Universal to go multiformat confirmed?

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by downphoenix

Well I was speaking in Hypothetical terms. Assuming that the 360 launch date was the same, but the system was 500 and 600$ at launch like PS3 was, because of an inclusion of an HD DVD drive, and assume price dropped at least 100$ each model when PS3 came out.

That's literally not possible. HD DVD wasn't even close to ready for the market when the Xbox 360 launched. If you're going to play what-if, you have to look at the realities behind the technologies used.

I maintain that, if Microsoft had decided to make an HD DVD drive standard in the Xbox 360, it would have been dead on arrival, since the inclusion would have pushed back the release date a minimum of 6 months - probably closer to twelve months, which would put it at the same release date as the PlayStation 3.

With a similar launch price, similar launch date, and an inferior HD disc drive in it, the PS3 would likely have crushed the Xbox 360 (though the Wii would quite likely have still taken off regardless). I'm sure Microsoft looked at this possibility and saw the same outcome.

That article is full of spin and inaccuracies anyways.

The issue came in the mail last week and I couldn't believe some of the garbage being put forth in the interests of getting people to pick up their magazine.

[chedabob]

I expect the downfall of Blu-ray to Downloads any day now...

[Into-The-Fog]

Originally Posted by chedabob

I expect the downfall of Blu-ray to Downloads any day now...

Why does everyone say that? i dont know a single movie enthusiast who prefers torrenting pirated movies to buying/renting a dvd. I also dont know many people who would pay for a download of a movie over a hard copy.

Maybe I'm missing something though...........

is there some new service i have not heard of?

[R3D D3V!L]

Originally Posted by chedabob

I expect the downfall of Blu-ray to Downloads any day now...

Care to expand on your hypothesis...

[Gnu]

Originally Posted by Icemage

With a similar launch price, similar launch date, and an inferior HD disc drive in it, the PS3 would likely have crushed the Xbox 360 (though the Wii would quite likely have still taken off regardless). I'm sure Microsoft looked at this possibility and saw the same outcome.

Well, if you're playing what-ifs, if the x360 had released a year later, there would have been other hardware changes, as well, I would imagine. It wouldn't have sat on RD's backburner for an entire year, had a HD-DVD drive shoved into it, and pushed out the door.

[Gnu]

Originally Posted by Into-The-Fog

Why does everyone say that? i dont know a single movie enthusiast who prefers torrenting pirated movies to buying/renting a dvd. I also dont know many people who would pay for a download of a movie over a hard copy.

Maybe I'm missing something though...........

is there some new service i have not heard of?

Download movie service != torrenting pirated movies.

A download movie service would offer movies in the same quality as a blu-ray disc, but not require that you purchase the physical media.

The downside, of course, is you need somewhere to temporarily store it, and you need an internet connection with sufficient bandwidth to make downloading 10GB be able to happen in a realistic amount of time..

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Gnu

Well, if you're playing what-ifs, if the x360 had released a year later, there would have been other hardware changes, as well, I would imagine. It wouldn't have sat on RD's backburner for an entire year, had a HD-DVD drive shoved into it, and pushed out the door.

One might hope that they would have at least fixed the hardware faults that cause most of the RRoDs.

[Descendency]

Originally Posted by Icemage

That's literally not possible. HD DVD wasn't even close to ready for the market when the Xbox 360 launched. If you're going to play what-if, you have to look at the realities behind the technologies used.

I maintain that, if Microsoft had decided to make an HD DVD drive standard in the Xbox 360, it would have been dead on arrival, since the inclusion would have pushed back the release date a minimum of 6 months - probably closer to twelve months, which would put it at the same release date as the PlayStation 3.

With a similar launch price, similar launch date, and an inferior HD disc drive in it, the PS3 would likely have crushed the Xbox 360 (though the Wii would quite likely have still taken off regardless). I'm sure Microsoft looked at this possibility and saw the same outcome.

It would have been DOA, but not for those reasons. First, the HD-DVD vs BluRay is far over-rated. Sure, BluRay is a superior technology, but it isn't a landslide by any means (like DVD vs CD) nor is it really that major of a factor in terms of gaming (Very few games legitimately push the required disk space).

It would have lost out to a popular brand, Playstation, because of name recognition. Many of the PS2 owners looking to upgrade to HD would have bypassed the 360 (more so than what is currently).

As far as the logistics are concerned, how many HD-DVD drives were available at launch? I think I agree with you mainly because I don't think HD disk drives were completely ready for either launch (PS3 or Xbox) and that the format got pushed out because they "needed" it. Honestly, it is starting to become a viable format to trust (HD-DVD can be trusted to be dead now, IF this is true).

[PirateThom]

Originally Posted by Gnu

The downside, of course, is you need somewhere to temporarily store it, and you need an internet connection with sufficient bandwidth to make downloading 10GB be able to happen in a realistic amount of time..

Not to mention movie buffs like showing off their collections. Showing someone a hard drive isn't exactly the same.