MS will support Blu-ray, says Ballmer News

Yes, it makes sense.

Everyone else: this isn't a fucking 'war', it's business. So don't start trying to look for what isn't there.

Not suprised if MS do then annouce BR add on but they do need to have a graceful period between abandoning HD DVD add on and then stating there is no market. Only to say they do not oppose the BR and will take it on and just a matter of market research etc etc before presto here it is for those of you who want it.

Even if BR add on will only sell 300k its will still be a good business for MS and also allow those who cannot afford BR player or PS3 as second console to enjoy HD movies. I suspect that if they do it there will be more than 3 percent of X360 world wide taking up BR but most of us who always own PS3 as well will OBVIOUSLY not need it and only applies to those without having the option.

The whole 'HD war' put a lot of people off buying into it so this is good news. Will those who've bought a HD-DVD players get anything for their trouble though in the future?

Surely this may that Sony can no longer use the fact they have Blu-ray as their trump card? Unless, of course, MS' add-on is ocbscenly expensive

If they do this well enough, release a nice cheap addon and maybe an SKU with blu-ray built in (cheaper than the PS3 anyway,) there will be very little reason to own a PS3.

@WillyWanka - You think it won't be?

Sony can still use Blu-Ray as it's included out of the box which is something MS can't do (yet).

This is madness....No, this is Blu-Raaaaayyyyy!!!!!!!!!

(BD add on will only playback movies, games won't have access to 50gb of space unless an updated Xbox is released meaning that all past Xboxes would become obsolete)

@GamesConnoisseur

It's BD, not BR :)

Not being a dick, just a helpful tip for a sunny Friday afternoon.

I really can't see a 360 add-on as a viable decision though. I mean unless MS can bring it out seriously cheap, wouldn't people just buy a PS3 instead?

I don't really think it's worth the bother. By the time they produce all the new Blu-ray drives and get them on the market, plus when you factor in development and marketing costs, I think that money would be better spent on developing new IPs or putting it toward their inevitable Xbox 3, which is surely due to hit the market within about 2.5 years.

good

360 is far too noisy to seriously use as a movie viewing device (unless you blast your speakers or wear headphones) it also puts out a shitload of heat... and sorry but in no way is it a better solution than the PS3 , a convoluted 2 part set up for a slight price reduction over a standalone? what's the point - by the time they release a drive you may as well buy a standalone BR player (if you don't want a PS3).

Personally if you do want a BR player anyway, then you'd be mad to pass on PS3 just because of some 'loyalty' to a rival brand (xbox).

/off to play uncharted :)

It's not like they have a choice...

"I really can't see a 360 add-on as a viable decision though. I mean unless MS can bring it out seriously cheap, wouldn't people just buy a PS3 instead?"

If they see a market for them within the existing user base, then they'll make them. The HD DVD player was essentially a PC drive in a custom caddy, so cost to make prices will drop in line with PC components - and they'll make money on every one sold.

Should definitely be partnered with a 360 Ultimate BD sku though to compete directly with Ps3.

I think Sony wants to put as many Blu-Ray players on the market as possible, and fast. Sony isn't just PS3. And, as someone said, this is not a "war", this is buisness.

Blu Ray is a clear winner, and so is Sony... Microsoft lost in such a pathetic way and now they have to eat they'r pride :) Ps3 will be dominant...

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@LazyDan
If they do this well enough, release a nice cheap addon and maybe an SKU with blu-ray built in (cheaper than the PS3 anyway,) there will be very little reason to own a PS3.

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They will never do that, what's the point in making a X360 with Blu Ray in it if they can't use it for games... X360 is a broken piece of equipment now, they'r just trying to make up... there are already many games that use all the data available in the Blu Ray disc, games like MGS4, Killzone etc... in time, more and more of them will likely need that amount of space, and with the increasing number in sales concerning the Ps3 it's no surprise that publishers will prefer to work with Sony...

@GamesConnoisseur

It's BD, not BR :)

Not being a dick, just a helpful tip for a sunny Friday afternoon.

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Laughs! No worries, its goes to show how much HD format war not helped! Sure, now BD format won then everyone will catch on the proper abbreviation and less cautious about moving onto the new optical format.

Though the abbr make me think of Blue Dragon for some reason!

@AmySamey

I really can't see a 360 add-on as a viable decision though. I mean unless MS can bring it out seriously cheap, wouldn't people just buy a PS3 instead?

This is me ^ - Anybody who thinks MS is going to bring out a cheap peripheral for the 360.... just needs to look at the prices of all the other peripherals, which are high.

I was always going to get a PS3 anyway - it has only been the constant stream of, y'know... games, that made me plump for a 360... it seems odd now that I ever considered not getting a 360, in favour of getting a PS3 because I loved my PS2 so much.

At £300 the PS3 BD is already a bit of a steal - add in to this the fact you can play some good games now, and will presumably be able to play some amazing games in the future, and all you need to worry about is what the hell kind of mess the wiring from 2 or 3 consoles is going to make of your TV space.

It should obviously be pointed out that Blu-ray uses microsoft compression technology anyway, so the two companies are not the enemies the fanboys make them out to be. It is as someone said (and I'm glad to see people are finally understanding) just good business.

Yep - MS won't care. They have their fingers in all sorts of pies across the tech industry and are used to the odd misjudgement.

Some flop (HD DVD) and some are successful and line their pockets ever deeper.

Apologie - "Blu Ray is a clear winner, and so is Sony... Microsoft lost in such a pathetic way and now they have to eat they'r pride :)"

In this instance, yes. But swap the word Blu-ray for Rumble and flick Sony/Microsoft around, and you've got another perfectly valid point from just a few months ago.

Anyone truly believed that a new optical media can survive without Windows support ? Sony needs to work with MS fast and start to bring the burners at a reasonable price.

Triggerhappytel

Apologie - "Blu Ray is a clear winner, and so is Sony... Microsoft lost in such a pathetic way and now they have to eat they'r pride :)"

In this instance, yes. But swap the word Blu-ray for Rumble and flick Sony/Microsoft around, and you've got another perfectly valid point from just a few months ago.

----------------------------------------------------

The importance Rumble had when compared to these is almost insignificant... incomparable. Sony will make a big profit out of these, and the Ps3 will reflect that.

Although I don't necessarily agree, all I was trying to highlight is that they all have failings sometimes, and they all get egg on their faces. Don't think Sony is immune to this sort of thing, too.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...

"We have made no such announcement. Games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available."

Well they managed to remain focused for about 5hrs.
Good going MS.

This article is of no surprise to me as Sony admitted Microsoft were doing as much elsewhere. Sony had nothing to gain by doing so since a BD add-on for the Xbox 360 would make their own PS3 a less attractive proposition for those people undecided which console format to go for.

I bought my PS3 in January to go with my new Plasma tv's for my Superbowl party. The PS3 is a Blu-Ray player and that's about it. I've downloaded demos, but still haven't rented or purchased a game on it in two months. If the 360 had have had a Blu-Ray add-on in January (just after the war ended) I would have bought it instead.

It was all timing. If I'd purchased an HD drive about 3 months earlier, I probably would have gone HD-DVD. Luckily, the war ended just as I was in the market.

This will help 360 sales, IMO.

Keep in mind Sony is ONE of a multitude of Blu-Ray backers - Microsoft can get their drive from Samsung or Matsushita or wherever.

That said it does not "fix" the problem of the DVD9 capacity limit, that will prob ably wait until the next console - and with Microsoft's "planned obsolescence" track record, that is perhaps not so far away...

The success of Blu-Ray is more important for Sony than PS3 success. This will mean a 10 years or so of a constant profit. If they lose a couple of million PS3s sales I guess they wont be much bothered, if they manage to sell a few more (mainly in US) BR units. It would give some boost to Blu-Ray movie sales in the market they're pursuing - US.
I think the movie buisness is more important for Sony, this gen.

It's about time for the diehard Sony fans to dismiss any use of blu-ray by microsoft lest it undermine the PS3 :)

I'll be looking for such comments as They'll never make an add-on. Microsoft lost the battle for Hidef (er actually it was Toshiba that lost as all the HD-DVD stuff is toshiba's. Microsoft actually made a very limited quanitity of HD-DVD add-ons, which is why they were and are so hard to get hold of).

Bottom line is that this doesn't really affect microsoft at all. It does affect Sony though and we would expect their sales to increase over the next few months. The increase may well be offset by the lowering of the 360's price though.

Yup, time to wake up and smell the coffee, Ballmer.

@JackB - Ah but at least you can now play PS3 exclusives like Gran Turismo 5 (plus Prologue), Metal Gear Solid 4, White Knight Story and Final Fantasy XIII among others so I'm sure it won't always be used as a BD player unless you hate playing games, in which case what are you doing posting on here? LOL

And I'm not sure the BD add-on will help increase Xbox 360 sales myself so much as perhaps discourage PS3 ones. However, the 360 and PS3 are primarily bought as games consoles so HD movies are only going to be of interest to a minority of those owners and so won't be enough to change current sales patterns: it'll be the games that do that.

Did MS have any choice?

"We've already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Bluray drives and the like."

Wow...can the MS and Bluray story get any more exciting!!

/yawns

But as people have already pointed out MS is a business...they only care about one thing: making money. So it's no surprise they are supporting Bluray on Windows.

Anyone else think they're just saying their going to do it, but in actual fact, have no real intention of ever releasing a BD player for their 360?

"Anyone else think they're just saying their going to do it"
They didn't say they will. Sony did, they can if they want to - http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...

Apologie wrote "... Microsoft lost in such a pathetic way and now they have to eat they'r pride :) Ps3 will be dominant... microsoft doesen't have a chance and the Blu Ray victory only make thing even easier for Sony... Ps3 is the way to go."

Apologie, you can take your Sony cheerleaders outfit off now. Put down the pom poms and stop dancing around please. ;)

Microsoft made "no real capitalization" of its one-year head start over PS3, and failed to "reach beyond the core first person shooter player", sony have a much more intresting catalogue of games in terms of diversity and exclusives... the millions of PlayStation 2 fans will turn the tables for PS3 in the next two to three years, that's the secret weapon, that's what goes unreported. It's this 41 million universe of PS2 owners that will be targeted very, very soon to upgrade to a PS3 Blu-ray machine, microsoft doesen't have a chance and the Blu Ray victory only make things even easier for Sony... it's just a matter of time, and yes Yaz i do like to be right once in a while and the Ps3 was the right choice.

@Bangaioh - I don't believe Microsoft had any choice. After all, by not supporting BD, they'd be indirectly promoting the PS3 as being the better console for offering the "complete" HD experience, which includes movies and games. Their own Video Marketplace doesn't offer anything of the quality of a decent 1080p HD DVD or BD movie, it's far too compromised (stereo sound, 720p only, no subtitles, no extras, etc.) and it'll be a good few years yet before they can match that quality. Certainly it won't happen in the 360's life time so supporting BD is a necessity purely from a marketing point of view. They certainly wouldn't want the 360 to appear inferior to the competition, it's the reason they added 1080p support to the Xbox 360 and released the HD DVD add-on in the first place.

"and yes Yaz i do like to be right once in a while and the Ps3 was the right choice."

It's not about being right or wrong Apologie. You chose the PS3, and that's great, but that doesn't make the 360 a wrong choice, since it uses DVD for games, not a HD drive, and succeeds where it matters, i.e. the games.

Both are superb consoles, both have and will continue to have a superb collection of games, even if fanboys on boths sides don't want to admit it. :)

@Apologie - Now where have I read your post before... oh I know, it was some Sony top bod that said yesterday on another site! LOL

@Apolololol

"yes Yaz i do like to be right once in a while and the Ps3 was the right choice."

Yes, it was the right choice if you wanted a BD player. I just wanted the best games system so the 360 was the right choice for me. I'll get a BD player in about 5-8 years if it ever makes it to being the leading media format. I may buy a PS3 before that though...If a decent game comes out on it that is.

"@Apologie - Now where have I read your post before... oh I know, it was some Sony top bod that said yesterday on another site! LOL"

Tsk tsk tsk.

I keep telling him to post the source instead of just cut and paste, and he promised he would do so in future.

Ah well, I guess old habits die hard. :)

it's the point that matters ladies...

I think this site is broken. I read an article about Steve Ballmer saying Microsoft are looking at improving driver support for Blu-ray in windows and the comments section is full of people talking about a 360 add on and how the PS3 is so much better

Apologie wrote: "it's the point that matters ladies..."

Says you as you swing your handbag. :)

Always quote your sources, that's really not much to ask.

makes sense really.

Is Apologie actually one of those irritating forum shills that big companies pay to reprint quotes from press releases on every forum they can find as a shitty form of marketing?

I don't say this because he/she/it supports Sony so vehemently, I say it because they actually talk in a poorly written string of buzzwords, marketdroid style

Apologie, yet again every time you type all you can produce is pure rubbish.

The 360 has a far more diverse games catalogue than the PS3, and the games are of higher quality. Gaming is always going to be better on the 360 because it was designed as a games machine and has the architecture to support that, rather than being designed as a multimedia hub that can 'also do games'.

As for a HD optical player, now that the format war is over I'd buy a blu-ray add-on for the 360 if it was reasonably priced. There's no way in hell I'd buy a PS3 just to watch movies though, and there are no games worth playing on the PS3 that arent out on the 360 (and better on the 360 anyway).