Microsoft denies Xbox 360 optical upgrade
Blu-ray not coming. Officially. Until it does.
IT'S THE RUMOUR that just won't die - Vole is planning to introduce a Blu-ray drive for its Xbox 360 games console in the wake of the death of HD-DVD.
Indeed, we reported news from Taiwan that Asus had even secured order to supply drives, which would ship as part of the 'Jasper' update for the 360 platform later this year.
But, proving that their line is nothing if not persistant, Microsoft has categorically denied that it has any plans to introduce Blu-ray.
Responding to a query from Gamepro, a Microsoft official said that "As we have stated, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360." That's pretty categorical, although the obvious caveat is that there are 'no plans that this particular PR chump knows about'. What J Allard and co get up to in their own time is between consenting adults.
It does seem unlikely that Microsoft can continue to ship honking quantities of 360s in the face of a very obvious one-up from Sony on the features front. Even if the Blu-ray drive does arrive, don't expect it to be standard, and don't expect any games in the format either - Microsoft has far too many standard DVD consoles out their to even think about cheesing off existing owners. µ
Comments
Really ??
They will never say that they are planning to introduce Blu Ray Drive ... It will just hurt their current sales.. It's very plain and simple..Xbox360
MS pissed off original xbox owners by killing the system the minute the 360 came out, so why wouldn't they do it a second time. I bought a PS3 because of this very reason. After a treatment like that there is no reason I would ever buy one of their products againBR/360
The only way it would benefit is if it were actually just an add-on, rather than included. Considering the average user can hack firmware and make copied games if they want to. Why pay extra to screw up that capability, (though it could probably still be done). The price would make the 360 quite obnoxious, almost as much as Sony's.Having the option to upgrade to a BR player would be incredible. Nobody has the money to fork over 5-600 on a gaming system because it's BR, but if they have the option to spend a bit of coin later, they're always willing.
PS3vs360 Customer Service
Sony's and MS's product support is identical. Sony released the ps3 with ps2 psone compatablilty. In favor of cheaper cost they removed the hardware chip that supports ps2 and ps1 native, and it is now done by software which means 100% of ps2 and 1 games can't work. Only a % will work correctly but Sony doesn't care. I'm glad MS killed the xbox when the 360 came out. I can only image the B&Ming going around that the 360 has this game and xbox does not waaahhhh.Stupid move
I hope they do realize that they will lose sales to the PS3 if they don't announce it soon. I'd wait a few months to get an xbox 360 with BR, rather than get a PS3 because xbox live is so much better than Sony's online set up.But, whichever I buy, it will have to have a built-in BR player, because I am as interested in that as a gaming console.
I guess their fear is announcing it will tank non-BR 360 sales as people wait. I think I'd rather have people wait to buy my console, then buy the oposition if I were them.
PS3 Why?
Why on earth would anyone buy a PS3 when game for game the Xbox 360 version out performs the PS3 version everytime...maybe it's what he didn't say
I haven't read the whole denial, but in the quote the rep said they're not planning on introducing blu-ray drives FOR the 360. At no point did he deny introducing 360 consoles WITH blu-ray already in them.Clueless Idiots
Timothy Economou: all PS3 models play PS1 games just fine, it's only the PS2 compatability that was removed, and that was removed because the idiots were crying it was too expensive. Those some idiots are now crying that PS2 compatability was removed. Be careful what you wish for..Nick: Sorry, PS3 has a far better version of GTA IV, with no popup, better lighting, and drastically reduced load times compared to the 360 version. If you took off your rose tinted MS glasses, you would see this.
Mat: PS3 price is far from Obnoxious, it's £30 more than a 360... Considering you get Blu-ray, Wifi, and other stuff you have to pay for on the 360, it's a FAR better deal.
For Mark
Mark, stop being so PS3 biased and state the true, both games looks pretty much the same, but even though the Xbox360 has some slighly popups in some places, the Frame Rate is faaaar more stable on the Xbox360, PS3 stutters a lot, sometimes the game won't even work, investigate first and stop being a jackassServe's them F'ing right
Micro$oft seem to be a tad two faced when it comes to supporting formats. They claim to have no preference, then released a HD-DVD drive for the 360, which didn't sell 'cos nobody wanted to pay the top dollar for summat that ONLY played a the odd film. They also thought they would beat Sony to the market (which they did) but now clearly at the expense of seriously damaging the long term future of the device.Sony duly played an absolute blinder in my opinion. They repeated what they did with the PS2 by waiting and including the latest optical drive. Sony are the reason that DVD took off, and are now the reason that BR beat HDDVD. Sure it will take them time to recover the costs, but compared to the PS3, the 360 is like a Tomy Kids Computer.
The 360 has a good spec and all, but i have been seriously put off by the RRoD and the lack of standard equipment on the machine. it even took them forever to get HDMI connectivity.
Just to clarify for all you 360 fanbois, I dont like MicroSoft. Never have, never will. Feel free to spout on about how great the 360 is but lets not forget the higher ongoing costs you will have with your inferior system. Upgrade the connectivity, pay for network play, add an optical drive, send for repair several times......
I'll stick with my PS3 thanks. It is a slick machine with very few glitches.
PS3 Fanboy
This was obviously wrote by a ps3 suck ass.. Because sony has no upper hand against microsoft in the gaming industry and probably wont ever again - its just logical they specialize in computers the blu-ray drive offers more data thats all & when microsoft do need to insert more data into there games they will bring out a new console.ps3 for 2 game...
I'll only buy PS3 fot GT5.and nothing else. As I did with PS2 and PS1(although I bought a ton of games later mostly Japanese 2D fighting). The BD drive is an ok addition though and some punters DO consider buying a PS3 -only for the BD drive(it's cheap and can do a ton of other things, plus it's upgradeable to new BD standards). my 2 (euro)cents.