Another Manufacturer Says Xbox 360 Blu-ray Coming This Year

Badie05 · Another Manufacturer Says Xbox 360 Blu-ray Coming This Year

A report from Taiwanese news source Economic Daily News says that Pegatron Technology—a recently formed subsidiary of Asus that shouldn't be confused with the Decepticon leader—has received an order from Microsoft to manufacture a Blu-ray equipped model of the Xbox 360. According to the report, Pegatron says that it plans to begin production on the HD version of the Xbox 360 soon, with plans to ship within the next six months, aiming for a pre-holiday release.

It won't be the first time we've heard talk about Microsoft gloming on to the format, as the DigiTimes recently pegged manufacturer Lite-On as a Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive maker and Sony executives hinted that its competitor was feeling Blu to the Financial Times. MS CEO Steve Ballmer recently went on record about the move away from HD-DVD, saying the company will "support Blu-ray in ways that make sense."

Microsoft PR, of course, continues to beat the digital distribution drum and deny the existence of a BRD playing 360. We would of course be shocked to learn that something slipped from the airtight walls of Microsoft early, so we're sticking with unconfirmed rumor at this point.

The EDN report also mentions that a price cut for the Core (Arcade) version of the 360 is planned, but doesn't provide further details on timing or adjustments.

Zaraki Kenpachi

Isn't microsoft denying any plans of using the blueray...

Phatkav

And Microsoft again screw up their early buyers.

Is there really a point of releasing a Blu-ray version? I mean blue-ray movies aren't even that popular.

Mikebroekhof

Phatkav

But we are talking about consoles. They are not suppose to improve unless a new one is released.

Would it be fair, if Nintendo released a non-HD version of the Wii but then 2 years after, they released an HD version of it that is capable of playing games with the same graphics level as 360/PS3?

I mean newer versions with changed design/colour are ok, but I find it a rip-off that they released a better version with better additions after you bought yours.

Mikebroekhof

I think it's just a risk you take when buying such sort of things, and it occurs in alot of branches.
Not only console but also regular pc's, televisions and cell phones suffer from it.

Even though you might feel ripped off there isn't anything you can do about it, and you can know before you buy it improvements may be made.

Phatkav

Well it is understandable that improvements will be made, but the fact that consoles don't get any significant improvements beyond design/shape/colour/etc is one of the reasons why I find console gaming is better at than PC gaming which is at a constant rate of improving.

Mikebroekhof

But internal only the drive will be changed, there's no other significant changes.
As long the games are playable on both version of the console, which will be the case, it will stay constant and everybody will still be able to get the experience only those without drive won't use the blu-ray device..
It still will be pretty constant I think since it brings advantages but also disadvantages!

The only use of it is more data storage.
This can be solved by either using 2 or more DVD's instead of one (Lost Oddysey).

Though the reading speed is slow and you will need an install ofyour games on the console, and it has a price tag..

Both versions will have his advantages but no-one would be really ripped off I think

Badie05

I believe that they WILL releases a new one since many games are starting to come on multiple dual layered discs (Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon....). They WILL make a new 360 and improve almost every fault and add a bluray drive....they WILL make special games on BD Discs....the only way this'll work is if they release an addon that is external for the older 360s....it will cost ya though. If this truly does happen I will buy the new one (lost my bid

)

Zaraki Kenpachi

Phatkav

My point was that the 360 doesn't really need Blu-ray to play the new games and if they added it for the movies, well Blu-ray still isn't that popular as far as I know.

Zaraki Kenpachi

point is Hd dvds are oging to cease.....so for people buying Dvds the hd in the 360 will be useless...

HungryHungryHippo

As of now, I've never seen ANY bluray movies, and I only know 1 person with a bluray movie, that being spiderman3...it came with his ps3 >_<

Badie05

I've seen some and they are breathtaking

Phatkav

But the whole of point is sales. I'm pretty sure DVD sales still kick [mod edit] and own HD DVD/Blu-ray sales anytime.

I haven't watched any movies in blu-ray