No Blu-ray for 360

[PirateThom]

Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360 | Special Coverage | Reuters

he comments by Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, poured cold water on recent speculation that Microsoft could support Blu-ray after Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research), backer of the rival HD DVD format, gave up when key movie studios and retailers abandoned the technology.

"Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience," Greenberg told Reuters in an interview.

Microsoft, which has stopped making an HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, would continue to invest in its Xbox Live online service that already lets users rent hundreds of movies, including ones in high-definition.

"We're the only console offering digital distribution of entertainment content," Greenberg said.

The software giant also expected that supply problems for the Xbox 360 meant the machine was outsold in the U.S. market by Sony's PlayStation 3 console in February for the second month in a row.

"We definitely expect we will trail in February as a result of our supply constraints," Greenberg said, adding: "By April, we will be in a very healthy inventory situation."

That would be in time for the April 29 launch of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's (TTWO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) "Grand Theft Auto 4" game, which is widely expected to be one of the best-selling titles of 2008 and could drive purchases of the Xbox 360 and PS3

Greenberg spoke a day ahead of the planned release of U.S. video game sales data for February by market research firm NPD, whose monthly reports are pored over by game companies eager for bragging rights.

The PS3 struggled last year due to its high price and lack of must-have games, but sales have picked up in recent months thanks to price cuts in late 2008 and a slate of anticipated upcoming games.

"We still think we have a great value, that we have significantly better value than Sony. Every month we've actually been in stock we've outsold them by a 2 to 1 margin," Greenberg said.

Re: Digital distribution - doesn't Sony already have that lined up for the PS Store overhaul in April?

Re: Supply Constrained - picard.png

[rbbdrooger]

"We definitely expect we will trail in February as a result of our supply constraints."

Crap, there goes my NPD prediction.
And there goes my change of buying a cheap Blu-Ray add-on.

I'd like digital distribution, but Video Marketplace is still pretty much non-existent in Europe (or at least in Holland).

[downphoenix]

Originally Posted by PirateThom

Re: Supply Constrained - picard.png

Truth, LOL

Why don't they just pull some 360s from Japanese store shelves and fit them for use in US and Europe? That will help beef up the supply some.

[PirateThom]

Originally Posted by downphoenix

Truth, LOL

Why don't they just pull some 360s from Japanese store shelves and fit them for use in US and Europe? That will help beef up the supply some.

I can tell you right now, there's no supply constrain of any kind in Europe.

Everywhere I go, there's plenty of 360's on shelves and online. It's selling as it's always sold.

[Sheff159]

Originally Posted by downphoenix

Truth, LOL

Why don't they just pull some 360s from Japanese store shelves and fit them for use in US and Europe? That will help beef up the supply some.

because the ones in japan have different drives and formats, because over there they use PAL and region 4 DVD's. They couldnt be brought over to the US/Europe without some major internal changes being made.

[PirateThom]

Originally Posted by Sheff159

because the ones in japan have different drives and formats, because over there they use PAL and region 4 DVD's. They couldnt be brought over to the US/Europe without some major internal changes being made.

All DVD drives are region free in the factory though, they are then recoded to be locked to a region through software. In fact, if you have a DVD player, you can actually unlock a region locked DVD player. I also had a device that allowed my PS2 to playback NTSC or Region 1 DVDs, because all of that is software.

[Sheff159]

Originally Posted by PirateThom

All DVD drives are region free in the factory though, they are then recoded to be locked to a region through software. In fact, if you have a DVD player, you can actually unlock a region locked DVD player. I also had a device that allowed my PS2 to playback NTSC or Region 1 DVDs, because all of that is software.

well they would still have to do that, and change all the default data. No its not much, but when you think about it, they would have to unpackage each and everyone, reset it to where ever its going, and then repackage it, then send it half way across the world...just not realistic to get a few more units in stores.

[rbbdrooger]

Easy enough. Every dvd-player has a code in one form or another that makes it region-free.

[downphoenix]

and even if they couldnt use the japanese drives for some weird reason, they can just put in an american or europe drive.

And Japan uses NTSC mainly, not PAL.

[InsightGoalie]

Damn, this sucks. I was hoping for a nice cheap Blu-Ray player. Guess I'll be staying away from blu-ray longer than I thought...