.

And I wholeheartedly agree with that possibility, but I also wholeheartedly believe that Microsoft didn't integrate it to keep their overall price down so that they could beat Sony out the gate in sales and hope that people would latch onto their new format with their new console, a risky bet that cost them their format but in the end kept their console cheaper and sold more units; hindsight is 20/20 vision, I think they made the right choice to risk their format and not their console.

You raise some good points. I personally don't know if adding HDDVD drive would have delayed the launch of the xbox. That year head start did wonder for cementing their foothold. If that is the case then they made the right choice. If that is not the case then that mistake might cost them in the long run. Currently xbox's choice of format is starting to show its age badly L.A. Noire comes on 3 disks on the xbox ME 3 is rumored to be the same. Eventually quality of xbox releases will start to suffer, in a way it is already starting.

 

[spartandude]

how about Red Ray?

 

[Mikeyfell]

How about the next Xbox doesn't support first person shooters.

That might not be so good for Microsoft but it'd save the game industry.

 

[Mikeyfell]

how about Red Ray?

I'll hold out hope for the HHDDVDDBD's

 

[Juventus]

digital disturbution is out of the question imo because half the world has interent usage caps and seed limits.

unless by the next 4 years we have some kind of upgrade in internet usage.

 

[DasDestroyer]

They're going to release a microsoft-only equivalent of Blu-Ray called the Yello-Laser.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

They are gonna use X-RAY! Sorry, had to be done.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Instead of pioneering a new format like Sony has with each PlayStation, they will simply use Blu-Ray discs... but TWO of them at once! Didn't see that coming, did you?

 

[Zantos]

how about Red Ray?

Technically that's just the normal laser disks we have now. Doesn't really help that Blu-ray uses green lasers, so we can't go there. Violet-ray? UV-ray? How about it just goes to gamma-ray and skips all the fuss?

They are gonna use X-RAY! Sorry, had to be done.

Gamma-ray. One upped on the EM energy spectrum.

How about the next Xbox doesn't support first person shooters.

That might not be so good for Microsoft but it'd save the game industry.

Or a percentage of the proceeds from it's games goes towards getting rid of trolls. There's an idea I can get behind.

 

[Therumancer]

I'm going to assume the next xbox won't have blu-ray. It would be lovely if it did, but it probably won't. DVDs are already too small for many games. They're even trying to squeeze out a last drop of life with the incoming May firmware update that gives a 15 percent-ish boost to disc space for their games.

If not blu, What are they planning on doing? Maybe trying to make their own new format just for the new console? Staying with DVDs even? Thoughts?

Well, given that Microsoft competes with Sony, Blu-Ray is pretty much off the table. Being dependant on your competition to make your own hardware isn't a good idea. After all, if Sony wound up getting ahead of Microsoft in the next round, suddenly Microsoft would have a shorage of the lasers needed to make Blu Ray players again, and say "well, right now we only have enough for in-house development" and pretty much pole-axe Microsoft.

If I had to make a guess, Microsoft is probably going to try and move away from physical media, and do what Sony tried to do with the PSP Go. That is to say have the discs just be download starters with a code in the box, or have everyone deal with them online to buy the games. Developing an entire video format just to sell games is stupid, and right now they aren't going to compete with Blu Ray in a general sense since people aren't going to support a new format yet, as a lot of people haven't yet switched over to Blu-Ray as it is. We pretty much have to wait a number of years once DVD is buried entirely before people start thinking new format, sort of like what happened with VHS.

Microsoft is in a pickle, and to be honest it was intentional. Sony always said that they were involved in a long term strategy with the PS-3 and their game development. Back when the PS-3 was released they did try and pull a P-2 with artificial shortages to generate hype, BUT there was some truth to it as they couldn't meet the demand in an absolute sense (while they could have done a lot better than they did). The thing was that Sony which is a multi-national corperation was competing for the next generation video format, and tossing most of it's overall resources into that war as opposed to things like video games which is just a side business for them (even if it's our primary area of interest as gamers). They could only make the components so fast, and given the option between putting them into a PS-3 or into a dedicated Blu Ray player which would appeal to a wider audience given the prejudice against game boxes (even those that play movies), common sense dictated putting them into the blu ray player. Due to their focus they won, and now questions like this one are a big one, and they set it up ahead of time. Sure they took a thrashing with the PS-3 early on, and were out performed by the competition sales wise in an absolute sense, but it's still a very succesful product by any standard. Come the next gen of consoles Sony is very much in a position to drop the competition right out of the gate since any work around they come up with to avoid using Blu Ray and not becoming dependant on Sony, is likely to be inferior and gimmicky.

Microsoft's best option is probably to go digital, but I don't think that will meet with any major support despite the passage of time. We might very well see a one-man Sony show for the coming generation.