Xbox 360 not including a HD DVD drive good or bad?

Let me know what you think, honestly I think it was the biggest mistake MS ever made, they could have ended both the BluRay vs HD DVD war as well as any chances for PS3 to move ahead in the console race with a standard HD DVD drive on 360.

Since Xbox 360 has reached critical mass in terms of North American public, a HD DVD drive would have ended any chances of Sony winning the BluRay war in the west,plus a standardHD DVD drive would have made games like Final Fantasy XIII and MGS4 both with tones of voice and HD cutscene possible.

If Xbox has one failing I would say it's short sightness in terms of seeing the benefit of a next generation optical medium for a HD system. Microsoft could have had it all with a standard HD DVD drive. Thats just my opinion.

P.S The HD DVD add on doesn't count because it's a after thought and cannot be used for devs to create games because it isn't standard.

To me.. its a good thing, I don't want to have to pay extra to get something that I won't use. I don't have a HD TV, so I really have zero reason for it.user_nat

HD DVD drives werent available when the 360 launched. It was more important to get the year head start. Blu-Ray was more about Sony pushing a proprietary movie format than a gaming medium.gromit007

[QUOTE="user_nat"]To me.. its a good thing, I don't want to have to pay extra to get something that I won't use. I don't have a HD TV, so I really have zero reason for it.pimperjones

Games like that could be put on multiplae DVD-9 discs. They would only run iinto problems in open world games.

[QUOTE="gromit007"]HD DVD drives werent available when the 360 launched. It was more important to get the year head start. Blu-Ray was more about Sony pushing a proprietary movie format than a gaming medium.pimperjones

But at a VERY prohibitive cost. We saw how the public reacted to $600 consoles. A console with an HD DVD drive at the 360's launch time would have been considerably more than that.

[QUOTE="user_nat"]To me.. its a good thing, I don't want to have to pay extra to get something that I won't use. I don't have a HD TV, so I really have zero reason for it.pimperjones

Obviously the extra space would have definently been a bonus, but to me, I would still rather the cheaper console.. disc swapping is a minor issue to me.

And if they had built in a HD DVD drive at launch, it would have been losing them a lot of money, they weren't cheap back then.

well considering HD DVD isnt doing good right now, i think its a good thing they didnt include it as standard + it would have increased the price + alot of people including me dont have HDTV so i would keep DVD9 even if i have to change multiple discs to play some games....i think MS shouldve just made a triple layered DVD9 :D

well considering HD DVD isnt doing good right now, i think its a good thing they didnt include it as standard + it would have increased the price + alot of people including me dont have HDTV so i would keep DVD9 even if i have to change multiple discs to play some games....i think MS shouldve just made a triple layered DVD9 :D

mingo123

If the HD DVD had been built in, its quite likely that HD DVD would be winning now.

[QUOTE="pimperjones"][QUOTE="user_nat"]To me.. its a good thing, I don't want to have to pay extra to get something that I won't use. I don't have a HD TV, so I really have zero reason for it.user_nat

Obviously the extra space would have definently been a bonus, but to me, I would still rather the cheaper console.. disc swapping is a minor issue to me.

And if they had built in a HD DVD drive at launch, it would have been losing them a lot of money, they weren't cheap back then.

[QUOTE="mingo123"]

well considering HD DVD isnt doing good right now, i think its a good thing they didnt include it as standard + it would have increased the price + alot of people including me dont have HDTV so i would keep DVD9 even if i have to change multiple discs to play some games....i think MS shouldve just made a triple layered DVD9 :D

user_nat

If the HD DVD had been built in, its quite likely that HD DVD would be winning now.

[QUOTE="user_nat"][QUOTE="mingo123"]

well considering HD DVD isnt doing good right now, i think its a good thing they didnt include it as standard + it would have increased the price + alot of people including me dont have HDTV so i would keep DVD9 even if i have to change multiple discs to play some games....i think MS shouldve just made a triple layered DVD9 :D

pimperjones

If the HD DVD had been built in, its quite likely that HD DVD would be winning now.

Microsoft made the right decisions. First of all they don't really have much invested in HDDVD so it's not like if HDDVD wins MS is going to make a lot of money. Then you have to look at the fact that HDDVD would have raised the price of the 360 and possibly delayed it.

Sony made the mistake IMO. Yes Blu-Ray is a superior format but it made the price of the PS3 rediculously high and delayed the launch.

I think it's a good thing heres why

1. Ms can't even get the normal 360 defects worked out

2. The 360 would cost more

3. The 360 would have launched much latter as the hd-dvd spec was not finalised yet and the lead time would have been lost.

I don't doubt that having hd-dvd would have been better in the long run but it was not a option for ms as the xbox was costing them billions and not selling.

Microsoft doesn't even care about the HD format war. The only reason they made an HD-DVD attachment is to simply oppose Sony.

Let me know what you think, honestly I think it was the biggest mistake MS ever made, they could have ended both the BluRay vs HD DVD war as well as any chances for PS3 to move ahead in the console race with a standard HD DVD drive on 360.

Since Xbox 360 has reached critical mass in terms of North American public, a HD DVD drive would have ended any chances of Sony winning the BluRay war in the west,plus a standardHD DVD drive would have made games like Final Fantasy XIII and MGS4 both with tones of voice and HD cutscene possible.

If Xbox has one failing I would say it's short sightness in terms of seeing the benefit of a next generation optical medium for a HD system. Microsoft could have had it all with a standard HD DVD drive. Thats just my opinion.

P.S The HD DVD add on doesn't count because it's a after thought and cannot be used for devs to create games because it isn't standard.

pimperjones

That would have been a terrible bet on Microsoft's part because HD DVD is primarily Toshiba's investment, and if the format fails Microsoft doesn't lose in a major way.

Conversely, had Microsoft included a built-in HD DVD drive, they would have been stuck with that drive for the rest of the generation even if it loses.

Microsoft made the right choice, but that choice may have bad consequences for them in the future (for example, if games do demand more and more space). But that's the nature of business: there may not always be an optimal choice.

Just because the PS3 includes a soon to be redundant next gen disk player there's no reason why the 360 should get handicapped by being made to carry one as well.

With downloads and Video-On-Demand already starting to kick in bith HD-DVD and BR will be pretty much pointless inside 2/3 yeras.

Just because the PS3 includes a soon to be redundant next gen disk player there's no reason why the 360 should get handicapped by being made to carry one as well.

With downloads and Video-On-Demand already starting to kick in bith HD-DVD and BR will be pretty much pointless inside 2/3 yeras.

TTDog

Let me know what you think, honestly I think it was the biggest mistake MS ever made, they could have ended both the BluRay vs HD DVD war as well as any chances for PS3 to move ahead in the console race with a standard HD DVD drive on 360.

Since Xbox 360 has reached critical mass in terms of North American public, a HD DVD drive would have ended any chances of Sony winning the BluRay war in the west,plus a standardHD DVD drive would have made games like Final Fantasy XIII and MGS4 both with tones of voice and HD cutscene possible.

If Xbox has one failing I would say it's short sightness in terms of seeing the benefit of a next generation optical medium for a HD system. Microsoft could have had it all with a standard HD DVD drive. Thats just my opinion.

P.S The HD DVD add on doesn't count because it's a after thought and cannot be used for devs to create games because it isn't standard.

pimperjones

Frankly I don't think they have lost very much by not trying to pack it in during their launch. By the time Sony is actually using the extra capacity of the Blu-Ray for anything that actually effects games Xbox will be within a couple of years of their next console and at that time they will include the format that actually wins the format war, not just the one Sony has an interest in pimping.

i think its a good idea, look at the ps3 it came built in and one of the reason its over 500, and xbox 360 is doing alot of better because its an add on and not built, imagine if the 360 had an built in hd dvd player the core might be 400 dollar and what about the sells judging by that it would be doing like the ps3 not selling enoughlolag

Not having a hd-dvd was smart in the short run but stupin in the long run, sony is making the ps3 cheaper and cheaper because the blu-ray player is getteing cheaper to make. In another 6months to a year it should be as cheap as the 360 dvd drive. While the 360 will be stuck with dvd-9 that is already reaching it's limitswith content being dropped and features also just to fit on one disc.

it was a very good thing.....

otherwise they would have ended up in the same overpriced situation the ps3 is in....

[QUOTE="lolag"]i think its a good idea, look at the ps3 it came built in and one of the reason its over 500, and xbox 360 is doing alot of better because its an add on and not built, imagine if the 360 had an built in hd dvd player the core might be 400 dollar and what about the sells judging by that it would be doing like the ps3 not selling enoughChiChiMonKilla

Not having a hd-dvd was smart in the short run but stupin in the long run, sony is making the ps3 cheaper and cheaper because the blu-ray player is getteing cheaper to make. In another 6months to a year it should be as cheap as the 360 dvd drive. While the 360 will be stuck with dvd-9 that is already reaching it's limitswith content being dropped and features also just to fit on one disc.

not true.

the fact standalone players are still upwards of $600 proves this...

BAD! BAD! BAD! BAD!

IMO, MS should have had Toshiba foot the cost of the HD-DvD drive in the 360, in return for having a YEAR head start and 11 million install base of HD-DVD players before blu-ray players. The next-gen format war would have been OVER before Sony had a chance to release.

MS's biggest mistakes this gen were the lack of a next-gen storage format, and their closed software/accessory architecture. Everything else they're doing very well.

Let me know what you think, honestly I think it was the biggest mistake MS ever made, they could have ended both the BluRay vs HD DVD war as well as any chances for PS3 to move ahead in the console race with a standard HD DVD drive on 360.

Since Xbox 360 has reached critical mass in terms of North American public, a HD DVD drive would have ended any chances of Sony winning the BluRay war in the west,plus a standardHD DVD drive would have made games like Final Fantasy XIII and MGS4 both with tones of voice and HD cutscene possible.

If Xbox has one failing I would say it's short sightness in terms of seeing the benefit of a next generation optical medium for a HD system. Microsoft could have had it all with a standard HD DVD drive. Thats just my opinion.

P.S The HD DVD add on doesn't count because it's a after thought and cannot be used for devs to create games because it isn't standard.

pimperjones

I don't think it is a bad thing considering they are not involved in that type of media battle. Blu-ray at this time is winning, if indeed Microsoft got involved with an HD-DVD placed in the 360 it would have been a bad choice because it would not of helped them, and they would alsohave beenstuck with a media that would be dying off. Then again who knows what would of happened if we play the "What if game".

Let me know what you think, honestly I think it was the biggest mistake MS ever made, they could have ended both the BluRay vs HD DVD war as well as any chances for PS3 to move ahead in the console race with a standard HD DVD drive on 360.

pimperjones

If Xbox 360 had HD DVD, then Microsoft would be losing right now to Sony, and badly I might add. The HD DVD would have made the 360 a more expensive console. It would pretty much be matching the PS3 in features, and price for that matter. The console would have had to launch possibly six months later than it originally did, and it would not have enjoyed nearly the same kind of head start on the PS3.

Actually, Sony's original plan was to launch the PS3 in the Spring of 2006, but they had to push the launch back. So if Sony had launched at that time then the Xbox 360 would have gone head to head with the PS3 with no kind of head start whatsoever.

And it's entirely possible that Microsoft would still be having those reliability issues as well with the RROD.

Microsoft made a smart decision. They launched a year before the PS3 and priced the Xbox 360 as the cheaper console and placed more focus on software titles and their Xbox Live service. The price + content attributes of the 360 is helping it a great deal.

Just because the PS3 includes a soon to be redundant next gen disk player there's no reason why the 360 should get handicapped by being made to carry one as well.

With downloads and Video-On-Demand already starting to kick in bith HD-DVD and BR will be pretty much pointless inside 2/3 yeras.

TTDog

[QUOTE="ChiChiMonKilla"]

[QUOTE="lolag"]i think its a good idea, look at the ps3 it came built in and one of the reason its over 500, and xbox 360 is doing alot of better because its an add on and not built, imagine if the 360 had an built in hd dvd player the core might be 400 dollar and what about the sells judging by that it would be doing like the ps3 not selling enoughtango90101

Not having a hd-dvd was smart in the short run but stupin in the long run, sony is making the ps3 cheaper and cheaper because the blu-ray player is getteing cheaper to make. In another 6months to a year it should be as cheap as the 360 dvd drive. While the 360 will be stuck with dvd-9 that is already reaching it's limitswith content being dropped and features also just to fit on one disc.

not true.

the fact standalone players are still upwards of $600 proves this...

Yeah video on demand, good luck downloading 50gb of data for every movie you wanna watch cause thats howbighigh qualityHD videos are.pimperjones

People are already downloading and watching high-definition movies from video on demand services. They aren't 1080p with lossless audio, but the majority of people don't seem to care. The only ones that do are the geeks who care about that sort of stuff, but the mass consumer is likely not going to because they're less likely to have those high-end audio setups and know the difference between all the high-def modes.

[QUOTE="ChiChiMonKilla"]

[QUOTE="lolag"]i think its a good idea, look at the ps3 it came built in and one of the reason its over 500, and xbox 360 is doing alot of better because its an add on and not built, imagine if the 360 had an built in hd dvd player the core might be 400 dollar and what about the sells judging by that it would be doing like the ps3 not selling enoughtango90101

Not having a hd-dvd was smart in the short run but stupin in the long run, sony is making the ps3 cheaper and cheaper because the blu-ray player is getteing cheaper to make. In another 6months to a year it should be as cheap as the 360 dvddrive. While the 360 will be stuck with dvd-9 that is already reaching it's limitswith content being dropped and features also just to fit on one disc.

not true.

the fact standalone players are still upwards of $600 proves this...

All the fanboys went crazy over the blu-ray's price but sony knew that it was just temporary and would provide long lasting benifits as a media player and to games also. The evidence that dvd-9 is too small mounts we see devs cutting content in UT3,we see pgr4 lose time of day due to lack of space and many fake HD games are also on the 360. This trend will only get worse not better already devs are making their voices heardsaying blu-raysspace gives them more freedom.

I will not say that blu-ray is needed this year but for GeOW 2 epic already said they don't know how it will fit on one dvd and this is a western dev that does not use cgi that made the best looking game on console not a *** working for sony.

[QUOTE="pimperjones"]

Yeah video on demand, good luck downloading 50gb of data for every movie you wanna watch cause thats howbighigh qualityHD videos are.thinicer

People are already downloading and watching high-definition movies from video on demand services. They aren't 1080p with lossless audio, but the majority of people don't seem to care. The only ones that do are the geeks who care about that sort of stuff, but the mass consumer is likely not going to because they're less likely to have those high-end audio setups and know the difference between all the high-def modes.

[QUOTE="tango90101"][QUOTE="ChiChiMonKilla"]

[QUOTE="lolag"]i think its a good idea, look at the ps3 it came built in and one of the reason its over 500, and xbox 360 is doing alot of better because its an add on and not built, imagine if the 360 had an built in hd dvd player the core might be 400 dollar and what about the sells judging by that it would be doing like the ps3 not selling enoughChiChiMonKilla

Not having a hd-dvd was smart in the short run but stupin in the long run, sony is making the ps3 cheaper and cheaper because the blu-ray player is getteing cheaper to make. In another 6months to a year it should be as cheap as the 360 dvddrive. While the 360 will be stuck with dvd-9 that is already reaching it's limitswith content being dropped and features also just to fit on one disc.

not true.

the fact standalone players are still upwards of $600 proves this...

All the fanboys went crazy over the blu-ray's price but sony knew that it was just temporary and would provide long lasting benifits as a media player and to games also. The evidence that dvd-9 is too small mounts we see devs cutting content in UT3,we see pgr4 lose time of day due to lack of space and many fake HD games are also on the 360. This trend will only get worse not better already devs are making their voices heardsaying blu-raysspace gives them more freedom.

I will not say that blu-ray is needed this year but for GeOW 2 epic already said they don't know how it will fit on one dvd and this is a western dev that does not use cgi that made the best looking game on console not a *** working for sony.

There's HD at 7 gb and then there's HD at 50 gb there is a difference hence people will still buy HD on disk.Personal I don't waste time on low quality HD defeats the purpose. pimperjones

You personally don't, but lots of people won't notice the difference. Your expectations and needs don't speak for everybody else. Most people are still using standard def sets, and the difference between that and any high-definition mode is huge. When treated with this huge improvement, you think they're going to notice the difference between 1080i and 1080p? Highly doubtful my friend, highly doubtful. Most consumers are getting high-definition for one thing alone: picture quality, and Blu-Ray and HD DVD are not the only avenues available to consumers for high-definition movies and TV shows.

[QUOTE="ChiChiMonKilla"][QUOTE="tango90101"][QUOTE="ChiChiMonKilla"]

[QUOTE="lolag"]i think its a good idea, look at the ps3 it came built in and one of the reason its over 500, and xbox 360 is doing alot of better because its an add on and not built, imagine if the 360 had an built in hd dvd player the core might be 400 dollar and what about the sells judging by that it would be doing like the ps3 not selling enoughpimperjones

Not having a hd-dvd was smart in the short run but stupin in the long run, sony is making the ps3 cheaper and cheaper because the blu-ray player is getteing cheaper to make. In another 6months to a year it should be as cheap as the 360 dvddrive. While the 360 will be stuck with dvd-9 that is already reaching it's limitswith content being dropped and features also just to fit on one disc.

not true.

the fact standalone players are still upwards of $600 proves this...

All the fanboys went crazy over the blu-ray's price but sony knew that it was just temporary and would provide long lasting benifits as a media player and to games also. The evidence that dvd-9 is too small mounts we see devs cutting content in UT3,we see pgr4 lose time of day due to lack of space and many fake HD games are also on the 360. This trend will only get worse not better already devs are making their voices heardsaying blu-raysspace gives them more freedom.

I will not say that blu-ray is needed this year but for GeOW 2 epic already said they don't know how it will fit on one dvd and this is a western dev that does not use cgi that made the best looking game on console not a *** working for sony.

[QUOTE="pimperjones"][QUOTE="ChiChiMonKilla"][QUOTE="tango90101"][QUOTE="ChiChiMonKilla"]

[QUOTE="lolag"]i think its a good idea, look at the ps3 it came built in and one of the reason its over 500, and xbox 360 is doing alot of better because its an add on and not built, imagine if the 360 had an built in hd dvd player the core might be 400 dollar and what about the sells judging by that it would be doing like the ps3 not selling enoughChiChiMonKilla

Not having a hd-dvd was smart in the short run but stupin in the long run, sony is making the ps3 cheaper and cheaper because the blu-ray player is getteing cheaper to make. In another 6months to a year it should be as cheap as the 360 dvddrive. While the 360 will be stuck with dvd-9 that is already reaching it's limitswith content being dropped and features also just to fit on one disc.

not true.

the fact standalone players are still upwards of $600 proves this...

All the fanboys went crazy over the blu-ray's price but sony knew that it was just temporary and would provide long lasting benifits as a media player and to games also. The evidence that dvd-9 is too small mounts we see devs cutting content in UT3,we see pgr4 lose time of day due to lack of space and many fake HD games are also on the 360. This trend will only get worse not better already devs are making their voices heardsaying blu-raysspace gives them more freedom.

I will not say that blu-ray is needed this year but for GeOW 2 epic already said they don't know how it will fit on one dvd and this is a western dev that does not use cgi that made the best looking game on console not a *** working for sony.

i dont really care

if i want a movie player i will buy a movie player

The problem is most 360 fanboys have about as much forsight as a infant. It's like see milk, milk good go to milk, now happy. Its doesn't take Einstein to figure out that DVD a format thats been around since the beginning of last generation is a dying medium. pimperjones

The problem is that sony released the ps3 after the 360; giving the 360 a year head start. The problem is that sony released the ps3 at a higher price than the 360; giving the 360 yet another advantage. Since the 360 is beating the PS3 so far, 3rd party developers are developing for the 360 and then porting to the ps3. The blue-ray drive could be the best thing since sliced bread, but unless games are being made to take advantage of it, it ends up being no better than a DVD drive. I will give you MGS, that game looks sweet, but even so, I am not fully convinced that it can't be run on the 360. I guess we'll know a year after of its released and see if it gets ported...

[QUOTE="pimperjones"]The problem is most 360 fanboys have about as much forsight as a infant. It's like see milk, milk good go to milk, now happy. Its doesn't take Einstein to figure out that DVD a format thats been around since the beginning of last generation is a dying medium. tothedogsforme

The problem is that sony released the ps3 after the 360; giving the 360 a year head start. The problem is that sony released the ps3 at a higher price than the 360; giving the 360 yet another advantage. Since the 360 is beating the PS3 so far, 3rd party developers are developing for the 360 and then porting to the ps3. The blue-ray drive could be the best thing since sliced bread, but unless games are being made to take advantage of it, it ends up being no better than a DVD drive. I will give you MGS, that game looks sweet, but even so, I am not fully convinced that it can't be run on the 360. I guess we'll know a year after of its released and see if it gets ported...